The political landscape in California’s Central Valley is heating up, setting the stage for one of the most consequential Democratic primaries in the nation ahead of the 2026 midterms. In California’s 22nd Congressional District—a region defined by its agricultural backbone, large Hispanic population, and persistent economic struggles—two Democrats with sharply contrasting visions are vying to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. David Valadao. The contest is rapidly becoming a microcosm of the broader debate over the future direction of the Democratic Party itself.
Randy Villegas, a school board trustee from Visalia, launched his campaign in March 2025, declaring to Politico, “I’m running on an economic populist message.” Villegas believes this approach is the key to flipping the 22nd District, which is among the most competitive in the country and has swung between parties over the past decade. The seat is currently held by Valadao, who secured a seven-point victory in 2024—a wider margin than his previous win, reflecting the Republican Party’s growing strength in the region.
However, Villegas’s path to the Democratic nomination became more complicated in July, when Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, who has represented California’s 35th Assembly District since 2022, announced her own bid for Congress. According to The San Joaquin Valley Sun, Bains was encouraged to run by the state’s Democratic establishment, which was reportedly dissatisfied with Villegas’s candidacy. This move has fueled accusations among progressive activists that the party leadership is tipping the scales in favor of a more moderate, establishment-aligned candidate.
Bains’s record in Sacramento has set her apart from many in her party. She has frequently bucked the Democratic caucus on high-profile bills, including measures to crack down on oil company price-gouging and allocate funds for wildfire prevention. She voted against both, a stance that has drawn criticism from the party’s left wing but has not diminished her appeal among statewide Democratic leaders. Bains has secured endorsements from Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and State Controller Malia Cohen, underscoring her establishment support.
The stakes in this race are high—not just for the future of the 22nd District, but for Democrats’ national ambitions. Despite redistricting changes since 2020, Valadao’s increased margin in 2024 signaled Republican gains among Hispanic voters, a trend mirrored nationally. For Democrats, reclaiming the seat is seen as critical to retaking the House in 2026. But how best to do so remains hotly contested.
Villegas, who is endorsed by the Working Families Party, is running as a clear alternative to business-as-usual politics. In an interview with Salon, he argued, “We know that we need an economy that actually works for the working class, and not just for billionaires and those at the top. We live in one of the most impoverished districts in the nation. We live in a district where our farm workers get up every single day at the crack of dawn to go help feed the rest of the world. Meanwhile, they struggle to feed their own families.”
Villegas’s campaign has zeroed in on campaign finance, criticizing Bains for accepting corporate PAC donations from many of the same companies that support Valadao, including Pfizer, Chevron, AT&T, and ExxonMobil. “I don’t believe that we can be a party that claims to champion working-class people if we’re receiving the same money from corporate PACs that Republicans are,” Villegas told Salon. He has pledged not to accept corporate donations and ended the most recent filing period with $125,000 in his campaign account—far less than Valadao’s $1.4 million war chest, but a point of pride for his grassroots campaign.
Healthcare is another central theme. Villegas has called for major reform, including support for a single-payer system, and highlighted the grim reality that “two out of every three bankruptcies in this country are tied to medical debt. Every year, over 66,000 people die because they don’t have health insurance—not because we couldn’t treat them, not because we couldn’t save them, but because of a system that denied them care.” For Villegas, the party’s message must go beyond opposing Trump-era policies. “We should be fighting for more than that,” he insists.
Bains, for her part, has defended her voting record and donor list, explaining to Salon that “we represent the same area,” and that corporate support is a function of shared constituency, not ideology. She’s also stood by her vote against California’s anti-price-gouging gas law, citing the state’s refusal to suspend its gas tax during periods of high prices. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bains declared, “Stand alone if you must, but always stand for the truth. As the lone Democrat to oppose the new gas tax, I will never throw my constituents under the bus. I will continue to fight for lower gas prices and a stronger Kern County.”
While Bains has drawn fire from progressives for her moderate stances, she has directed her campaign’s sharpest criticism at Valadao and his support for the Republican budget reconciliation bill—dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill” by former President Donald Trump—which included historic cuts to social programs such as Medicaid and SNAP benefits. “This is about Democrats uniting against what’s happening to a district like the 22nd,” Bains said. “This race is about bringing awareness to the fact that David Valadao gave us his word that he would not vote for that, and he betrayed us, and he voted to decimate healthcare in an area like this that has some of the highest Medicaid patients.”
On the question of healthcare reform, both candidates express support for universal coverage, though with different emphases. Villegas’s campaign has signaled forthcoming details for a platform centered on single-payer healthcare and incremental reforms along the way. Bains, when asked about her position, responded, “Universal health care is the dream that I hope one day becomes a reality, and I hope one day to definitely work on that.”
Despite the intensity of the primary, both Villegas and Bains have yet to release comprehensive policy platforms, though Villegas has promised more details in the coming weeks. Bains’s campaign, being newly launched, has not yet filed federal campaign finance disclosures, but her base of establishment backers and legislative record are already under scrutiny from both sides of the Democratic spectrum.
Meanwhile, Valadao waits in the wings with a substantial financial advantage and the benefit of incumbency. The primary, scheduled for June 2, 2026, is still months away, and it remains unclear whether the 22nd District will be affected by potential redistricting before then—a wildcard that could reshape the race entirely.
As the contest unfolds, it’s clear that California’s 22nd District is more than just another battleground seat. It’s a proving ground for the Democratic Party’s identity crisis, testing whether economic populism or establishment pragmatism will win the day. Voters here will soon decide not only who speaks for them in Washington, but perhaps, in some small way, who speaks for the party itself.
