Speaker Johnson Rallies at Port of Stockton, Calls Lincoln's House Bid a 'Top Five Race'

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson came to the Port of Stockton on Wednesday to urge voters to send a well-known local figure to Congress, describing the race for California's 13th congressional district as one of the most important in the country.

"This is a top five race in America right now," Johnson told roughly 200 people gathered to back former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln. "That's why I'm here today." Lincoln is challenging incumbent Rep. Adam Gray of Merced.

About 21 races are expected to decide whether Republicans keep control of the House in November, and the agriculture-heavy District 13 may be among them, judging by how often Johnson has visited the region this year. Republicans have put millions of dollars into the contest, and dozens of state and national party leaders have endorsed Lincoln, including early support from President Donald Trump.

Lincoln originally filed to take on Rep. Josh Harder again in District 9, having lost to him in 2024. He changed course to run against Gray after voters approved Proposition 50, which redrew California's congressional lines. Gray narrowly won the seat in 2024, in the last House race to be called.

Republican officials turned out in numbers at the rally, among them Rep. Tom McClintock of California and Reps. Craig Goldman and Brandon Gill of Texas. Lincoln, a former Marine and church administrator, walked onto the stage to Montgomery Gentry's "My Town" and spoke of his family's Stockton roots, a few miles from the venue. His grandfather, who came from Mexico, worked about 40 years at a cannery near the port before becoming a U.S. citizen, he said. "The Central Valley is my home," Lincoln said. "These are my people, and this is the community that I love."

Afterward, Lincoln described the backing he has received as "humbling" and "unprecedented," calling it a weight he embraces as "a call to service." If elected, he said, his focus would be lowering the cost of living and expanding access to healthcare.

The math may be difficult for Republicans. Voter registration records suggest the redrawn district, which now takes in south Stockton, could still lean Democratic. Before the redistricting, 42.3% of its voters were registered as Democrats. Lincoln pointed to the 187-vote margin by which Gray flipped the seat from Republican incumbent John Duarte in 2024. "That's a number I'll never forget," he told Stocktonia.

Johnson dismissed polling from left-leaning outlets showing Republicans struggling in the midterms, saying it is "wrong." He argued that this election differs from other midterms because "people know the stakes," framing the choice as one between a constitutional republic and the Democratic Party's "Marxist left."

Manuel Zapata, chair of the San Joaquin County Democratic Central Committee, disputed the idea that the race ranks among the nation's most competitive. "We understand Kevin Lincoln as a candidate isn't very strong," he said, adding that Republicans keep supporting candidates despite earlier defeats. He cited Tom Patti, a former county supervisor who is challenging Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom after failed bids for Congress in 2022 and Stockton mayor in 2024.

In the crowd, Timothy Flood, a 75-year-old retired production foreman from Stockton and Vietnam veteran, waved a sign from the center row. He said he came mainly to see Johnson and support the party, and that Lincoln "brought being honest to the city." On Lincoln's chances, Flood said: "If you don't get out and go for it, you'll never have a shot."