CALIFORNIA, USA — David Valadao has always been a political outlier. A Republican from a Hanford dairy family, he was first elected in 2012 and has regularly outperformed the blue tint of his district. The secret to his success: A moderate brand of Republicanism, coupled with low turnout among the area’s largest Democratic leaning voting bloc, Latinos. That luck briefly petered out during the “blue wave” election in 2018, when he was unseated by a Democrat. But in 2020, Valadao was reelected.
There have been two big changes since November 2020. First, when former President Trump was impeached after his rioting supporters breached the U.S. Capitol, Valadao was one of only 10 Republicans to cast a “yea” vote. The second major change: The state’s redistricting commission left the portion of the Valley that includes Hanford even more Democratic-leaning than it was before.
One of the Capitol’s more business-friendly Democrats, Assemblymember Rudy Salas has represented Hanford and the I-5 side of Kern County in the Assembly since 2012. Like Valadao, he proudly touts his party-bucking bipartisanship. His claims to fame include being the lone Democrat to vote against a gas tax hike in 2017 and authoring an unsuccessful bill to increase penalties on shoplifters earlier this year.
CA-22 Election Results
View below for election updates from the Associated Press on the race between David Valadao and Rudy Salas for California's 22nd Congressional District.
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