Congressman Josh Harder to seek re-election in new Democrat-leaning Central Valley district
Rep. Josh Harder, recently regarded as among the state’s most vulnerable Democrats for the 2022 midterm election, said Wednesday he’ll seek re-election in a newly drawn district that looks like friendlier turf.
The two-term Democrat will run in the 13th congressional district. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report assessed the race as leaning Democratic.
Republicans need a net gain of five seats to win control of the House next year, and the current Harder seat was held by GOP Rep. Jeff Denham when the party last controlled the House. Harder won his congressional seat in 2018, toppling Denham, in the year Democrats regained control.
Harder won reelection easily in 2020, but could run into some political turbulence next year. President Joe Biden won his current district by 3 percentage points, and Gov. Gavin Newsom narrowly lost it in 2018. The new district is expected to have more Biden supporters.
Harder chose a district where Democrats have been more popular. He gained some areas now represented by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and loses Republican-leaning areas.
One area of vulnerability for Harder: Hispanic residents, who make up a large proportion of the district’s population. “His coalition depends on Hispanic support and we’ve seen the dropoff in Hispanic support for Biden in 2020,” said David Wasserman, an analyst for the Cook report. He also noted turnout tends to drop in midterm elections.
Redistricting line-drawers were shuffling cities and counties all over the Central Valley as they contemplated how districts would look in the 2020s. Harder had to make a choice, as Stanislaus County was divided into different districts.
In addition to his hometown of Turlock and West Modesto, Ceres, Patterson and Newman, which he now represents, the new 13th district also includes much of Fresno County as well as Merced County.
Because the new district lines have scrambled campaign strategies, it’s unclear just who might oppose Harder. He had $5.69 million on hand as of Sept. 30, the last filing available, according to Open Secrets, a campaign finance website.
Harder announced his decision in a brief statement, noting the district includes his hometown of Turlock. He said he was “disappointed that due to redistricting, I will no longer have the privilege of representing some of our communities in Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties, including many of our neighbors in Modesto.”
Harder has been a reliable Democratic vote, and has actively promoted his causes. He introduced 43 bills in the last Congress, the third most among freshmen, according to GovTrack.
He’s a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which writes spending legislation, and the House Agriculture Committee.
This story was originally published December 22, 2021 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Congressman Josh Harder to seek re-election in new Democrat-leaning Central Valley district."
.jpg)