Will the Central Valley elect its first Latino candidate to the US House in 2022?
The Central Valley has never sent a Latino candidate to the United State House of Representatives.
This could be the year, progressives say.
People who identify as Hispanic or Latino make up the largest ethnic group in California: 39% of the population, according to the latest census.
The commission charged with redistricting, the once-a-decade redrawing of legislative boundaries based on census data, was required under the Voting Rights Act to form districts with a minority group in the voting majority to help them elect leaders of their choosing. Three Hispanic majority voting-age districts in the Central Valley could open the door for a Latino candidate.
“Now there is a community that has been neglected for so long without representation at this level that has an opportunity to put someone in there that understands what they are going through,” said Phil Arballo, who ran against then-Congressman Devin Nunes in 2020.
While “Latino” generally refers to people of Latin American ancestry, “Hispanic” is a broader term for descendants of Spanish-speaking countries. The census allowed people who identify as Hispanic or Latino to specify origin.
Latino candidates are running as Democrats in each of the districts that the commission classified as having a Latino majority: Arballo in the 13th, Eric Garcia in the 21st and Assemblyman Rudy Salas in the 22nd.
Their victories are far from assured. Hispanic voters shifted right in the 2020 presidential election. In the 2021 California recall, 60% of Latino voters sided with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a smaller Democratic margin than in previous years. And President Joe Biden’s approval rating has slipped, especially among Hispanic voters on economic issues and the pandemic.
Democrats hope in Salas
Still, analysts give Salas, D-Bakersfield, a good shot at unseating Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, in a blue district that major election trackers say is home to a toss-up race.
“I’m okay with being the first as long as I’m not the last,” Salas said.
The first Latino on the Bakersfield City Council, Salas, 45, grew up working in the local fields with his father. His family spent Sundays with his grandparents, who only spoke Spanish.
“I think when people learn about my story and learn that I grew up like either themselves or somebody in their own family, working out in the fields and just being immersed in the culture, that it does help,” he said.
Salas has represented the area around Bakersfield in the State Assembly for the last decade, a region that largely overlaps with the congressional district where he is running.
The district had a Hispanic majority voting-age population prior to the latest round of redistricting. Valadao, 45, who is of Portuguese descent and Hispanic by the U.S. House Historian’s definition, has represented the area for the better part of nine years.
The House Historian compiles a list of Hispanic legislators with the Library of Congress, which works with congressional offices to determine how representatives identify, a library staff member told The Bee.
Pablo Rodriguez, founding executive director of Communities for a New California Action Fund, a non-profit organizing group in the San Joaquin Valley, said name recognition would not be an issue for Salas. But he said that Salas could run into trouble for supporting and taking donations from big oil companies, which does not sit well with younger Latino voters.
“An obstacle that he has set up for himself is his positions in regards to issues related to climate change, maybe something that he needs to revisit in understanding this district,” Rodriguez said.
Gaining Latino votes
Rodriguez said to get support from the Latino community — particularly Latinas, whom he said held key votes — both parties need to appeal to the issues rather than attack each other. He said the problem for Democrats is that they’ve ceded the San Joaquin Valley to Republicans, treating it as an immovable stronghold.
“Will they be actually presenting a platform that solves people’s problems? Yes or no will decide which way Latinos will vote,” he said.
Arballo, 43, is running against Democratic Assemblyman Adam Gray and Republicans John Duarte, David Giglio and Diego Martinez, who is Hispanic, in the 13th district. The business owner stressed that without Latino representation, the interests of Central Valley residents would suffer.
“They’re going to fall further and further behind because their member of Congress does not care about taking the 45-minute drive out to Los Banos or to Newman or out to Coalinga. They are not interested in that unless there’s money at the end of that road for them. And I am afraid and I am fearful of what happens if we don’t do it,” Arballo said as his reason for running again.
In the 21st, Garcia challenges incumbent Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. Costa, 70, identifies as Hispanic and is of Portuguese descent. Garcia, a veteran, is campaigning on gun control, climate change issues and support for those in poverty. They face Republicans Matt Stoll and Michael Maher.
Growing up, his father told him how he struggled with mainly speaking Spanish in an English-speaking world. As a result, Garcia said he “shied away” from learning Spanish, his family’s native language.
“I saw the pain that was still in his eyes after experiencing that as a kid,” Garcia, 34, said of his father feeling ostracized.
Garcia added that, on top of being bilingual, it’s important that representatives be bicultural.
“It’s very important to see someone who looks and talks like you and has those same experiences being represented in your representative, because it makes you feel validated,” he said.
Hispanic Central Valley lawmakers
The Central Valley, settled by gold miners and farmers through the late 1800s, technically had a Latino congressman — well before the region had its own district.
Romueldo Pacheco, born in Santa Barbara when California was still Mexican territory, represented a swath of the state from below San Francisco to the Mexican border known as the 4th District between 1877 and 1883. California, which became a state in 1850, had only four congressional districts then.
Pacheco, a member of the wealthy Mexican elite known as Californios, was sworn in as the first Hispanic congressman with full voting rights in October 1877. The Republican, who won his election by one vote, was removed from office four months later when his opponent contested the results.
He ran again for the Southern California district in 1879 and served in Congress until 1883.
Former Central Valley Reps. Dennis Cardoza, Tony Coelho and Nunes are also of Portuguese descent and counted as Hispanic by the House Historian.
Adam Thomas Medeiros, a Republican running in the 22nd, was born on Sao Miguel, one of the Azores Islands of Portugal, and immigrated with his family as a child in 1963. A Hanford business owner and member of the Kings County Board of Education, Medeiros is running to bolster law enforcement, water infrastructure and an economic plan supported by former President Donald Trump.
Also running in the 22nd is Chris Mathys, a Trump-backing conservative and former member of the Fresno City Council.
Martinez, a business owner running in the 13th, immigrated from Uruguay with his mother and siblings as a child. The Hispanic Republican aspires to provide people with the American dream through supporting law enforcement, tighter immigration policies and better water storage.
“I am an American citizen, I am an immigrant, and I’m proud of that,” Martinez said. “I’m proud that the American dream is still alive today. But we have got to work for what we get; it is not given.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 3:00 AM.
