Rudy Salas files for 2024 rematch with David Valadao in California congressional district
Assemblyman Rudy Salas filed paperwork for a rematch in California’s 22nd Congressional District just a little over two weeks after he failed to unseat Republican Congressman David Valadao.
Salas, 45, filed a statement of candidacy for the San Joaquin Valley district with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday. Filing with the FEC does not necessarily mean that candidates will run for the election they signed paperwork for, but doing so keeps the door open.
Valadao, 45, won the left-leaning 22nd last month by a 3% margin of victory. Election analysts predicted that the race would be close since redistricting — the redrawing of legislative boundaries — put the Hanford Republican in a bluer district than the one he once held.
Salas is just keeping his options open for now, someone familiar with the matter told The Bee.
If he does run in the Hanford-to-Shafter district in 2024, the Bakersfield native might have an easier time than this year.
Salas, who has represented the area in the Assembly for a decade, will be an established congressional candidate who has already raised money to run for the U.S. House of Representatives there.
Midterm elections, the type that occurred on Nov. 8 this year, tend to be tougher for the party of the president, now a Democrat. But the predicted “red wave” in the 2022 midterms never materialized. Republicans are projected to claim a slim majority of 221 seats. One House race is uncalled where the GOP candidate is leading, which would make that 222 Republicans to 213 Democrats.
Also potentially hurting Salas this year was that Democratic turnout recently tends to be lower in California’s gubernatorial elections, given that the office at the top of the ticket was pretty much set.
Overall, about 47% of eligible voters cast a ballot in 2022, which is far improved from 31% in 2014. (An eligible voter is a person who meets the requirements to vote, even if they are not registered.)
County elections officials are supposed to finalize results by tomorrow and California’s secretary of state will certify them on Dec. 16.
As proven again in November, Valadao has survived tough elections. The Hanford dairy farmer, who has been in Congress for almost a decade, won his seat back from former Congressman T.J. Cox in 2020. Valadao had lost it to the Democrat in 2018; both of those elections were on slim margins.
This year’s election between Valadao and Salas drew a nationwide audience and garnered the most television ads of any House race in the country.
Valadao, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection, will be one of just two of Republicans returning to Congress next term. He has championed water access in the Central Valley throughout his tenure.
Salas also has focused on water in the Valley since joining the Assembly. One of his mainstays has been on improving health care, such as through securing funds for the Valley Fever Institute that studies and treats the illness caused by a common soil fungus.
