CD-22: The race that could tip control of Congress
Candidates: Democrat Rudy Salas v. Republican David Valadao
In this November election, the valley’s Congressional District 22 (CD-22) is considered one of the most competitive races in the country. It’s the best opportunity we have to mobilize disenfranchised voters in the Central Valley to send a Democrat to Congress while claiming the power they deserve.
Here are brief profiles of the two candidates for CD-22:
Meet Democrat Rudy Salas
Born and raised in the Central Valley, Salas is a lifelong Central Valley resident. He worked his way from laboring in the fields with his father to graduating from UCLA and then became the first Latino elected to the Bakersfield City Council. He has since served five terms in the California State Assembly, winning by big margins over his Republican challengers. Although Salas is well-known in his former Assembly District, which encompasses much—but not all—of CD-22, the redistricted congressional district includes voters who are not familiar with who he is or his record.
Salas has fought for the things that matter most to Central Valley families and workers. That means health care and clean water, workers’ rights, expanded workforce development programs, and financial support for small businesses.
Health care: Salas has been a leader bringing attention and money to care for people with Valley Fever, a disease caused by a fungus that grows in the soil. His efforts delivered a total of $10 million in investment for research and outreach for this illness. Salas also fought to secure funding for an emergency response center in Avenal and saved Kern Medical Center from closing its doors. During the worst of the pandemic, he was instrumental in getting hundreds of thousands of protective equipment items to essential workers in hospitals and agriculture.
Clean water: Getting clean water—even just to drink at home—is also a big problem in the Central Valley. Salas helped secure $12.5 million specifically for local safe drinking water projects. He also authored legislation to keep drinking water safe and affordable by expanding financial assistance to water systems in severely disadvantaged rural communities.
And, in this post-Roe world, Salas has stood firmly in support of women’s reproductive rights.
About Republican David Valadao
Coming from a swing district, Valadao likes to be described as a moderate Republican who focuses on local issues, primarily water and agriculture. He also wrote and supported legislation that would offer citizenship to some undocumented immigrants. And he voted to impeach Trump after January 6th.
However, he has voted—and continues to vote—in lockstep with the GOP on critical issues. Before his defeat in 2018, he voted over and over again to repeal the Affordable Care Act and presumably he will do so again. Recently, he voted against the bill to cap the price of insulin and the bipartisan infrastructure package.
In this post-Roe world, he has co-sponsored, along with 162 other Republicans, “The Life At Conception Act,” legislation that would grant fetuses the constitutional “right to life” from the moment of conception. This would ban almost all abortions at any stage of pregnancy. And he has voted against the “Assuring Access to Abortion” bill that would not allow states to prohibit a woman from traveling to obtain an abortion where it is legal.