10 Latino storylines to follow in Central Valley for November election

This may not be a presidential election year, but there are many storylines that Latino voters in the San Joaquín Valley may have an interest in as they get ready to cast their ballots.

Dozens and dozens of Latino candidates appear in races from school boards to city councils to Congressional races. Some are incumbents, others are looking to step up to another level, and others are first-timers.

Here are the 10 races to keep an eye on.

A Valley Latino in Congress?

Assemblymember Rudy Salas, a Bakersfield-based Democrat, will try to succeed where others have failed: Defeat Republican incumbent David Valadao and become the first Latino elected to Congress from the San Joaquín Valley.

Those who have failed include Amanda Rentería, a former chief of staff to a U.S. Senator; Emilio Huerta, son of civil rights icon Dolores Huerta; Hispanic chamber executive John Hernández; or Fran Flórez, former Shafter mayor and mother of the first Latino to win a state Senate race in the Valley.

In the open primary, Salas placed first with 45.4% of the vote in the newly drawn 22nd Congressional District while Valadao beat back a challenge from former Fresno City Councilmember Chris Mathys to qualify for November with 25.6% of the votes.

Valadao has consistently fended off challengers in a district that is heavily Latino and leans Democrat. However, redistricting has presented the Hanford dairy farmer with a bigger obstacle.

Democrats are pointing to an August poll that showed Salas with an 8-point lead. A high turnout will favor Salas.

No incumbent got kneecapped more by redistricting than state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, Her Sanger home in the old 14th District got lumped in with colleague Anna Caballero’s residence in Merced.

After first gearing up for a showdown with Caballero, Hurtado packed her bags and moved to Bakersfield to run in the 16th District. She easily fended off a challenge from former state lawmaker Nicole Parra to set up a faceoff with Porterville farmer David Shepard, a Republican.

The district is heavily Democrat and Latino, which bodes well for Hurtado. However, Shepard is a fourth-generation farmer whose paternal grandfather immigrated from Guanajuato, México. That lineage could be appealing to voters.

In the primary, Shepard picked up 43.6% of the vote to Hurtado’s 29.7% in a five-candidate field. The district is 58% Latino.

Few Fresno City Councilmembers have made a successful jump to a higher office on their first try. Mayor Jim Patterson ran for Congress before winning an Assembly seat. Councilmember Luis Chávez lost a state Senate bid in 2014.

That list includes Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, who lost a challenge against Rep. Jim Costa, R-Fresno, two years ago.

This time, Soria appears to have the edge on former Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin because the 27th Assembly District leans Democrat and is 51.4% Latino.

In the primary, Soria finished with 40.1% of the vote and carried Fresno, Madera and Merced counties. Pazin collected 35% of the vote.

Four years ago, Eddie Valero became the first Mexican American to be elected to the Tulare County Board of Supervisors. In the primary, he just missed winning outright and will face Dinuba businessman Scott Harness in November.

Should Valero win, he will become the first Latino to win a second term on the board. The county is 66.5%.

Kuyler Crocker, whose mother is from Argentine, was considered a rising star in the Republican Party until he was rejected in his supervisorial re-election bid in 2020. Lali Moheno was appointed to a vacancy on the board, but lost her election effort.

Martín Chávez was barely walking in 1995 when Joe Neves was first elected to the Kings County Board of Supervisors.

The 2016 UC Merced graduate could become the second Latino on the board should he defeat Neves in November (Richard Valle is on the board).

It won’t be easy, however. Neves got 46.48% of the primary votes, while Chávez got 30.62%.

Kings County is 55% Latino.

The Tulare County seat of more than 140,000 residents – of which almost 52% are Latino – has had only one Latino ever elected to its council. The city went to district elections in 2016 following a lawsuit.

Since then, zero Latinos have been seated on the five-member council.

That could change because the three candidates in the heavily Latino District 4 include Emmanuel Soto. He has worked for CSET and Self Help Enterprises.

Soto is in the race with Marie Line Labee and Bob Ainley.

Clovis Mayor Joe Flores announced his retirement after 24 years on the council, and with that news might not have a Latino on the council that serves a city of about 123,000 residents. Latinos are 32.7% of the population.

Clovis has kept at-large elections, meaning the entire city will select among 10 candidates for three spots on the council. Among those hopefuls is Fresno police officer Martín Salas.

It’s not often that an incumbent mayor in rural Fresno County gets tested in a bid for a second term. Parlier Mayor Alma Beltrán faces five challengers in a bid for a third term.

Beltrán made news during the coronavirus pandemic when she opted to allow barbershops and beauty salons to open their doors in April/May of 2020.

Opposing her are Fernando Banuelos, Sabrina Rodríguez, Antonio Cruz Jr., Manuel Jacinto Ferreira, and Gilbert García.

It’s not often that former boxer Víctor P. López faces a setback at the ballot. But, that is what happened in 2010 when he lost a mayoral bid. Two years later, López won a spot on the city council as vice mayor and later returned to the mayorship.

López has served 45 years in public service. He is being challenged by Mayor Pro Tem Diana Guerra, whose term doesn’t end until 2024.

The San Joaquín Valley has elected several Latinos to the Assembly and state Senate, but never a Republican.

That could change this year in Assembly District 22 where Juan Alanis, a 27-year veteran of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office, faces Democrat Jessica Self, a public defender.

In the primary, Alanis topped a five-candidate field with 36.5% of the vote. Self came in second with 27%.

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