Democrats clash over California House primary in key Hispanic district

The Democratic Party’s fight over electability, ideology and who gets to speak for Latino voters has spilled into California’s 22nd Congressional District, where party leaders are trying to put a moderate physician over a progressive challenger in one of the state’s most competitive House races.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added California Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains to its Red to Blue program in early May, giving her fundraising and organizational muscle as she seeks to take on Republican Rep. David Valadao. The move ignited an unusually public intraparty fight with Randy Villegas, the progressive candidate, who accused party leaders of acting like “D.C. elites” and called the endorsement “undemocratic.” The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC then rebuked the DCCC and said, “Voters, not the DCCC, should pick Democratic nominees.”

The DCCC is betting that Bains has the stronger profile for a seat the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rates as a toss-up. Bains, a Bakersfield physician, has won twice in her state legislative district, which overlaps heavily with the 22nd District, and she ran more than seven points ahead of the top of the ticket in her 2024 Assembly race. The party’s campaign arm says it is backing candidates across the ideological spectrum who are best positioned to win in November, and it argues Bains would fight to “lower costs, expand access to health care, and strengthen public safety.”

Villegas has countered with backing from Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Working Families Party and local Democratic organizations in Kern, Tulare, Fresno and Kings counties. Those county parties said the DCCC’s intervention was a slap to local Democrats, while the California Democratic Party declined to endorse a candidate at its February convention after neither Democrat reached the 60 percent threshold. A Data for Progress memo dated May 11 showed Villegas ahead 25 percent to 21 percent in a primary survey, underscoring how unsettled the race remains.

The district is central to Democrats’ effort to win back the House majority. It stretches across parts of Kern, Kings and Tulare counties, has a population of about 770,684 and is majority-Latino after redistricting. It is also one of the five GOP-held California seats redrawn under the state’s voter-approved map, with national Democrats treating it as one of their clearest pickup chances in 2026. Valadao won the 2024 general election over Rudy Salas, and the June 2 primary will determine which Democrat advances in a district where the national progressive-moderate debate is being rewritten by local realities and Latino turnout.