BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Political newcomer Randy Villegas has won the U.S. House of Representatives seat in District 22 against Republican incumbent David Valadao. The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning after Villegas showed a decisive lead in early election results.
As of publication, Villegas received 66.4% of votes compared to Valadao’s 33.6%.
Valadao represented the San Joaquin Valley in Congress for six out of the last seven elections. Valadao first held a congressional seat in 2012 and was re-elected in 2020 after Democrat T.J. Cox unseated him for one term. The district was redrawn after a Democratic gerrymander effort last year to counter similar efforts by Republicans in other states.
The redrawn House District 22 covers parts of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.
Villegas declared victory at his election night party in Bakersfield long before the race was officially called. He addressed a crowd of about 200 supporters and thanked them for the journey.
“A lot of people wrote us off. We had to beat our own party to get to where we are today,” Villegas told the crowd. “We beat the Democratic establishment. We beat the Republican establishment.”
Valadao did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the results.
Throughout his campaign, Villegas made promises of establishing healthcare for all, lowering costs and helping reform immigration policies. He emphasized that he did not take funding from corporate political action committees.
Villegas said one of his first acts in Congress will be to help undo health cuts from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid and established new work requirements in order to qualify.
“We have the most Medicaid recipients in the entire country in this district, and despite that, my opponent voted to go give tax breaks to billionaires,” Villegas said. “That is money that our communities deserve. Those are resources our communities deserve. I'm going to fight like hell to reverse that damage and restore funding to Medicaid, SNAP, WIC and so many programs that our working families rely on.”
According to Kaiser Family Foundation data, 62% of residents in the current district are enrolled in Medicaid, which is the largest enrollment in the safety net program of any Republican-held congressional district in the entire country.
Valadao ultimately supported the bill after saying he wouldn’t make significant cuts to Medicaid. A provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes that residents in districts with high Medicaid enrollment would be exempt from the Medicaid work rules, according to KFF Health News,though that carve out in the legislation was never promoted widely.
Last year, California redrew the congressional district to favor Democrats. Proposition 50 widened the political gap: Democrats now make up 42% of registered voters, compared to 40% before the effort.
House District 22 was watched closely by both parties looking to flip the district. High-profile politicians stumped in Bakersfield for the candidates in the lead up to the election.
Valadao was endorsed by House Speaker Mike Johnson while Villegas was endorsed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
House District 22 was far from the only congressional district that helped deliver control of Congress for Democrats. Across the country, the 2026 Midterm Elections produced surprising results that appeared to show the polls underestimated Democrats. That includes pickups in deep-red states.
