This Democrat is challenging Devin Nunes again in 2022. Why he says he can win next time
Fresno Democrat Phil Arballo announced Tuesday he plans to again challenge Rep. Devin Nunes, arguing that the Republican is ripe for an upset following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and potentially redrawn congressional districts that could dilute Nunes’ support.
Arballo’s entry sets up a rematch of the 2020 election, which Nunes won by eight percentage points. Nunes, a close ally of President Donald Trump entering his 10th term in Congress, raised more than $26 million to defeat Arballo.
Both of Nunes’ closest reelection campaigns occurred during the Trump administration, when Nunes gained a national reputation by defending Trump during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into election interference and during the president’s impeachment last year.
Trump earlier this month awarded Nunes the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In bestowing the medal, Trump praised Nunes for his work to discredit investigations into whether the 2016 Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Russia.
More recently, Nunes, R-Tulare, was among the Republicans who voted to reject election results from two states Trump lost. The vote took place hours after a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to demand Congress reject President Joe Biden’s election.
Five people died as a result of the attack, including one Capitol Police officer. The House impeached Trump over the riot a week later, with 10 Republicans voting to impeach alongside all House Democrats. Nunes voted against impeaching Trump.
Arballo said Nunes’ votes on impeachment and the election results are the main reasons he decided to run a second time.
“I didn’t feel like it was right to continue to hang back. It wasn’t a decision I thought I would make this early, but we have to keep him accountable,” Arballo said during a phone call with McClatchy on Monday. “He needs to know his actions have consequences.”
Arballo raised about $5 million trying to unseat Nunes, a huge amount for a first-time candidate to the House. But Nunes’ fundraising dwarfed Arballo’s.
Nunes spent four times that amount in his 2020 campaign, and still had $10 million left in the bank that he can use in 2022. Arballo had only $30,000 left in his campaign account by the end of 2020.
It’s not clear what Nunes’ district will look like in 2022, as a bipartisan California commission still has to announce the new lines. Many experts anticipate that California will lose at least one congressional seat after the Census.
“We’re keeping an eye on what the next district lines are, but we want to make sure we have the resources to roll out when the time comes,” Arballo said. “We don’t think the lines are going to dramatically change, but we think they might be improved upon in terms of competitiveness.”
California voters in other congressional districts also could see a rematch on their ballots in 2022. Both former Democratic Reps. Tj Cox and Harley Rouda have said they plan to run for the seats they just lost to Republicans in 2020.
Arballo still has the endorsement of Andrew Janz, a Fresno deputy district attorney who raised $9 million challenging Nunes in 2018. Janz said Arballo is “best positioned to take on Nunes again.” Janz is now the president of the Voter Protection Project, a political committee that works to get Democrats elected.
“This cycle will be different because Democrats will be able to utilize one of our biggest strengths: grassroots field operations,” Janz said. “COVID took a sledgehammer to that last cycle.”
Arballo, a financial adviser whose 2020 run was his first for public office, believes his campaign was hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. He had decided to not have campaign staff knock on doors or hold large-scale in-person campaign events, because “we didn’t want to get people sick and we wanted to take the virus seriously.”
Arballo said he thinks how the Biden administration handles the pandemic and the vaccine rollout will influence down-ballot races.
“We have to get the economy back up and running and our kids back in school, and if that happens, with the redistricting, we have a very good chance at flipping this district,” Arballo said.
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "This Democrat is challenging Devin Nunes again in 2022. Why he says he can win next time."
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