Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln Heats Up Congressional Race

By Roger Riffenburgh

Kevin Lincoln, the mayor of Stockton, recently announced that he is running for Congress in the Ninth Congressional District, creating a competitive race of high interest to Bay Area Republicans.   Lincoln is a third generation Stocktonian, a Marine Corps veteran who served on Marine One, a former manager of a security firm, and a former administrative pastor at a local church.

Lincoln is challenging incumbent Democrat Josh Harder and receiving support from House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is looking to expand the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.  The Ninth Congressional District is largely a Central Valley district, and includes a large portion of San Joaquin County, but also eastern Contra Costa County.

Kevin Lincoln was elected mayor of Stockton in 2020, defeating incumbent Democrat Michael Tubbs, who was well known for implementing a universal basic income pilot project.  Lincoln led the city in a united Covid recovery effort that resulted in the issuance of over 3000 new business licenses.  He created an economic development plan, took the city from fiscal difficulties to fiscal solvency, and hired 100 new police officers.

In his campaign launch video, Kevin Lincoln explains why he’s running for Congress.  “I refuse to let Washington neglect our Valley any longer.  That’s why I’m running for Congress:  To build on our progress, fight for real change that puts our Valley first, lowering the cost of living, supporting public safety, strengthening local schools, defending our Valley water and farms, honoring our veterans and protecting our seniors, and getting to the bottom of our nation’s homeless crisis.  It’s not my agenda, it’s our agenda.”

Kevin Lincoln was born and raised in Stockton, the son of a Mexican-American mother and an African-American father.  He says on his website, “My own father struggled to survive on these streets, and was at one time homeless. But I never let adversity define me.” 

Lincoln enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.  As he was finishing training at the Corps police academy in 2001, terrorists attacked the country on 9/11.  Soon after, Lincoln was assigned to the White House Military Office and served on Marine One, the president’s helicopter, under President George W. Bush. 

After serving four years, Lincoln returned to California and worked in management positions for security firms in Silicon Valley.  In 2013 he switched gears and returned to Stockton, where he served as executive administrative pastor at a local church.  He says, “I graduated college while working full-time and raising a family.”  He earned a bachelor’s degree  in business management and an M.A. in executive leadership.

In 2020 Kevin Lincoln ran for mayor of Stockton and won the general election with over 56% of the vote.  Stockton has about 320,000 people and is the 11th largest city in California.

Kevin Lincoln lives in Stockton with his wife Bonnie, and they have two kids.  You can learn more about Kevin on his campaign website, kevinlincolnforcongress.com.

SVGOP: Registrar Confirms Removal of 200,000+ Ineligible Voters

The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters has removed approximately 204,000 inactive voters from the voter rolls, implementing the settlement agreement reached more than four years ago between Judicial Watch, the California Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar, and others.

The registrar reported the action in a September 5, 2023 letter to Santa Clara County GOP Chair Shane Patrick Connolly and Election Integrity Chair Matt Wendt. On August 10, 2023 Connolly and Wendt sent a formal inquiry to the registrar requesting the status of the county’s compliance with the Judicial Watch settlement agreement.

The action by the Santa Clara County Republican Party (SVGOP) followed a similar request on July 7, 2020 by the SVGOP and State Senate candidate Alex Glew. Under the Judicial Watch agreement signed in 2018, inactive voters must be removed after two federal elections if they fail to respond to a residency notice sent by the county registrar. The county registrar replied to the SVGOP on August 8, 2020 stating that it was unable to remove inactive voters because the residency notice it had been using did not comply with the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Following the settlement, the county sent approximately 249,000 new notices to inactive voters. Since the revised notices were sent, two federal elections have occurred in November 2020 and 2022, allowing the removal of voters who did not respond or vote in those elections.

In her latest letter to SVGOP, the registrar reported approximately 62,000 inactive voters remain registered because they have not yet met the requirements to be removed under the NVRA. According to the February 23, 2023 report of registration by the California Secretary of State, there are approximately 1,015,000 registered voters in Santa Clara County.

As a part of the 2018 settlement agreement, the California Secretary of State issued a new California NVRA manual to county registrars in March 2019. The new manual contained detailed instructions regarding the removal of inactive voters. Each county registrar in California has the responsibility to follow those instructions to implement the required clean-up of the voter rolls on a regular basis.

Should other Republican organizations wish to follow up with their county registrars regarding their compliance with the NVRA, a copy of the Judicial Watch settlement, and the correspondence between the Santa Clara County Registrar and the SVGOP are posted on the Election Integrity page of the BayAreaGOP.com website.