JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
In California's Central Valley, voters in the 22nd congressional district say they're feeling deja vu. Two years ago, Republican incumbent David Valadao narrowly defeated his Democratic challenger, Rudy Salas. Now the two are back for a rematch. And with the House of Representatives so deeply divided, the stakes are enormous for purple districts like this one. As KVPR's Joshua Yeager reports, both candidates have bucked their party's national platforms to try to win.
JOSHUA YEAGER, BYLINE: Mailboxes stuffed full of political brochures, billboards plastered along the freeway and TV ads rolling nonstop.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
RUDY SALAS: I'm Rudy Salas, and I'm running to represent you in Congress.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: David Valadao - helping families, fighting for the Central Valley.
YEAGER: The race for California's 22nd district is one of the most competitive in the country, but you wouldn't know it from the voter turnout data. It counted the third fewest ballots nationwide in 2022. That's something Democratic canvassers like Noe Garcia (ph) are hoping to change this year. He recently came out to an upbeat training event.
NOE GARCIA: We know that we can win it if we get our community to vote.
YEAGER: Biden carried this district by strong margins in 2020, and the party holds a 14-point advantage among registered voters. Yet a Republican, David Valadao, has represented the region for most of the past decade. It's a frustrating fact for Garcia, who was hopeful changes at the top of the Democratic ticket will entice more people to turn out this election.
GARCIA: With Kamala, people were actually more engaged and interested in politics than when it was Joe Biden. Like, I remember we were canvassing in the summer when Joe Biden was there, and people were like, I'm not voting for either one of them.
YEAGER: But there's no guarantee greater turnout will work in Democrats' favor. That's because Valadao is no ordinary Republican. The incumbent is one of just 10 who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAVID VALADAO: I'm going to let history decide how that vote plays out.
YEAGER: Speaking at the district's one and only debate earlier this month, he declined to give his pick for president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VALADAO: Any mention of who I'm voting for is going to be perceived as an endorsement, and so I've chosen to run my own race, focus on the 22nd Congressional district.
YEAGER: One issue that's important to voters in this agricultural district is immigration. Valadao, a dairy farmer, has walked a fine line. He wants to beef up border security but also supports a pathway to citizenship for some of those already here, including undocumented youth, also known as DREAMers.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VALADAO: I've always been an advocate for immigration, especially immigration reform, because we have a process that's been broken for a long period of time.
YEAGER: Likewise, Democratic challenger Rudy Salas broke from his party in meaningful ways as a Bakersfield Assemblyman. In 2017, he was the lone Democrat to oppose a controversial gas tax.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SALAS: I took a beating for it. I lost my chairmanship over it. I was punished for standing up for Central Valley families.
YEAGER: A child of farm workers, Salas has worked to paint himself the moderate's choice and his opponent, the Republican Valadao, as an extremist.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SALAS: People are scared. People are scared about the rhetoric that they hear from the other side, about mass deportation plans, about tearing families apart again.
YEAGER: On a recent Tuesday, Sharon Nichol (ph) sips champagne with her friends at Don Pepe's, a Mexican restaurant in Shafter. They're celebrating an important anniversary - 60 years as best buds.
(SOUNDBITE OF GLASSES CLINKING)
YEAGER: Nichol says she's voting for Valadao not because of his party but because she wants the candidate who can do the most for her rural community, which has struggled with homelessness and crime.
SHARON NICHOL: I am a Republican, but when it comes to serving Kern County specifically, I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. I want somebody who's going to do work in my city and get some results.
YEAGER: Her friends nod vigorously at this. Their political views may differ, but here they all agree. If Democrats want to flip this purplest of districts, they'll have to give voters like Nichol reason to do it and the tens of thousands more who choose year after year to simply stay home. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Yeager in Shafter.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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