Rep. David Valadao (R–Hanford) and former Asm. Rudy Salas (D–Bakersfield) met in Bakersfield for the only debate in the race for Congressional District 22.
The debate was moderated by Brian Dorman of CBS47 and Alex Fisher of KGET.
Immigration
Wednesday’s debate kicked off with the topic of immigration, with Valadao asked about former President Donald Trump saying there will be a mass deportation of illegal immigrants.
Valadao pointed to the recent report that there are over 400,000 convicted criminals living in the United States illegally, including 15,000 convicted murderers and 13,000 convicted rapists, saying those should be the first to be removed from the county.
He said there needs to be a longer conversation about securing the border, saying H.R.2 – the Secure the Border Act – was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–NY).
Salas was asked by immigration is not listed as a priority on his website. He said people are scared when they hear the rhetoric from Republicans about mass deportation, adding that there needs to be a pathway to citizenship for people who are following the rules.
Economy and gas prices
Valadao blamed California’s high cost of living on Democrats, who have run Sacramento with a supermajority for many years. He went directly after Salas for serving in the Legislature for a decade.
“They continue to increase prices on folks,” Valadao said. “You see fuel prices at the highest level in the nation. We’ve got the highest fuel prices of anywhere in the nation, currently. We’ve got the highest housing prices. We’ve got the highest food cost. We’ve got the highest pretty much everything across the board.”
Valadao continued, “We have to look at the source of the problem. The source of the problem is the supermajority in Sacramento that my colleague here has spent the majority of his career in and was a part of.”
Salas argued he was one of the leading champions fighting for lower costs in Sacramento, calling back to his 2017 vote against raising the state’s gas tax. His fellow Democrats retaliated against him by stripping him of the chairmanship of the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. But Salas also skipped four votes to lower the gas tax during his time in office.
Valadao hit back, saying there were 39 total votes on the gas tax when Salas was in office, with him voting the wrong way 38 times.
“Math’s not your thing”
In response to a question on the economy, Valadao said that while both of them have served in office for the same amount of time – 10 years – he has spent his time at the federal level trying to prevent Sacramento’s problems from becoming national.
Salas responded by saying Valadao has been elected longer than he has, and that Congress can overrule anything that the states do.
“Obviously math’s not his thing,” Valadao quipped. “It’s 10 years – we’ve both served 10 years. Addition is not your thing, apparently.”
They then briefly argued about whether or not Salas was including Valadao’s time in the California Assembly.
Homelessness
Salas said it is up to Congress to make housing more affordable and has failed to act on providing mental health resources.
Valadao pointed to his service on the Appropriations Committee, noting that he has been able to direct funding around $9 million to a homeless shelter in Bakersfield, among other projects. Valadao also called on California to change the rules with Proposition 36 to crack down on drugs and crime.
“You’ve got homeless folks that are literally walking into businesses, and they’ve got to lock their front door to keep them out. And they’re high on drugs, they’re creating havoc, they’re distractions, they’re destroying personal property, and some of them are being pretty obscene taking clothes off and doing things like that,” Valadao said. “And that has to be addressed. If people are crossing the line like that, they need to be handled and at least put in a facility where they can be held until they can get at least clean and get them some sort of help.”
Salas called for greater accountability for all of the money that has been spent by the government to address homelessness.
“We need to make sure that we’re addressing homelessness, that we’re making sure that we’re providing the mental health professionals that we need to get people off the street, that we’re providing the tools, building housing, putting people even if it’s in tiny homes – that we’re building those tiny homes and putting them there,” Salas said. “Making sure that our locals have the resources to combat that, so whether that’s the homeless centers or whether that’s the food bank, we’re doing that.”
Abortion
Salas said he has always believed that the decision to have an abortion should only be left to women, their doctors and their own faith.
“Women should have the freedom to choose what happens with their own bodies and to determine their own healthcare,” Salas said. “I would leave it up to the experts. I would leave it up to the doctors, the women, and within their own faith. I don’t think politicians like David Valadao or anybody else should be interjecting themselves to make those decisions.”
When asked how far along into a pregnancy he would support an abortion, Salas said that would be up to doctors and women.
When asked about voting on a 15-week abortion ban, Valadao said he would oppose it.
“I am pro-life,” Valadao said. “I do support the exceptions – obviously, rape, incest, the life of the mother. And I do support IVF. I think those are important, and I think we need to fight for those. But at the federal levels we’ve already seen both candidates running for president aren’t going to touch a national abortion ban, and I think it’s a non-issue and it won’t come up in the senate because there’s not going to be enough of a vote in the majority in one way or another to actually bring it up.”
