Villegas defeats Bains in Central Valley House race

from Maya S. MillerCalMatters

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Democratic college professor Randy Villegas will face Republican Rep. David Valadao in the Central Valley district that Democrats have targeted in their national campaign to win the House.

Villegas overpowered the Assemblyman Jasmeet Bainsphysician and moderate Democrat, backed by state and national party leaders, in what amounts to a stunning rebuke of establishment politics and at odds with conventional wisdom about how to win swing districts.

Villegas bested Bains — who represents much of the district in the legislature — winning with more than 32 percent of the vote Tuesday despite being a political newcomer. He joins Valadao, who was already declared the winner of the top two race, on the November ballot.

Democrats are eager to capture Valadao’s seat in the Bakersfield-centered 22nd District, seen as a must-win as the party pushes to regain control of Congress and break Republican control of Washington, D.C.

As Villegas advanced into November, Central Valley voters signaled they were ready to try a different form of Democratic politics.

In an interview with CalMatters, Villegas said he’s proud of the number of doors knocked on, dollars raised and votes secured — all without taking corporate PAC money.

“It’s clear that voters are looking for change, and voters are looking for someone who will actually represent the values ​​of the Valley, not someone who will continually sell us out to corporate interests and billionaire donors,” he said. “This place is not for sale.”

For months, liberal activists clashed with each other what kind of democrat could woo enough working-class and Latino voters in the conservative district.

Democrats in battleground seats typically seek to promote centrist candidates like Baines — known as a “Valleycrat” in California’s Central Valley — who they say can win over Republicans and independents.

Yet this strategy has so far failed to work against Valadao. In 2022 and 2024, Democrats placed a bet on former Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a moderate like Baines who often clashed with his liberal colleagues in Sacramento. Both times he lost.

As the cost of living rises and Americans grow more skeptical of incumbents who embody the status quo, candidates like Villegas, who espouse an anti-corruption, anti-corporate and anti-establishment brand of economic populism, have gained popularity. Villegas received support from the left-leaning Working Families Party, which aims to push policies and candidates that promote working and middle-class Americans.

Voters also rejected more than $2.2 million in anti-Villegas messages from outside spending groups in the last month of the campaign. federal show campaign financial records several groups that have spent money against Villegas, including the AIPAC-affiliated Democratic Majority for Israel, several super PACs affiliated with centrist factions of House Democrats, and the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House GOP-affiliated super PAC.

Villegas ran an engaging campaign that excited voters to vote for him, in large part because he was so accessible through town halls, candidate forums and door-to-door canvassing, said Kevin Liao, a Democratic strategist who is not involved in the race.

“You have to get people motivated to show up and pull your lever, and that’s what he did,” Liao said.

Like Valadao, Baines refused to debate Villegas, declined invitations to forums and refused press interviews. She declined multiple interview requests from CalMatters, choosing instead to send written statements through a spokesperson.

A spokesman for Bains’ campaign did not return multiple calls and text messages seeking comment for this story.

“Are you offering people some sort of energetic, more ambitious vision of what government can offer? Or are you just saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to win this seat and beat a Republican’?” Liao said. “I think the voters, at least in this district, have made themselves pretty clear.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic House leadership campaign that had backed Baines, immediately accepted Villegas as the party’s nominee and announced it was going “full steam ahead” into November.

Other California Congressional Primary Winners

In the San Diego-based 48th District, California’s only other at-large seat, Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond will face Democratic San Diego City Councilwoman Marnie Von Wilpert in November. Von Wilpert unseated fellow Democrat Amar Campa-Najjar, who had twice previously run against retiring Rep. Darrell Issa.

After more than 20 years in Congress, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s name will not be on the November ballot in San Francisco. Pelosi’s handpicked successor — San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan — will face the state senator. Scott Wiener for the opportunity to lock the safe blue place in San Francisco.

Initial results were mixed for several young up-and-comers who participated in generational change platforms.

In the affluent northwest suburbs of Los Angeles, Democratic challenger Jake Levine failed to challenge aging Democratic incumbent Brad Sherman, who has represented the district for nearly 30 years. Based on the votes counted so far, Levin won only about 15% of the vote. Voters in the liberal 32nd District will likely get a sleeper race between Sherman and Republican Larry Thompson.

In Northern California’s wine country, Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson easily clinched the seat in November’s general election, but his challenger has yet to be determined. He will face either Democrat Eric Jones, a young ex-capitalist, or Republican Ray Riehle.

The Sacramento suburbs will see a matchup between Congressman Kevin Kiley, who left the Republican Party to run as an independent, and former Democratic Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, The Associated Press determined Tuesday.

And in the heart of Sacramento, Democrat Doris Matsui will face progressive City Councilwoman Mai Wang, a younger challenger backed by the progressive Working Families Party. The Associated Press announced the race for Matsui on election night, but as more ballots were processed the following week, Wang surpassed her as the top vote-getter.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.