Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) has made his pick in California’s 22nd Congressional race, delivering a shock to an already contentious Democratic Party fight.
Sanders announced on Monday that he is backing Visalia Unified School District Board Member Randy Villegas.
Driving the news: Villegas is challenging Rep. David Valadao (R–Hanford) in the district, along with Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Delano).
- Villegas has already picked up the support of former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg and is seen as the progressive choice in the race.
- He also appeared on stage at a Bakersfield town hall event earlier this year with Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Fremont), a progressive Congressman who said at the time that he would like to be colleagues with Villegas.
What they’re saying: “I am proud to endorse Randy Villegas because we need more working-class people in Congress who are not beholden to the corporations and special interests that have rigged our political system in favor of the billionaire class,” Sanders said in a statement.
- Villegas said on X that he is honored to be endorsed by Sanders.
- “Bernie and I share the same goal: to make life more affordable for working families,” Villegas said. “He has dedicated his life to putting power in the hands of ordinary Americans instead of the ultra rich, and I’m excited to work together to fight for our communities here in the Central Valley and across the country.”
The other side: National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman responded to the endorsement by saying Villegas is the last person people need representing them in Congress.
- “Democrat Randy Villegas is a socialist cut from the same cloth as Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani,” Martinez said. “Californians are already fleeing the fallout of failed, radical Democrat policies. The last thing they need is another Bernie-Mamdani clone in Congress.”
- Republican-backed SuperPAC Congressional Leadership Fund noted the civil war going on amongst Democrats in the 22nd district, noting that Bains recently attended a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event in Washington D.C. earlier this month.
- “It’ll be fun to watch both Randy Villegas and Jasmeet Bains trip over each other to be the most liberal for their socialist base, even if it means throwing Hakeem under the bus,” said Congressional Leadership Fund spokeswoman Lydia Hall.
