Randy Villegas, a Visalia political scientist and school board trustee backed by progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., advanced in a high-profile primary in a battleground Central Valley House district, according to The Associated Press. Democrats view the district as crucial to their efforts to regain control of Congress this fall.

In the general election, Villegas will face Rep. David Valadao, a vulnerable but battle-tested Republican who has survived many past attempts to oust him. Democrats are eager to test the new lines they drew in Valadao’s Bakersfield-area district last year to make it even more competitive; they are also bullish about their ability to win back Latino voters.

Villegas — a populist who unabashedly calls for Medicare for All — is unusually liberal for the battleground 22nd Congressional District. Like many progressive candidates this year, he argued that his left-wing brand of politics was more likely to animate voters frustrated by such issues as healthcare costs, even in a region with a significant share of Republicans.

‘Radical Randy’ Vanquishes Bains

Villegas faced a tough Democratic opponent in Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a moderate California Assembly member and physician who was backed by the establishment wing of the party. She is known as a “Valleycrat” — a term for a moderate Central Valley Democrat — and was considered a traditional pick whose politics were more typical for the swing district.

Villegas faced attacks from Republicans, who called him a “socialist,” and from Bains, who called him “radical Randy.” Quietly, though, a Republican super political action committee spent money boosting his campaign, on the apparent assumption that he would be the easier opponent for Valadao.

Valadao, who also advanced in the top-two, all-party primary, has fended off nearly all Democratic attempts to unseat him since first entering the House in 2013.

The latest update from the California Secretary of State’s office showed him with 40.7% of the vote followed by Villegas (32.2%) and Bains (27.2%).

In 2018, Valadao lost to TJ Cox, a Democrat, by just more than 800 votes, but he ousted Cox two years later in a similarly tight contest.

Cox is now serving a federal prison sentence following his conviction on two counts of fraud last year.

(GV Wire contributed to this article.)

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Kellen Browning

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