Sanders pushes progressive agenda in California swing district race

Bernie Sanders is testing whether a bluntly progressive economic message can take hold in California’s 22nd Congressional District, a Central Valley battleground where Republicans have held on by pairing local pragmatism with cultural and economic caution. The seat, held by GOP Rep. David Valadao, goes to a top-two primary on June 2, and Democrats see it as one of the clearest chances to cut into the House map.

The fight inside the Democratic primary has turned into a larger argument over what kind of politics can work in a district with a large Latino electorate and a long history of splitting its ticket. Sanders has endorsed Randy Villegas, a 31-year-old Visalia Unified School District board member and auto shop owner, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is backing Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains. Both are trying to prove they can unseat Valadao, but they are offering different routes to do it.

Villegas has become the vehicle for Sanders’s more explicit populist pitch, one centered on universal health care and taxing the wealthy. Bains, by contrast, has the support of national party leaders who are wary of conceding too much ground to a left-wing message in a district that Cook Political Report rates as a Toss Up. Valadao has repeatedly survived in the district by presenting himself as a practical lawmaker focused on water access and cost-of-living issues, themes that continue to matter across the Central Valley.

The Sanders endorsement is part of a broader effort to push progressives beyond deep-blue districts. Sanders has also backed Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin and Robert Peters in Illinois, signaling that the left wants a wider lane in competitive House races. That strategy comes as Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have drawn large crowds on their Fighting Oligarchy tour, including in Republican-held districts.

Faiz Shakir, a Sanders adviser, said 13 of the 16 tour stops were in GOP-held congressional districts, and said the tour drew more than 250,000 people. He also said about one-third of new signees were not registered Democrats, a sign that Sanders is trying to reach beyond the party base as he presses the case that economic populism can still compete in red-leaning places.

In California’s 22nd, the primary has become a test of whether that theory can survive contact with a district that rewards moderation, punishes overreach and will help decide whether Democrats have a credible path back to the House majority.