According to an analysis by CalMatters Digital Democracy of voting records dating back to 2023, the state’s lawmakers vote against their own party’s majority position less than 1% of the time on average. Straying from the pack is rare enough that it stands out when it happens — and it often comes from legislators representing swing districts where the political middle still matters.

Topping the list of independent voters is Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Republican representing the Rancho Mirage area, who broke from his party 8% of the time — a reflection of just how competitive his district is. Wallis first won his seat in 2022 by a mere 85 votes, one of the tightest margins in California history.

This year, Wallis was the only Republican to support a bill aimed at preventing the arrest of abortion providers or gender-affirming care providers. He was also the sole GOP vote in favor of a measure barring tech companies from handing over user data to law enforcement targeting protesters or others exercising First Amendment rights. Wallis additionally backed a priority bill from the Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus intended to protect insurance coverage for gay and transgender Californians — again, the only Republican to do so.

“Republicans, Democrats, independents — nobody has a monopoly on good ideas,” Wallis said. “I was elected to represent the 500,000 constituents of Assembly District 47, so our approach has always been to judge each bill on its merits, not simply on which party supports or opposes it.”

Independent voting, already uncommon, could become even rarer in California and across the country as the electorate grows more polarized. A moderate lawmaker who casts a vote that defies the party line risks giving hardline primary challengers ammunition come election season.

This year’s primaries illustrate exactly what’s at stake for centrists. President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement has all but consumed the Republican Party, with MAGA loyalists scoring near-unanimous primary wins over more moderate GOP incumbents. On the other side, Democratic socialists and progressive challengers notched their own victories, ousting moderate Democrats in races around the country.

California lawmakers, too, have strong incentives to toe the party line. Party leadership controls valuable committee assignments, leadership posts and campaign resources that legislators depend on for reelection.

A moderate faces a reckoning

Breaking with her party may have contributed to Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains’ primary defeat in June. Bains, a moderate Democrat and family physician representing the Bakersfield area, ran for Congress this year and lost to progressive college professor Randy Villegas.

Bains ranks second among Democrats for voting against her party’s majority, doing so just under 2% of the time since she was elected to the Legislature in 2022.

Her moderate, nuanced positions — particularly on fossil fuels and health care — gave Villegas lines of attack that resonated with more left-leaning voters. Villegas will now face moderate Republican Rep. David Valadao in November, after both advanced through the state’s top-two primary system.

In an interview, Bains said she always voted based on what she believed was best for her constituents, even when it angered fellow Democrats, and that she has no regrets.

“It wasn’t for a party,” she said. “It was for them — it was for my community.”

Bains is perhaps best known as the lone Democrat who voted against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023 bill aimed at capping oil company profits. She argued the measure would harm the oil industry, a cornerstone of Kern County’s economy.

That vote drew a public rebuke from Newsom’s now-indicted former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, who wrote on social media that Bains would “probably remain alone and confused.” Then-Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon also disciplined Bains, temporarily removing her from a committee assignment.

Wallis said his Republican colleagues tend to be understanding when he crosses over to support a Democratic bill, though they don’t let him off entirely without some good-natured ribbing. He said his favorite candy bar is Twix — and after voting for a Democratic bill, he sometimes finds a Twix package on his desk with only the left-side bar still inside.

Modesto Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis ranks just behind Wallis on the list of party dissenters, breaking from most of his GOP colleagues 7% of the time.

Alanis said his colleagues understand that his district has only a slight Republican registration edge over Democrats, which gives him some latitude to occasionally vote against the party line. Still, he acknowledged that conservative primary challengers could one day use those votes against him.

Even so, he said he intends to keep voting according to his district and his conscience. If a right-wing challenger wants to make an issue of it, he said, “so be it.”

Voting no produces outliers

Other lawmakers stand out simply because they’re more willing to vote “no” than their colleagues.

Abstaining is a common tactic California legislators use to signal discomfort with a bill while avoiding an outright “no” that might anger powerful interest groups or fellow lawmakers. As CalMatters has previously reported, Democrats vote “no” less than 1% of the time. Republicans vote “no” far more often — typically around 20% of the time — but they also abstain more frequently than Democrats do.

San Diego Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio rarely skips votes. He simply votes against them. Last year, he cast more “no” votes than any other member of the Legislature.

DeMaio, who has often publicly clashed with his own party, has no qualms about voting “no” even when most Republicans vote “yes.” He ranks third among dissenters, breaking from his party’s majority position 5.5% of the time.

Notably, DeMaio broke with his party this year by voting against legislation granting pay and pension increases to the state’s public safety workers.

DeMaio said he votes against bills he believes will raise costs for California taxpayers, regardless of whether that angers wealthy or powerful groups — including the unions pushing the pay and pension legislation.

“I’m simply not going to be influenced by the power of a group,” DeMaio said. “If they support a bill that’s bad policy, I’ll vote against it.”

It helps that DeMaio runs a substantial grassroots conservative fundraising operation, which insulates him from relying on campaign donations from deep-pocketed interest groups.

On the Democratic side, Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías, who represents the Concord area, also votes “no” more often than most of her Democratic colleagues. Last year, she cast more no votes than any other member of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

She also leads Democrats in breaking from her party, having done so 2.16% of the time — largely thanks to those occasional no votes.

This year, she was the only Democrat to vote against a measure that would have given Californians the right to sue companies for forming harmful monopolies. Several moderate Democratic colleagues had expressed concern that the bill could be exploited by opportunistic law firms to shake down struggling businesses in an already high-cost state — but unlike Ávila Farías, those lawmakers chose simply not to vote rather than vote no outright.

Ávila Farías said her constituents sent her to Sacramento to make tough calls, and she’s comfortable voting “no” when she believes a proposal isn’t in their best interest or could raise costs for Californians, even when her colleagues hold back.

“It’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stand firm and raise the flag,” she said. “I’m guided more by facts, data, execution and unintended consequences than by party ideology.”

Original source: CalMatters

The post Most California Lawmakers Never Break From Their Party. Here Are the Few Who Do appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a Democrat representing the oil-rich Bakersfield area, found that out the hard way. Back in 2023, as a newly elected legislator, Bains stood alone among her fellow Democrats when she voted against a bill backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that aimed to crack down on oil company profits. It was a vote that reflected her district’s economic ties to the petroleum industry, but it also marked her as an outlier within her own party.

That independent streak may have cost her. When Bains launched a bid for Congress this year, she lost the Democratic primary to Randy Villegas, a college professor whose more progressive platform resonated with primary voters. Villegas will now face off against Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao in the November general election, while Bains’ moderate approach — and her willingness to cross party lines — appears to have left her on the outside looking in.

Her defeat raises a pointed question for other lawmakers in Sacramento who occasionally vote against their party: What’s the political cost of independence, and is that kind of maverick behavior becoming an endangered species as California’s electorate grows increasingly polarized?

Assemblymember Juan Alanis, a Modesto Republican, isn’t backing down despite the risk. He knows that a future primary opponent from his party’s right flank could someday use his votes for Democratic-authored bills as ammunition against him. But he says he plans to keep voting according to his conscience and the needs of his district, regardless of the political fallout.

“If a right-wing challenger wants to make an issue of that, then so be it,” Alanis said.

A recent analysis of legislative voting records conducted by CalMatters’ Digital Democracy team examined just how uncommon these breaks from party orthodoxy have become. The review found that lawmakers like Bains and Alanis — willing to cast the lone dissenting vote when the rest of their party lines up the other way — are a rare breed in today’s Capitol, among both Democrats and Republicans.

Reporters interviewed several of these outlier legislators from both parties about why they feel comfortable straying from the party line, and whether they worry that partisan primary challengers might one day use those votes against them at the ballot box. Their answers shed light on the shrinking space for political independence in an era of hardening partisan divides — a dynamic playing out well beyond the Central Valley and increasingly shaping races across California, including here in the Inland Empire.

In other news around the region and state:

California continues to make gradual progress on student reading scores, but a shortage of literacy coaches — educators best equipped to help struggling readers catch up — is complicating the state’s multibillion-dollar push to improve literacy outcomes. Mississippi, by contrast, saw its fourth-grade reading rankings jump from 49th in the nation in 2013 to 9th by 2024, a turnaround officials there credit in part to an aggressive expansion of literacy coaching programs. California, meanwhile, has struggled to fill those same coaching positions, even as it climbs from a 47th-place ranking in 2013 toward the middle of the pack nationally.

Closer to home, a federal judge has ordered improvements at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County after detainees alleged dangerously poor drinking water and inadequate medical care. U.S. District Judge Sunshine Suzanne Sykes issued a preliminary ruling last week finding that detainees who sued over conditions at the facility were likely to succeed in proving their constitutional rights had been violated. The GEO Group, the private, for-profit company that operates Adelanto under contract with the Department of Homeland Security, did not comment on the ruling; DHS has argued in court filings that it bears no responsibility for its contractor’s conduct. The lawsuit followed the deaths last fall of two detainees, 39-year-old Ismael Ayala-Uribe, a former DACA recipient, and 56-year-old Gabriel Garcia-Aviles — both of which remain under federal investigation amid growing scrutiny of detention conditions nationwide under the Trump administration.

Original source: CalMatters

The post California Lawmakers Who Break From the Party Line appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A new CalMatters Digital Democracy analysis of voting records shows that California lawmakers side against their own party less than 1% of the time on average, a testament to just how tightly the state Capitol operates along party lines. Still, a small handful of legislators — including one whose district stretches through the Coachella Valley — are willing to step outside the fold when they feel it’s warranted.

Topping that short list is Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Rancho Mirage Republican who represents one of the most competitive districts in the state. Wallis broke from his party on 8% of his votes, the highest rate of any lawmaker in Sacramento. That independent streak traces back to his 2022 election, which he won by a razor-thin 85 votes — one of the closest legislative races in California history.

This year alone, Wallis was the only Republican in the Assembly to support a bill barring arrests of abortion providers and gender-affirming care providers. He was also the sole GOP vote for legislation preventing tech companies from handing over user data to law enforcement targeting protesters, and the only Republican backing an LGBTQ Caucus-sponsored bill protecting insurance coverage for gay and transgender residents.

“Republicans, Democrats, independents — nobody has a monopoly on good ideas,” Wallis said. “I was elected to represent all 500,000 constituents in the 47th Assembly District, so our approach has always been to evaluate every bill on its merits, not on which party is pushing it.”

Political observers warn that such independence may become increasingly scarce, both in California and nationally, as primary elections grow more polarized. A single vote against the party line can become fodder for a more ideologically rigid challenger. This year’s primary season underscored the risk: Trump-aligned Republicans ousted several moderate incumbents nationwide, while progressive challengers knocked off centrist Democrats in a number of races.

In Sacramento, the incentives to stay in line are strong. Legislative leadership controls committee assignments, campaign support and other resources lawmakers rely on to keep their seats — making defection a costly gamble.

A Bakersfield moderate pays the price

That risk became reality for Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat and physician representing the Bakersfield region. Bains ranks second among Democrats in willingness to break from her party, doing so just under 2% of the time since taking office in 2022 — but that record may have cost her politically.

Bains ran for Congress this year and lost in the primary to progressive academic Randy Villegas, who used her more centrist voting record — particularly on oil industry regulation and health care — to draw a contrast with more progressive voters. Villegas now advances to a November matchup against moderate Republican Rep. David Valadao.

Bains, in an interview, said she has no regrets about voting her conscience rather than following the party.

“It wasn’t for a party,” she said. “It was for them; it was for my community.”

Her most notable break from Democratic orthodoxy came in 2023, when she was the lone Democrat to oppose Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bill targeting oil company profits, arguing it would hurt Kern County’s oil-dependent economy. The vote drew a sharp public rebuke from Newsom’s then-chief of staff, Dana Williamson — who has since been indicted — and led then-Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to temporarily strip Bains of a committee assignment.

Wallis said his fellow Republicans take a lighter approach when he crosses party lines, often razzing him rather than punishing him. His favorite candy, a Twix bar, has become something of an inside joke — after he casts a Democratic-friendly vote, he said, colleagues sometimes leave just the left side of a Twix on his desk.

Modesto Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis isn’t far behind Wallis, breaking from GOP colleagues 7% of the time. Alanis said his district’s nearly even partisan split gives him leeway with fellow Republicans, though he acknowledges a future primary challenger could try to use his votes against him.

“If a right-wing challenger wants to make an issue of that, then so be it,” Alanis said, adding that he intends to keep voting according to his district and his own judgment.

When ‘no’ becomes the outlier

Some lawmakers stand out simply because they’re more willing to vote “no” outright, rather than quietly abstaining — a common tactic in Sacramento for lawmakers who want to avoid angering powerful interests without casting a hard vote against them.

CalMatters has previously reported that Democrats rarely vote “no,” doing so less than 1% of the time, while Republicans oppose bills roughly 20% of the time but also abstain more frequently.

San Diego Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio is an exception to that pattern — he doesn’t shy away from casting “no” votes, and last year recorded more of them than any other legislator. DeMaio ranks third among all lawmakers in bucking his own party, doing so 5.5% of the time.

This year, DeMaio broke from the bulk of his Republican colleagues by voting against legislation granting pay raises and pension increases to state public safety workers. He said his votes are guided by concern over rising costs for taxpayers, regardless of how much political muscle a group might have behind a bill.

“I’m simply not going to be swayed by how powerful a group is,” DeMaio said. “If they’re backing a bill that is bad policy, I’m going to vote no.” He noted that his robust grassroots fundraising network gives him financial independence from special interests that might otherwise sway his votes.

On the Democratic side, Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías of Concord stands out for a similar reason. She cast more “no” votes than any other Democrat last year and leads her caucus in overall deviation from the party line, breaking ranks 2.16% of the time.

This year, she was the only Democrat to vote against a bill that would allow Californians to sue companies over harmful monopolistic practices. While several moderate Democrats shared concerns that the legislation could invite predatory lawsuits against struggling businesses, most simply abstained rather than vote no.

Ávila Farías said she was elected to make tough calls, not avoid them.

“It’s much harder to undo something than to stand firm and raise the flag,” she said. “I’m more governed by the facts, the data, the execution and the unintended consequences than by party ideology.”

Methodology note: To determine how often lawmakers voted against their party, CalMatters analyzed voting records since 2023, comparing each lawmaker’s votes to their party’s majority position on each bill. Instances where a lawmaker voted yes when the majority voted no or abstained, or voted no when the majority voted yes, were counted as deviations. These were averaged across all years since 2023 to produce each lawmaker’s overall rate of breaking from the party line.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Handful of California Legislators Break Ranks With Their Party — Most Never Do appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Villegas, a progressive Democrat endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, defeated Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a physician and more moderate Democrat who had support from state and national party leaders. His primary performance marked a significant upset in a Central Valley district long viewed as difficult terrain for Democrats.

With more than 32% of the vote in Tuesday’s top-two primary, Villegas secured a place on the general election ballot alongside Valadao, who had already advanced. Bains represents much of the congressional district in the state Legislature, but Villegas, a first-time congressional candidate, outpaced her despite the party establishment’s preference for a centrist contender.

The Bakersfield-centered 22nd District is considered one of the most important battlegrounds in the country as Democrats seek to regain control of the House. Valadao has repeatedly survived in a district where Democrats see an opportunity, making him one of California’s toughest Republican incumbents.

Villegas said in an interview with CalMatters that his campaign proved it could compete through field organizing, fundraising and voter outreach without accepting corporate political action committee money.

“It’s clear that voters are looking for change, and voters are looking for someone who’s actually going to represent the valley’s values and not somebody who’s going to continuously sell us out to corporate interests and to billionaire donors,” Villegas said. “This seat is not for sale.”

The primary became a test of competing Democratic strategies in a conservative-leaning district with a large working-class and Latino electorate. For years, Democrats have often favored moderate candidates in swing seats, arguing they are better positioned to appeal to independents and Republican-leaning voters.

That approach has not worked against Valadao in recent cycles. Former Assemblymember Rudy Salas, another moderate Central Valley Democrat, ran against Valadao in both 2022 and 2024 and lost both contests.

Villegas’ campaign leaned into economic populism, anti-corruption messaging and criticism of corporate influence in politics. He received support from the Working Families Party, a progressive organization that backs candidates and policies focused on working- and middle-class voters.

His win also came despite a major late campaign push against him. Federal campaign finance records show outside groups spent more than $2.2 million on anti-Villegas messaging in the final month. Those groups included the AIPAC-aligned Democratic Majority for Israel, super PACs tied to centrist House Democratic caucuses and the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with House Republicans.

Kevin Liao, a Democratic strategist not involved in the race, said Villegas benefited from an energetic and accessible campaign, including town halls, forums and door-to-door canvassing.

“You’ve gotta get people motivated to show up and pull your lever, and that’s what he did,” Liao said.

Bains and Valadao both declined to debate Villegas, skipped candidate forums and did not participate in press interviews. Bains declined multiple interview requests from CalMatters and instead provided written statements through a spokesperson. Her campaign spokesperson did not respond to multiple calls and texts seeking comment for the story.

Liao said the outcome reflected a broader question for Democratic campaigns in competitive districts.

“Are you offering folks a sort of energetic, more ambitious vision for what government can offer? Or are you merely saying, ‘Hey, we have to win this seat and defeat a Republican’?” he said. “I think the voters, at least in that district, spoke pretty clearly.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which had endorsed Bains, moved quickly to support Villegas after the results, calling the November campaign “full steam ahead.”

Elsewhere in California’s congressional primaries, several key matchups also took shape.

In the San Diego-based 48th District, California’s only other toss-up congressional seat, Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond will face Democratic San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert in November. Von Wilpert advanced over fellow Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who had twice run against retiring Rep. Darrell Issa.

In San Francisco, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not appear on the November ballot after more than two decades in Congress. Her preferred successor, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, will compete against state Sen. Scott Wiener for the heavily Democratic seat.

The results were mixed for younger candidates who campaigned on generational change.

In the affluent northwest suburbs of Los Angeles, Democratic challenger Jake Levine fell short in his effort to take on longtime Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, who has represented the area for nearly 30 years. Based on votes counted so far, Levine received about 15% of the vote. The liberal 32nd District is expected to feature a general election matchup between Sherman and Republican Larry Thompson.

In Northern California wine country, Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson easily advanced to the November ballot, though his opponent remained undecided. He will face either Democrat Eric Jones, a young former venture capitalist, or Republican Ray Rihele.

In the Sacramento suburbs, Rep. Kevin Kiley, who left the Republican Party to run as an independent, will face former Democratic state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, according to The Associated Press.

In Sacramento, Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui will face progressive City Councilwoman Mai Vang, a younger challenger backed by the Working Families Party. The Associated Press called the race for Matsui on election night, but as additional ballots were counted in the following week, Vang moved ahead as the top vote-getter.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Sanders-Backed Democrat to Challenge One of California’s Most Formidable GOP Incumbents appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

But the party’s move to intervene in the Democratic primary has inflamed tensions among local activists and county party leaders, who say Washington leaders had promised to stay out of the race.

Two Democrats are competing for the chance to challenge Republican Rep. David Valadao, whose seat has become even more important to Democrats after court rulings complicated the party’s redistricting strategy. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently endorsed state Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat from Delano, over Randy Villegas, a progressive college professor from Visalia.

The decision came after the DCCC had previously indicated it would not take sides in the primary unless there was a risk that two Republicans could advance to November. Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes move on to the general election regardless of party.

“They lied to all of us,” said Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democratic Central Committee. Romo said DCCC staff repeatedly assured him the national organization would not get involved in the primary.

Romo and Democratic leaders in Tulare, Fresno and Kings counties have endorsed Villegas. They publicly criticized the DCCC’s decision to place Bains on its list of targeted, winnable races, saying the national party was overriding local Democrats and state party activists who had been unable to agree on an endorsement earlier this year.

“It is a slap in the face to the local parties,” Romo said.

The dispute reflects a broader fight within the Democratic Party over what kind of candidate is best positioned to win in a working-class, heavily Latino district that still leans conservative in many elections. The contest has become a local version of the national power struggle between centrist Democrats and progressive populists.

After redistricting, Democrats hold a narrow registration advantage in the district, with 42% of voters. Republicans make up 26%, while 22% are registered with no party preference, according to the California Target Book.

The DCCC’s involvement underscores the national party’s longstanding caution about backing candidates like Villegas, who has support from prominent progressives and organizations including the Working Families Party, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Bains’ supporters argue she is the stronger general election candidate, pointing to her background as a physician and the district’s reliance on Medicaid, which Valadao voted to cut. They also cite her willingness to break with Democratic leadership in Sacramento.

“Even though she is a Democrat, she is not afraid. She does not necessarily have to vote the party line,” said Mario Nunez, Delano’s interim mayor and an independent voter who supports Bains. “She will vote against the party line if that is what benefits her district.”

Bains has drawn support from major establishment forces in Sacramento and Washington, including SEIU California, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Democratic legislative leaders. Her addition to the DCCC’s list gives her campaign access to the committee’s fundraising network, polling and staff support.

“This race is too important” for the DCCC to sit out, committee chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington said in a recent interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” DelBene said the committee intervenes in primaries only when it believes one candidate is clearly the strongest choice for the general election.

A DCCC spokesperson declined CalMatters’ request for an interview with a committee representative.

Villegas’ campaign has seized on the national party’s involvement as evidence that Democratic elites are out of touch with working people and are using their power to protect establishment-backed candidates.

“What the ruling class is doing right now is a clear sign that they do not believe my opponent can win this race on her own, so they are trying to step in at the last minute to save her,” Villegas said in an interview with CalMatters.

Jesse Aguilar, a Villegas supporter and board member of the California Teachers Association, said he felt “betrayed” by the national party’s decision to intervene rather than allow voters in the 22nd District to choose the Democratic standard-bearer. The teachers association has endorsed Villegas.

The California Democratic Party, which is separate from the DCCC, did not endorse either candidate in the district at its February convention.

The two Democrats are nearly even in fundraising. Bains has raised about $700,000, while Villegas has raised $718,000, according to the latest federal filings. Villegas has pledged not to accept corporate PAC money and says he has outraised Bains in multiple quarters through grassroots donations. His recent major contributors include Jane Fonda’s Climate PAC and the Latino Victory Fund.

Bains’ recent donors include groups representing health care professionals, including political action committees for anesthesiologists and obstetricians and gynecologists. She also has received support from labor groups such as the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the California Conference of Carpenters, as well as several California elected officials.

The race has divided major newspaper editorial boards in the district. The Fresno Bee endorsed Villegas, while The Bakersfield Californian urged readers to support Bains.

The advertising war has grown increasingly harsh.

The progressive Working Families Party has spent $150,000 on digital ads portraying Bains as tied to large corporations and highlighting donations from some of the same wealthy donors supporting Valadao.

“Bains took big money from Big Pharma and health care corporations, thousands from polluters, and skipped a vote to extend our health coverage,” one ad paid for by the Working Families Party PAC says.

Bains’ campaign declined a request to interview the assemblymember. In a statement, the campaign said she has “earned the trust of Valley families by delivering results” and has “deep support from people here who know and trust my record.”

A pro-Bains group, Democratic Majority for Israel, whose positions align with AIPAC, launched $500,000 in ads attacking Villegas. The ads accuse him of voting to cover up child sexual abuse while serving on the Visalia school board, an argument the Bains campaign encouraged outside donors to emphasize. The ad cites a Los Angeles Times investigation that found more than 750 lawsuits and settlements stemming from a state law that expanded the ability of school sexual abuse survivors to sue school districts.

Israel has become a dividing line in Democratic primaries in California and across the country, as progressive candidates such as Villegas distance themselves from AIPAC and aligned groups. Villegas has said that, if elected, he would vote against sending additional weapons or military aid to Israel. Bains, who is backed by Democratic Majority for Israel, appeared to privately describe the situation in Gaza as a “genocide,” but later walked back those remarks in a statement to Politico.

“I use the word genocide with caution and do not believe it applies to Israel,” she told Politico.

Villegas called the ads against him “disgusting and pathetic” and accused Bains’ supporters of exploiting the pain and trauma of survivors for political gain. He said he supports survivors’ right to seek justice and argued that confidential legal matters, including settlements in sexual abuse cases, would not be discussed or debated in open session at a school board meeting.

“Nothing in these settlements prevents these people from speaking out and sharing their stories,” Villegas said. “These settlements allow these people and their families to get justice on their own terms, and I will continue to fight every day for all of our students.”

Republican-aligned groups have also waded into competitive districts with advertising strategies aimed at shaping Democratic primaries. Federal filings show that the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership, has spent nearly $72,000 on mailers attacking Villegas as a “left-wing progressive” and “too extreme for the Central Valley.”

The tactic, often used by both parties, can raise a candidate’s name recognition even through negative advertising, with the potential to energize progressive Democrats and Villegas supporters ahead of the primary.

Original source: CalMatters

The post Democrats Pledged Neutrality in California Race, Then Chose Sides appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a Bakersfield assemblymember, hopes to harness voter outrage at Valadao’s decision to support President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, which experts say could strip health insurance from millions of low-income Californians. Nearly 290,000 residents in his own district are at risk of losing coverage, according to the California Budget and Policy Center.

“That vote was really a betrayal,” Bains said in an interview with CalMatters. “I did not envision ever running for Congress. But this is a matter of a doctor upholding her Hippocratic Oath that she took to protect her patients.”

Valadao, who has represented the Central Valley in Congress for 10 of the last 12 years, repeatedly asserted this year that he would not support any measure that would harm recipients of Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income patients and those with disabilities. He even released a statement a week before the vote indicating he would move to block the U.S. Senate’s version of the bill if it came back to the House. 

Yet on July 2, and each time the bill came before him, Valadao cast an “aye” vote. More than two-thirds of the residents in Valadao’s Central Valley district, which includes parts of King’s, Tulare and Kern Counties, rely on Medi-Cal for their health insurance.

Bains, a moderate Democrat known for sometimes opposing her own party in the Legislature, has for months dropped strong hints that she might take on the five-term congressmember in the swing district. In May, she starred in an ad campaign funded by SEIU California that urged viewers to call Valadao and tell him to vote against the GOP megabill. And political insiders interpreted a social media post shortly after the House sent the bill to Trump as an inevitable sign that she would jump into the race. 

“My community overwhelmingly elected me to office to fight for them because they know I am not afraid to go to any length to protect them,” Bains wrote on X the day after the megabill passed. “It might be time to call in the doctor!”

She joins Randy Villegas, a Visalia school board trustee and college professor, as the only two declared challengers in the race so far. Former Assemblymember Rudy Salas, who ran and lost against Valadao in 2022 and 2024, filed paperwork to run in 2026, although he has not announced his candidacy and his campaign raised less than $60 in the most recent quarter. Clovis Democrat Eric Garcia, a disabled Marine veteran whose three previous runs ended with losses in the primary, also filed a statement of candidacy on Tuesday.

Bains said several patients at her family clinic have encouraged her to run to “do something” about the rising costs of health care and the lack of access to physicians. In the Assembly, she spearheaded an effort to bring a University of California medical campus to her district. She secured $8 million in state funding for a local task force to combat the spread of fentanyl, a cause she has championed as a doctor specializing in addiction treatment. 

All eyes are on Valadao’s seat

Valadao has only lost his seat once, as part of the 2018 “blue wave” where Democrats rode a wave of voter discontent with the first Trump administration to reclaim control of the House, highlighting the GOP’s botched effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. 

After the vote, he defended his support for the megabill as “not an easy decision” and said he still had concerns about how certain aspects would be implemented. 

“Ultimately, I voted for this bill because it does preserve the Medicaid program for its intended recipients – children, pregnant women, the disabled, and elderly,” Valadao wrote. “No piece of legislation is perfect.” 

Christian Martinez, spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote in a statement that Bains was a “radical Democrat” and that Californians “deserve better.”

Since first winning her Assembly seat in 2022, Bains has earned a reputation as a moderate who frequently breaks ranks with her party. She was the lone Democrat to vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to penalize oil companies that exceed a certain profit margin set by state regulators. As punishment, former Speaker Anthony Rendon temporarily stripped Bains of her post on the Business and Professions Committee, a desirable committee. 

“My constituents have seen me take on my party when it comes to having their back,” Bains said, emphasizing that she often pushes back on issues of affordability. “I could not believe that there was someone that was representing this district that could not do the same.”

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Bains grew up in Delano and returned to the Central Valley after graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology. As the Great Recession hit and friends and neighbors lost their jobs and health care, Bains quit her job at her father’s Chevrolet dealership in Taft to pursue medical school in Antigua. 

She returned to Kern County for her residency and still sees patients on the weekends. In April she showed up to a Business and Professions Committee hearing dressed in scrubs after working a late night at the clinic.  

Before she has the chance to take on Valadao though, both will need to prevail in the June primary. 

‘I hoped we would have just one candidate’

Villegas leans further left than Bains and has aligned himself with the Working Families Party. While he has resisted the label of “progressive” in favor of “economic populist,” some strategists fear he might be too liberal for the Central Valley. Since launching his campaign in mid-April, Villegas has so far raised more than $230,000.

Local Democratic leaders have said Bains will likely be the front runner to challenge Valadao, given her name recognition as an assemblymember and doctor in an election cycle that will likely be dominated by health care. 

But the local Democratic Party chairs in Kern, Kings and Tulare caution that Bains is in no way a shoo-in, especially since she has positioned herself as a political outsider who bucks party leadership. 

Cathleen Jorgensen, who chairs the Kings County Democrats, said she has not been contacted by Bains or her team, a “troubling” sign since Villegas has made himself widely available. Jorgensen said she wished the party could present a united front behind a single candidate from now through next November, rather than pit multiple contenders against each other in a primary. 

“I’m concerned that it might become negative,” said Jorgensen, who has been impressed with Villegas. “I really had hoped that maybe we would have just one candidate.”

Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democrats, warned that while health care might be the current hot political topic, much could change between now and June 2. Running as a single-issue candidate, as Bains plans to do, is a risky bet and will require that voters remember Valadao’s vote for the megabill. That could be challenging, especially since the most severe changes to Medi-Cal won’t happen until after November 2026. 

“If we don’t keep that momentum, if we don’t keep reminding people that you’re going to lose health insurance, you’re going to lose your food assistance, you’re going to lose your veterans’ benefits and services that we desperately depend on,” Romo said, “then I don’t see us winning.”

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