U.S. Rep. and Democrat Josh Harder was up more than 4,000 votes over Stockton Mayor and Republican Kevin Lincoln in the latest results from the three counties within the Central Valley congressional district up for grabs in Tuesday’s election.
Harder, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, had 85,528 votes (51.2%) across the parts of San Joaquin, Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties in District 9. That was 4,024 more than the 81,504 (48.8%) for Lincoln, who Stockton voters elected as mayor in 2020.
The overwhelming majority of the votes counted as of Friday for Harder came from the county where the district had the most votes in San Joaquin, where he had 51.6% or 82,211 votes. That was 5,233 more in the county than Lincoln, who was favored in the small portions of Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties.
Harder defeated incumbent Republican Jeff Dunham in 2018 and won his two subsequent elections to stay in Congress ahead of this year’s race. In 2022, he defeated San Joaquin County Supervisor and Republican Tom Patti, who in this week’s election was running to replace Lincoln as Stockton’s mayor but as of the county’s latest results was losing to former councilmember and Democrat Christina Fugazi.
Lincoln in 2020 became Stockton’s mayor by defeating Michael Tubbs, a Democrat who was elected in 2016 as the city’s youngest and first Black mayor and championed universal basic income programs. A HBO documentary earlier in 2020 titled “Stockton on My Mind” followed Tubbs during his tenure as mayor.
Tubbs after leaving office has been a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration as its special advisor for economic mobility and opportunity. He earlier this year launched a campaign for lieutenant governor in the 2026 election.
