Your guide to California's 13th Congressional District primary race

Mathew Miranda, The Sacramento Bee on Apr 20, 2026

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Two Republicans are hoping to unseat an incumbent Democrat in a Central Valley swing district that could determine control of the House.

U.S. Rep. Adam Gray faces entrepreneur Vinay Kruttiventi and former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln in California’s 13th Congressional District. Gray flipped the seat in 2024 by just 187 votes, and it remains one of the state’s few remaining competitive House races following redistricting under Proposition 50.

Despite a roughly 15-point Democratic voter registration advantage now, the district remains closely divided. Vice President Kamala Harris would have carried it by just half a percentage point over President Donald Trump in 2024. Nonpartisan election analysts at Inside Elections currently rate the seat as “tilt Democratic.”

The race has drawn national attention. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed Lincoln in December, underscoring Republicans’ focus on reclaiming the district. Still, Gray has maintained a significant fundraising advantage.

Where is the district?

The 13th District has remained mostly the same following Proposition 50, encompassing areas in Patterson, Modesto, Turlock, Atwater, Merced, Madera, Los Banos and Firebaugh.

The biggest change is that the boundaries now go further north to cover French Camp and Stockton, which is Lincoln’s hometown. Coalinga, Mendota and Huron are no longer in the district.

Who are the candidates?

Gray has represented the 13th District since 2024. A native of Merced, he grew up working at his family’s dairy supply and feed store, and previously served in the state Assembly for a decade. In Sacramento, he founded the bipartisan California Problem Solvers Caucus, helped secure funding for a medical school at University of California, Merced and worked to improve water access for farmers. He is currently a member of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committees and is the whip of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats. Gray’s campaign website states that his agenda “is simple: lower food, housing and utilities costs,” increase water supply for farms and decrease the “red tape that keeps infrastructure projects on the drawing board.”

Kruttiventi is an entrepreneur who was heavily influenced by his grandfather, who worked alongside Mahatma Gandhi in India, according to his campaign website. Kruttiventi founded several startups and runs A5, a business and technology consulting firm. He also works with several nonprofit organizations in the Central Valley including some that mentor and provide financial support to small businesses, per his website. He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024 against Democrat Eric Swalwell in California’s 14th Congressional District, located in the East Bay (Swalwell resigned his seat in April, following multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment). Kruttiventi, resident of Pleasanton, says his focus for the 13th district will be elevating the standards of education, fighting inflation, increasing national and border security and removing “bureaucratic obstacles that burden small businesses.”

Lincoln is a Marine Corps veteran who later became a minister and mayor of Stockton, elected in 2019. A third-generation Stockton resident and grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Lincoln initially challenged U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy, in the 9th District but switched his race following the passage of Prop 50. His campaign website touts his record serving the community, business experience working at a private security company and years in elected office “pushing partisanship aside” to address budgets, job creation, violent crime and homelessness. The website also states Washington’s policies and partisanship are “making life harder” for the Central Valley and claims he will be the leader that is needed to “put people before politics.”

Who is funding the race?

Gray has a huge financial lead over his opponents, raising roughly $3.28 million from Jan. 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. His top funders were Democratic Party political action committees such as the JFW Fund, Gray Whitesides Victory Fund and FrontLine Protection Fund, the latter of which raises money for House Democrats in swing districts.

Lincoln came in second with $1.26 million raised during that same time frame. He has made major strides in the last few months by receiving about $747,000 in contributions from Jan. 1 to March 31. Much of the donations have stemmed from WinRed, a political action campaign and online fundraising platform for the Republican Party.

Kruttiventi was last in fundraising with roughly $876,000 raised. More than $300,000 was from donations he made himself.

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