California Republican who voted to impeach Trump advances in toss-up US House race
One of California’s closest November races for the United States House of Representatives is set.
The Associated Press called the race in California’s 22nd Congressional District for Congressman David Valadao, R-Hanford, on Friday night. The AP had said that his challenger, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, advanced on election night almost three weeks ago.
It is the only race in California that four independent analysis organizations still rate as a toss-up for either a Democrat or Republican after the June 7 primary.
Valadao, 45, has represented areas around the new 22nd district for the better part of the last decade. Salas, also 45, has done the same in the State Assembly.
When the AP called the race, Salas had 45.4% of the votes; Valadao, 25.6%. Nearly 97% of ballots were counted.
Most votes went to Republicans overall. Salas was the sole Democratic contender.
Still, 42% of voters there are registered as Democrats while 26% are Republicans. And the new 22nd formed through redistricting, the redrawing of legislative boundaries based on census data, would have picked President Joe Biden by a 13% margin in the 2020 election.
But the party opposite of the sitting president tends to do better in midterm elections. With Biden’s approval rating sagging under the weight of inflation and pandemic policies, analysts have predicted Republicans to sweep nationwide and take control of the House in 2023.
The race also foreshadows former President Donald Trump’s influence on the GOP in elections. Closely trailing Valadao was Chris Mathys, an ardent supporter of the former president who attempted to register as a “Trump conservative” on the ballot. Mathys, a businessman and former member of the Fresno City Council, took 23.1% of votes.
Valadao was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach the former president over his connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump did not endorse anyone in the 22nd district’s House primary.
The congressman’s advancement finalizes the field of congressional candidates from the Central Valley who will be on November’s ballots.
Valadao vs. Salas
Through redistricting, Valadao ended up in a slightly more Democratic district; it stretches from Hanford past Wasco. Valadao’s current district would have gone for Biden by 11 percentage points in 2020.
The Hanford dairy farmer has been in the election hot seat before. He lost and regained his seat in 2018 and 2020 respectively, both times in elections decided on razor-thin margins against former Congressman T.J. Cox. Valadao handily won his elections to Congress in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
In Congress, Valadao has backed several measures related to water access and agriculture. He sits on two subcommittees of the funding-designating House Appropriations Committee: one that focuses on agriculture, food and rural development and another on military construction and veteran’s affairs.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Valadao was a member of the California State Assembly.
Salas assumed Valadao’s Assembly seat in 2012. Since, he has pushed measures on water infrastructure, public safety and education. He is the chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which monitors government finances and operations.
The Bakersfield native was the first Latino to serve on his hometown’s city council. If elected, Salas would be the first Latino to represent the Central Valley in the U.S. House.
The majority of voters in the 22nd are Hispanic. Valadao, whose family emigrated from the Azores Islands of Portugal, is identified as Hispanic by the House’s historian.
Both Salas and Valadao are lifelong residents of the Valley and considered moderates within their respective parties.
Valadao and Trump
Valadao was one of a few California Republicans whom Trump did not endorse ahead of the June 7 primary. He got the endorsement of the state’s GOP and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally.
After voting for impeachment over Jan. 6, the California Republican said that Trump’s “inciting rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense.”
Valadao voted for, then against, forming a committee in 2021 to investigate the insurrection. The first version would have been an independent, bipartisan panel while the second, and current, version would be made of House members primarily picked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
“The January 6 incident was an attack on not only our legislative institution, but on our legislators themselves,” he said of voting against the committee. “The Members of Congress who will sit on the select committee cannot be expected to investigate the tragic day they lived through firsthand with impartiality.”
Since then, he has been silent on the former president and Jan. 6, unlike other members of the GOP. But unlike in every other race with a Republican who voted to impeach, Trump did not endorse one of Valadao’s challengers.
Only six of those 10 Republicans were seeking re-election. Rep. Tom Rice just lost the South Carolina GOP primary to a Trump-backed challenger. Rice and Valadao were the only ones to face elections so far, with the other four doing so in August.
This story was originally published June 26, 2022 at 12:06 PM with the headline "California Republican who voted to impeach Trump advances in toss-up US House race."
