California Assemblyman Vince Fong won the special election for the remainder of Kevin McCarthy’s tenure after the former Speaker stepped down at the end last year.

Fong won the contest in a head-to-head matchup, securing 60.5% with 83% of ballots counted. The Associated Press declared the race at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.

Fong will now represent California’s 20th Congressional District in the next Congress. He also has an advantage to win the November general election for a full-term.

Fong’s victory is a win for McCarthy, the predecessor of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who was ousted in October last year and retired from Congress just three months later. Fong, who was a McCarthy staffer, ran for office with the same values as his former boss. He supported the Republican establishment.

McCarthy played an important role in Fong’s campaign, appearing at fundraisers and helping to secure the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. A political action group tied to the former Speaker also invested $450,000 in a super PAC that supports Fong’s candidacy.

This will give the Republican party more breathing space by increasing their current one-vote advantage to two. Johnson will feel relieved as he negotiates a historically slim majority with hard-line Republicans willing to go against the GOP leadership in order to achieve their goals.

McCarthy’s replacement will undermine the House’s attempts to fill other vacancies that have been announced in the past few months. These include seats left vacant by Republican Reps. Bill Johnson and Mike Gallagher. They all resigned before the expiration of their terms. The seat left vacant by the late Democratic Rep. Donald Payne is another example.

Once they have all been filled, these races will give Republicans a small boost in their majority. Johnson will face opposition from hard-line Republicans who have repeatedly threatened to remove him, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA), failed attempt at ousting Johnson earlier this month.