# United States Representative, District 22 Compare records and positions simply between David G. Valadao or Randy Villegas for United States Representative, District 22 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-22 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 13 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **David G. Valadao** — Congressman/Dairy Farmer · Republican - **Randy Villegas** — Teacher/Business Owner · Democratic Representative David G. Valadao led the June 2 primary with 40.7% and Democrat Randy Villegas took 32.4%. The two campaigns have raised more than $7.5 million between them — the most expensive congressional contest on this ballot. The district covers Kings County and part of the southern San Joaquin Valley. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, so a longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. This is among the most contested House seats in the state and the money reflects it. The two campaigns are funded very differently: the incumbent's largest single source is PACs and committees at $1.91 million, while the challenger's is individuals at $2.40 million. Weigh a decade of federal seniority against a challenger with an unusually broad individual base. ## David G. Valadao David Valadao's family emigrated from the Azores and started a dairy farm in Kings County in 1969. He and his brother became partners in the family dairy in 1992 (Wikipedia; valadao.house.gov). He served in the California State Assembly from 2010 to 2012 before winning his first term in Congress in 2012, representing the old 21st District and, since redistricting, the 22nd (Wikipedia; valadao.house.gov). He sits on the House Appropriations Committee and co-chairs the Congressional Armenian Issues Caucus and the American Sikh Congressional Caucus (valadao.house.gov). On January 13, 2021, Valadao was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump for inciting the Capitol attack. In his own statement that day he said, "Based on the facts before me, I have to go with my gut and vote my conscience," calling Trump's rhetoric "un-American, abhorrent, and absolutely an impeachable offense" (his 2021 impeachment statement). In July 2025 he voted for the budget reconciliation bill that added new Medicaid work requirements. Asked about the cuts, he said, "No one's gonna be kicked off of anything... if people want to continue to be on, they have to go and start looking for work, the ones who are able bodied" (Turnto23). He promises continued relief for Central Valley farmers facing drought and water shortages. His campaign says he will "never stop fighting" for Valley families (campaign site). **Strengths:** A rare Republican who voted to impeach Trump and survived, with more than a decade of seniority on the Appropriations Committee that controls federal spending. **Trade-offs:** His 2025 vote for Medicaid work requirements cuts against his own record of opposing earlier Medicaid cuts, and local hospitals have raised alarms about the change. **Keep in mind:** He has cast hard votes both against his own party, on impeachment, and with it, on Medicaid; how you weigh those against each other is the decision this profile leaves to you. ## Randy Villegas Randy Villegas describes themselves as an educator, activist and son of immigrants raised in a working class family in Kern County, and holds a PhD (campaign site). They have worked as a teacher and community organizer, and they have served on the Visalia Unified school board (campaign site; sjvsun.com). Villegas says they are running because "government should work for everyone, not just the powerful few," and that they want to bring "bold, compassionate leadership to Washington" (campaign site). During their tenure on the Visalia Unified school board, the district approved several settlements in sexual abuse cases in closed session meetings. Opposing Democrats' ads said the agreements kept the cases quiet. Villegas responded, "Nothing in these settlement agreements prevents these individuals from coming forward and sharing their experience and stories if and when they feel ready to do so," adding that "the safety and wellbeing of the school community" has always been their top priority (San Joaquin Valley Sun; Turnto23). Villegas promises to hold town halls on guaranteed health care access and calls for a moratorium on new data centers in the district (campaign site). **Strengths:** A local record on the school board and a detailed policy platform on health care and data centers, backed by community organizing experience. **Trade-offs:** No experience in the state legislature or Congress, and the closed session settlements from their school board tenure are the one documented controversy in their record. **Keep in mind:** The settlement dispute is about transparency, not about whether survivors were compensated; their defenders and critics agree on the outcome and disagree on how it was handled. ## Record in office David G. Valadao (Republican) has served in the U.S. House since 2013 and has sponsored 35 bills in the 119th Congress; 1 of their career bills have become law. Randy Villegas has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Valadao — Committees: Agriculture; Appropriations Valadao — HR 624 (2017): Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act of 2017 Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **David G. Valadao** — $4,927,602 raised (Individuals: $1,423,592; PACs & committees: $1,911,533; Party: $10,000) - **Randy Villegas** — $2,645,560 raised (Individuals: $2,396,296; PACs & committees: $190,098) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Valadao for Congress and Randy Villegas for Congress may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Wikipedia — David Valadao (career timeline, 2021 impeachment vote and quote)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Valadao) 4. [Rep. David G. Valadao — About (official biography, committee assignments)](https://valadao.house.gov/about) 5. [Rep. David G. Valadao — official statement on his 2021 impeachment vote (used for his direct quotes)](https://valadao.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=37) 6. [Valadao for Congress — campaign site (priorities and promises)](https://valadaoforcongress.com) 7. [23ABC/Turnto23 — Local reps defend Medicaid reforms in federal budget bill (Valadao's vote and quote on 2025 reconciliation bill)](https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/local-reps-defend-medicaid-reforms-in-federal-budget-bill) 8. [Randy Villegas for Congress — campaign site (biography, priorities)](https://villegasforcongress.com) 9. [The San Joaquin Valley Sun — Moderate Dems blitz Villegas on Visalia Unified's hush-hush sex abuse settlements (Villegas's on-record response)](https://sjvsun.com/news/politics/moderate-dems-blitz-villegas-on-visalia-unifieds-hush-hush-sex-abuse-settlements/) 10. [23ABC/Turnto23 — Democrats say Bains' campaign ads on Villegas settlements are misleading (Villegas's response quote)](https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/democrats-accuse-dr-jasmeet-bains-campaign-of-misleading-attack-ads-against-randy-villegas) 11. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 12. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 13. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 22 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 22 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-22 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.