Guess who will be challenging Valadao for Congress in 2022?

Former Assemblymember Nicole M. Parra – the second Latina to win an Assembly seat in the San Joaquín Valley in 2002 when she squeezed past Republican opponent Dean Gardner by 266 votes – announced that she will run for the 21st Congressional District.

The district will be represented in the new Congress by Republican David Valadao, who took back the seat from Democratic incumbent TJ Cox in the November election.

Valadao won’t be sworn in until the first week of January.

“I announced my candidacy for the 21st Congressional District early, because I’m serious about winning. We have serious problems in the Central Valley and they require serious solutions,” said Parra.

“By starting early, I am taking this campaign and the 2022 elections seriously. One reason Democrats continue to lose the 21st Congressional District is that they start too late. We don’t have time to waste and we can’t afford to stand on ceremony and formalities.”

Redistricting will likely result in a different look to the district, which stretches from Fresno to Bakersfield and is currently 72% Latino.

Today, I am announcing I am running for Congress (21st Congressional District). I will be making a formal announcement in January with my family and supporters, pending updated Covid-19 protocols for the San Joaquín Valley,” Parra, 50, posted on her Facebook page Dec. 11.

“I am excited to share this news, and I am truly honored by the early endorsements I have received, over the last few days. Information regarding my website, social media links, will be up and running soon!”

Parra, whose father served as a Kern County Supervisor, said she has gotten endorsements from Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias, Kings County Supervisor Richard Valle, Arvin Mayor Olivia Trujillo. Avenal Mayor Álvaro Preciado, and Corcoran Mayor Pat Nolen.

“I am running for Congress because the people in the Central Valley deserve better; they deserve a representative with a proven track record and the experience and the leadership skills necessary to solve real problems,” wrote Parra.

“As a member of California State Assembly, I always put the needs of my district above partisan politics. Decades of public service have taught me that a member of Congress should be honest, empathic, courageous, humble, practical, intelligent, and always be willing to put the people’s interests before their own. It’s time for new leadership and a fresh approach in the 21st Congressional District.”

Other endorsements have come from Kern Community District Trustee Yovani Jiménez and Bakersfield City School Board Trustee Lillian Tafoya.

Parra was known as a pro-business, moderate Democrat during her six years in the Assembly, but she did rankle then Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (now a Congressmember who has been talked about as a possible replacement for Sen. Kamala Harris).

In the last few months of her final term, Parra refused to vote for her party’s spending plan. Bass sent Parra packing from her fifth-floor office at the state Capitol into an office building across the street.

Parra said her no vote was due to the fact that the Democratic budget did not include improvements for state water supplies.

“I knew I would be punished,” said Parra outside the Assembly chamber at the time. “I don’t regret it. I would do it again.”

After being termed out of the Assembly, Parra served as the CEO of the Community Food Bank in Fresno and later spent two years as chief of staff for Assemblymember Juan Arámbula. She also worked as a regional program manager for The California Endowment.

No Latino or Latina has won a Congressional district north of Los Ángeles in state history.

This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Guess who will be challenging Valadao for Congress in 2022?."