GOP Rep. Valadao to face progressive Villegas in key California House district, in defeat for moderate Democrats

Republican Rep. David Valadao will run against progressive Randy Villegas in the general election in California’s 22nd Congressional District, CBS News projects.

Last week’s primary pitted the Republican incumbent against two Democrats, with the top two vote-getters advancing to November. Villegas was projected as the second candidate to advance on Tuesday, a week after the election, after a close contest.

Moderate Democrat Jasmeet Bains did not advance, in an embarrassing defeat for establishment Democrats amid an intraparty feud about the party’s future.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss up after California voters approved a new congressional map last year to counter Texas’ redrawn districts, reshaping the Bakersfield-area 22nd district.

A late intervention by the House Democrats’ campaign arm added some last-minute drama to the race when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee offered support to Bains, a state assembly member.

The intervention became the latest fight in the broader debate within the Democratic Party over how well progressives can perform in competitive races. It’s playing out in a district in California’s Central Valley that is heavily Hispanic — a key constituency that shifted away from Democrats in 2024. 

“The Democratic Party has taken Latino communities for granted,” Villegas, who is Latino, recently told CBS News. “Far too late, far too little for Latino communities. And this is just another example of that.”

Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, backed Villegas in a statement shortly after his win Tuesday, calling him “a son of the Valley” and “the kind of people-first leader Valley voters deserve.”

Valadao was first elected to Congress in 2012 but narrowly lost his bid for a fourth term in 2018, when Democrats flipped more than 40 seats and won back control of the House. Valadao ran again in 2020 for his old seat and won. 

If Valadao notches another victory in November, he will be the last of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump in 2021 over the Capitol riot to remain in Congress.