It was a celebratory night La Movida nightclub for Randy Villegas’ watch party in downtown Bakersfield as Democratic challenger Randy Villegas took an early lead over incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao in the race for California\u2019s 22nd Congressional District.<\/p>\n
Villegas spent months campaigning after launching his bid in April. Speaking at the gathering, he credited volunteers and voters for pushing his campaign to the finish line.<\/p>\n
KBFX<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel incredibly proud of every single volunteer, every person who cast their ballot, every person who knocked the door and made a phone call to show that the Central Valley is ready for change, and we’re ready to fight, and we were ready to win,\u201d Villegas said. He described the effort as \u201cmulti-generational, multi-faith,\u201d and said it was \u201cnot about political parties, but about fighting for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The watch party was held at La Movida nightclub in downtown Bakersfield, where supporters gathered as results came in. At the time of the event, the vote had not been called, but Villegas was leading, and the race was drawing national attention.<\/p>\n
Villegas said his top priority if elected would be reversing the effects of HR1, which he blamed for cuts to Medicaid and other assistance programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy top priority is reversing the damage that my opponent did with HR1, the cuts that are happening to Medicaid, to programs like SNAP and WIC, 880 billion dollars that was cut from Medicaid to go give more tax breaks to billionaires,\u201d Villegas said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I’m here to say I don’t think Elon Musk needs more money to buy another private island or private yacht. That is money that should come to our working families instead, who are struggling right now, who are paying almost $7 a gallon for gas, $8.50 for diesel, and we need to make sure that we have a government that’s working for us and not against us.\u201d<\/p>\n
During remarks at La Movida, Villegas told supporters this moment was about more than just his candidacy.<\/p>\n
KBAK<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis victory belongs to the farm workers who dare to dream for better. This victory belongs to the nurses who get up every day to care for their patients. This victory belongs to our energy workers, to every, to our truck drivers who fuel the rest of the world and this country,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cAnd this victory belongs to every single organization, every single voter, every single group that put their faith behind this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villegas also reflected on what he said he learned during the campaign, including the importance of surrounding himself with people who share a vision for the Central Valley. He said the campaign overcame long odds and that it would remain focused on local residents rather than party politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re always going to be accountable to the people of the Central Valley because they deserve a member of Congress who’s going to work just as hard as they do,\u201d Villegas said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a celebratory night La Movida nightclub for Randy Villegas’ watch party in downtown Bakersfield as Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-518604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518604","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=518604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}