Your guide to California’s 22nd Congressional District primary race
The election for California’s 22nd Congressional District is once again shaping up to be one of the most closely watched battleground races in the country.
In the June primary, Republican Rep. David Valadao will try to fend off two Democratic opponents — California Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains and college professor Randy Villegas. Valadao has repeatedly defied the odds by winning the Central Valley district, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans, in six out of the past seven elections.
This year, the district will have a slightly higher Democratic registration advantage following Proposition 50’s voter approved redistricting. And Valadao continues to face scrutiny after casting a deciding vote to slash the Medicaid coverage as part of President Trump’s sweeping federal policy bill passed last summer. Even so, nonpartisan election analysts at Inside Elections currently rate the seat as “tilt Republican.”
The two Democratic challengers for the seat offer competing visions for the district. Bains, who is backed by party leaders and major labor groups, is a moderate Democrat while Villegas has embraced progressive policy platforms and built grassroots support. Both have raised similar amounts of money thus far, but significantly trail Valadao’s fundraising.
Where is the district?
Under the new map, District 22 has slightly narrowed, while extending north to include smaller towns like Huron, Riverdale, Caruthers, Kerman and San Joaquin.
It will also continue to encompass parts of Tulare, Porterville, Wasco and Bakersfield. Hanford, which is Valadao’s hometown, now makes up a smaller part of the district.
Who are the candidates?
Bains is a working physician who has served in the California Assembly for almost four years. She was born and raised in Delano to parents who immigrated from India. A moderate Democrat, she became the first Sikh American and the first woman of South Asian descent elected to the Legislature when she won in 2022. While in the Assembly, she has broken with her party on votes on oil and gas regulations. Bains announced her candidacy for Congress last year by ripping Valadao for supporting Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act and its associated Medicaid cuts. Her campaign website lists affordable healthcare, protecting Medicare and Medicaid from “devastating cuts,” curbing inflation and eliminating “reckless tariffs” as top priorities if she’s elected to Congress.
Valadao is a six-term congressmember who was most recently elected in 2024. He was raised in Hanford to Portuguese immigrants who established a dairy farm in the Central Valley. Valadao served one term in the California Assembly before winning a seat in Congress in 2012. He has since won five of the six subsequent elections, with one loss in 2018. Valadao currently serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for originating legislation that allocates federal spending, as well as three subcommittees: Legislative Branch, Defense and Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration. Some of Valadao’s top issues are protecting water supply, fighting for farmers, taking care of veterans and affordable healthcare, according to his campaign website.
Villegas is a college professor and school board trustee who has branded himself as the progressive Democrat in the race. He was raised in Kern County to immigrant parents from Mexico. Villegas later became the first in his family to earn a Ph.D., according to his campaign website. He has refused to accept any donations from corporate political action committees, and attacked Valadao who he says has “consistently sided with corporate interests” over the needs of Central Valley communities. The top issues on Villegas’ website are Medicare for all, universal childcare and family leave, as well as holding corporate polluters accountable and ending corporate ownership of single-family homes.
Who is funding the race?
Valadao has a significant fundraising advantage over his two opponents. He raised more than $4.1 million from Jan. 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, according to the Federal Election Commission website, and reported having $2.8 million on hand.
His largest contributors are GOP leadership political action committees including Speaker Mike Johnson’s PAC Grow the Majority, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s PAC Majority Builders and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s PAC Defend Our Majority.
Villegas raised roughly $1.3 million in that same time frame, which beat out Bains’ $1.1 million. Both reported having about $700,000 on hand.
Some of Villegas’ biggest donations came from progressive PACs and organizations like the Working Families Party, Congressional Progressive Caucus and Leaders We Deserve.
Bains’ top contributors are PACs aligned with her medical background including the 314 Action Impact Slate, The Doctors Company Federal and American Society of Anesthesiologists.
