{"id":485842,"date":"2026-10-05T15:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485842\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:40:15","slug":"sanders-rallies-for-central-valley-progressive-in-toss-up-house-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/485842\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanders rallies for Central Valley progressive in toss-up House race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maya C. Miller<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""Bernie\"
\n\t\t\t\tFrom left, Congressional candidate Randy Villegas and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders stand on stage during a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally at the Harvey Auditorium at Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield on Oct. 4, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Even in Bakersfield, the heart of conservative California, insurgent populism is having a moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Exhibit A: The hundreds of sweaty Californians who braved 105-degree heat on Sunday to hear from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, progressive Democrats\u2019 modern-day Moses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime he comes to Bakersfield, I always show up,\u201d said local resident Kacie Mills, 34, who said Sunday was her third time seeing Sanders in her hometown. As a progressive in a historically conservative area, Sanders\u2019 visits turn out people and organizations that \u201cdon\u2019t get a lot of light,\u201d Mills said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time, she was more excited to hear from Randy Villegas, a progressive 31-year-old community college professor hoping to unseat Republican incumbent<\/a> Rep. David Valadao, who has represented the area for more than 12 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s someone who wasn\u2019t really on my radar, and it\u2019s nice to have someone who is, like, close to my age, who believes in things that I believe in,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n

Sanders held court at the high school alma mater of Republican former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, where he came to rally support for Villegas and other Democratic candidates. The contest in the 22nd Congressional District in central California is one of the most closely watched in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is that people like Randy Villegas are standing up and running all over this country, taking on the establishment and winning!\u201d Sanders said. \u201cI want you to do everything you can, between now and election day, to make sure that Randy is your next congressman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the country this summer, Democratic primary voters enthusiastically rallied behind candidates who champion universal healthcare, refuse money from corporate political groups and demand the U.S. stop enabling what they call Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But many of those candidates have thrived only within the relative safety of a blue district or state. This Central Valley-based district, a historically conservative, low-turnout area, presents a greater challenge. The district is considered a true toss-up this November as Democrats seek to take control of the House.<\/p>\n

\""Supporters\"Supporters cheer during a “Fighting Oligarchy” rally at the Harvey Auditorium at Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield on Oct. 4, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of desire for change, and I\u2019m hoping the community will be energized,\u201d said Jose Barajas, 31, a lifelong Central Valley resident who traveled from Tulare to hear Sanders and Villegas speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that while the Central Valley has been a conservative bastion, he feels hopeful that Democrats have a strong chance of flipping the seat this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was any time, the time is now,\u201d Barajas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the last year, Villegas has gone from political nobody to a credible Democratic challenger in one of the country\u2019s most competitive races. He is betting that his progressive and populist message will energize enough young, working-class and Latino voters in the district to help him oust Valadao, whose only reelection loss<\/a> came in 2018 after he voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have young people knocking doors in places like Arvin, California who aren\u2019t even old enough to register to vote themselves, and yet are knocking doors because they believe in our vision for the valley,\u201d Villegas told reporters prior to taking the stage.<\/p>\n

Villegas earned thunderous cheers as he berated Valadao for supporting cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in Trump\u2019s mega budget bill, refusing to challenge Trump\u2019s recent deals that undercut U.S. ranchers by importing cheap Argentinian beef, and for taking campaign contributions from wealthy corporations such as PG&E and United Healthcare.<\/p>\n

He also leaned heavily into his roots as the son of Mexican immigrants \u2014 they accompanied him onstage, along with his wife \u2014 who has spent his whole life in the Central Valley. While Villegas thanked Sanders for his leadership in progressive politics, he focused most of his remarks on residents of the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Bernie Sanders came to Bakersfield 10 years ago and showed us that politics can be done differently,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cWhen I go to Washington, I\u2019m not going alone,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cI\u2019m taking the valley with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Valadao campaign declined CalMatters\u2019 request to interview the congressmember.<\/p>\n

Villegas\u2019 Sunday event in some ways gave Republicans what they have wanted; campaign operatives have been salivating at the chance to tie Villegas to far-left socialist ideology.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership, spent more than $100,000 on mailers against Villegas in the primary to elevate<\/a> his name ID among Democrats and push him past<\/a> his more moderate Democratic opponent, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s not a great idea to have this far left-leaning of a candidate,\u201d said Cathy Abernathy, a Bakersfield-based Republican strategist who supports Valadao, though she does not live in his district. She said Sanders and Villegas woo voters with promises of free government-funded healthcare and other programs, and voters aren\u2019t well educated enough in economics to interrogate how those programs will be funded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things he’s promising have to be paid for,\u201d Abernathy said.<\/p>\n

National Republicans, who have branded Villegas as a socialist, put it more bluntly.<\/p>\n

\u201cVillegas is telling Central Valley voters exactly what he’d be in Congress: A rubber stamp for Bernie’s socialist agenda, with hardworking families in California stuck paying the bill,\u201d said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

\""Randy\"Congressional candidate Randy Villegas in Bakersfield on Oct. 4, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters<\/p>\n

The warm-up for Villegas and Sanders was a who\u2019s-who of national liberal groups: National Nurses United, the Working Families Party, insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim<\/a> and Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Even a Republican mayor, Victor Martinez of Mendota, who elicited some groans and awkward silence when he named his political party, called on attendees to set aside their political differences and unite behind Villegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s about humans. It\u2019s not about politics,\u201d said Martinez, who said he was \u201cashamed\u201d of Valadao for voting to cut Medi-Cal and failing to stand up for immigrant workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely nobody in the world should be living in fear, or be treated like animals like we\u2019ve been treating our immigrant communities,\u201d Martinez said to thundering applause. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard any of these puppets of Donald Trump\u2019s say anything to him about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Maya C. Miller, CalMatters From left, Congressional candidate Randy Villegas and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders stand on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,14021,35072,1649],"class_list":["post-485842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-david-valadao","tag-election-2026","tag-u-s-congress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}