Rudy Salas will challenge David Valadao for Congress again, setting up a close 2024 rematch

A San Joaquin Valley rematch in 2024 could be the election that determines party control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Former Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a Bakersfield Democrat, announced Tuesday that he would again challenge Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, in California’s 22nd Congressional District.

Valadao, 46, won the left-leaning 22nd in 2022 by a 3% margin of victory.

Election analysts predict another close race for the stretch of farmland from Hanford to Shafter in 2024. Before Salas announced his candidacy, nonpartisan forecasters predicted the race would either be a toss-up or lean in Valadao’s favor.

Valadao and Salas spent heavily in 2022, buying the most television ads of any House race in the country. The rematch could be just as closely fought. Forecasters think the House majority itself is a toss-up, meaning Democrats or Republicans could hold the gavel in 2025.

The jabs started early Tuesday.

“David Valadao says one thing in the Valley and then does the opposite when he’s in Washington,” Salas said. “My message is clear: David Valadao’s votes for higher prescription drug prices and healthcare costs are an attack on our wallets and Valadao’s support for criminalizing abortion, including for the victims of rape, is an attack on our personal freedoms.”

“Rudy Salas remains the same self-serving politician that drove up inflation, raised the gas tax, voted for a medicine tax and attacked the Valley’s way of life — only now Salas is even more desperate for a taxpayer salary,” said Ben Petersen, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s campaign arm.

Salas, 46, might have an easier path to victory in 2024. The Bakersfield native, who represented the area in the Assembly for a decade, will be an established congressional candidate who has already raised money to run for the House. And midterm elections like 2022 tend to be tougher for the party of the president, now a Democrat.

Analysts thought that the 2022 race would be close since redistricting — the redrawing of legislative boundaries — put Valadao in a bluer district than the one he held. Voters in the 22nd would have backed President Joe Biden by 13 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election. There are more registered Democrats than Republicans.

If Salas wins, he could be the first Latino to represent the San Joaquin Valley in the House. California’s 22nd district is a Latino-majority voting district, with about 62% of voters there identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

Salas grew up helping his farmworker father in the fields. He was the first Latino member of his hometown Bakersfield city council, and he served in the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2022.

“My time in service has been dedicated to fighting for the people who grow our food, produce our gas, teach our children, and care for our seniors, “ Salas said.

Valadao has won many tough races. The Hanford dairy farmer, first elected to Congress in 2013, narrowly lost his seat to Democrat T.J. Cox in 2020 and won it back two years later. Cox now faces federal fraud charges, including an alleged illegal campaign contribution.

One of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection, Valadao is one of only two who returned this year. He has championed water access and agricultural needs in the Central Valley.

“Congressman Valadao is focused on securing federal resources for Valley farmers and families impacted by flooding, stopping the flow of fentanyl into our communities, and lowering the skyrocketing price of energy bills,” Andrew Renteria, a spokesman for Valadao, said. “Central Valley families want results, not a never-ending campaign.”