Fresno’s most famous Democrat says this California Republican ‘betrayed’ Donald Trump

A political action committee founded by a Fresno Democrat is employing a unique strategy against Republican Congressman David Valadao in his toss-up election: encouraging GOP voters to stay home.

Mailers and a website paid for by the Voter Protection Project, founded by Fresno County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Janz, tout the congressman’s vote to impeach former President Donald Trump as a reason for Republicans to avoid picking Valadao in California’s 22nd Congressional District.

The website calls Valadao “deceiving,” having “betrayed” Trump.

“David Valadao is a traitor who turned his back on President Trump to serve his own interests,” VPP’s traitordavidvaladao.com reads. “That is why Valadao stood with the radical left and voted to impeach President Trump.”

The race between Valadao, R-Hanford, and State Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, has been rated as one of the nation’s closest since redistricting, the redrawing of legislative boundaries based on census data. Numerous politicians and political action committees have thrown advertisements and endorsements into the ring.

Much at stake

For Democrats, it’s one of the few GOP seats they think they can flip in a year in which Republicans are expected to do well nationwide. For Republicans, it’s an important blue seat to keep in their bid to take over control of the House of Representatives in 2023.

Valadao and Salas’ contest has drawn the most advertisements of any district in the country, according to an October analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project.

VPP, in an appeal to Trump supporters, asks them to “Toss out the traitor. Say no to David Valadao on November 8th.” It does not mention Salas, Valadao’s opponent whom Democrats have been excited about running for Congress for years.

VPP’s mission is to “fight back against Republicans’ attacks on our right to vote by leading the charge to make sure every American has the right to cast a ballot.”

But if the group’s purpose is to oppose voter suppression, their strategy in this case seems to do that very thing: suppress the turnout of Trump supporters, an important part of the GOP base. That’s not lost on Valadao.

“It’s disgusting that liberal special interests are using anti-democracy tactics to suppress voter turnout,” Valadao said about VPP’s strategy. “Voters won’t be fooled by their desperation, but they will remember how Democratic policies have failed Valley families.”

Andrew Janz, VPP’s founder, contested former Central Valley Congressman Devin Nunes, a Trump loyalist, in 2018. Nunes left Congress this year to run Trump’s social media company, Truth Social. Janz unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Fresno in 2020, losing to Jerry Dyer.

By running against Nunes in 2018, Janz raised $9 million — hefty for a challenger — and put the Tulare Republican in his tightest contest for Congress. It was in the midterm election during Trump’s presidency; the party of the president historically does poorly during midterm elections, and Trump’s administration galvanized Democrats in 2018.

Democrat support for VPP

The Democratic House Majority PAC has given a total of $225,000 to VPP for its outreach across the country, according to an Oct. 27 Federal Election Commission filing.

VPP has spent more than $132,000 over the last year on the election in the new 22nd, according to the filing. Salas has not received any campaign donations from the PAC.

Neither VPP Executive Director Heather Greven nor Janz responded to calls for comment. A voicemail has been left seeking comment from Salas, as well.

Valadao and Salas, both 45, are seen as moderates within their parties; VPP’s website mentions that Valadao voted against Trump’s notorious border wall.

Did this strategy work in the primary? Maybe, given that Valadao and Republican contender and self-proclaimed “Trump conservative” Chris Mathys were in a race too tight to call for almost three weeks after the Associated Press said Salas advanced on Election Night.

Unlike in the races of other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, the former president did not endorse anyone in the California 22nd primary. Likely, analysts said, because Valadao’s district neighbor House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Trump to stay out of the race.

Valadao was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He and Washington Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse are the only two who decided to mount re-election bids and who survived the primary.

Several Democratic organizations across the country tried to encourage GOP voters to select far-right candidates in the primary, hoping that would help left-leaning candidates in moderate areas in November.

Will strategy make a difference?

Whether VPP’s current strategy works in the general election will be clear after Nov. 8. California Democrats are expected to have lower turnout this year, analysts said, because top-of-the-ticket races — for governor and U.S. Senate, for example — are all but guaranteed for left-leaning candidates.

As mentioned, the party of the president, now Democrat Joe Biden, does worse in midterm years. Many analysts think there could be a “red wave” next week in the congressional elections.

But California’s 22nd Congressional District would have backed Biden by 13 points in the 2020 presidential election. Forty-four percent of registered voters there are Democrats and 26% are Republicans.

The district runs from Hanford to Shafter. It has a Hispanic majority voting age population. Salas would be the San Joaquin Valley’s first Latino member of the House if elected.

The Hanford Republican and Bakersfield Democrat both have San Joaquin Valley farming roots, with Valadao’s family in the dairy business and Salas working in fields with his father as a child.

Valadao has been in tight elections before, having barely regained a seat from former Democratic Congressman TJ Cox in 2020. Cox, who narrowly beat Valadao in 2018, was recently federally charged with alleged fraud. Otherwise, Valadao easily won election in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Salas has represented the area in the California State Assembly since 2012. Valadao left that seat to run for Congress.