2 toss-up races in California push Latino voters to the front lines of the battle to control the House
Two starkly different House candidates, in separate races, personify the intensifying ideological partitioning occurring within the once strongly Democratic constituency of Latino voters, whose numbers are growing.
Should he win his race, Democrat Rudy Salas would be the first Latino elected to Congress from a district in California’s Central Valley. Rep. Mike Garcia hopes for another term representing a northern Los Angeles suburban district.
Their highly competitive races, along with a few other California congressional races, have pushed Latino voters to the front lines of the bitter fight for control of the House.
Republicans hold the House majority, and Democrats need a net gain of four seats to seize control, which is possible regardless of who wins the White House.
Five California House races have been rated as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report, meaning they are where Democrats have the best chances of flipping seats. They include District 22, where Salas, a former state Assembly member, is challenging GOP Rep. David Valadao, and District 27, where Garcia is trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat George Whitesides, a businessman, nonprofit organization leader and former NASA chief of staff.
One of every 4 voters in California this election, more than 4.8 million, will be Latino, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. The would be slightly higher than in 2020 and a 22.4% increase in voter share from 2016, the nonprofit, nonpartisan group estimated.
“This election is going to be an important indication of the Latino vote nationally, as well as here in California,” said Arturo Vargas, NALEO’s CEO.
District 22 in California’s Central Valley
In his race, Salas is reminding many Central Valley voters of his roots in farmworking — “I managed to wake up before the rooster” — as part of his father’s crew, for which he was paid by the quantity he picked or the box he packed, because he wasn’t officially on the payrolls as an underage worker.
“It comes up when I go door to door,” he said. “People say, 'you understand what we go through.'” He said many are confused, at first, that he’d be the first Latino elected, because they are under the mistaken belief that Valadao, who is of Portuguese descent, is Latino.
But then they get “super excited,” Salas said.
Salas said he reminds them that the race is about making the American Dream achievable, making home and health costs affordable, addressing immigration and boosting education. He said he also tells voters that the district is the most Latino one in the state, but that Latinos have a record of not showing up and need to change that this year.
Salas has been seen as a moderate who broke with his party over a state increase in the gas tax, costing him his committee chairmanship.
“The support is out there. It is just a matter of getting people to go out and vote,” Salas said. “I’m making every effort to go out and reach people, in Spanish or English, to get them to understand these are the stakes to control the House of Representatives.”
Valadao’s parents immigrated from the Azores; Portuguese Americans aren’t included in the federal government definition of Hispanic. Valadao’s parents went into dairy farming, and he has had leadership positions in the dairy industry; he touts his focus on water issues affecting the area.
Valadao is one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Valadao said he doesn’t support Trump’s mass deportation proposals, though he supports toughening asylum laws and border enforcement.
“I have obviously not supported [mass deportation], but that being said, is there a place where, potentially, millions of people come to this country that we don’t know anything about? We have to know who some of these people are, and the ones that are here to do us harm, we have to export them back … and that needs to be done quickly,” he said.
