| Randy Villegas held a town hall in Bakersfield to talk about his fight for affordable health care for all Central Valley families, and held David Valadao accountable for his deciding vote to gut Medi-Cal for nearly 70,000 people in CA-22.
While Villegas took questions from the crowd and pledged to make regular appearances across the district, David Valadao has refused to hold a public town hall in over a decade, “has not made many public appearances during his campaign so far and has not responded to media interview requests.”
“Whether you’re here in Bakersfield or Fresno or anywhere in between, nobody should have to choose between rationing their medicine and paying their mortgage. Nobody should have to choose between paying for their groceries or seeing a doctor. Nobody should have to fight cancer and their congressman at the same time,” – Randy Villegas
See the wall-to-wall coverage:
POLITICO: Randy Villegas rallies his base
- [Randy’s health care message] was a winning strategy to supporters who gathered at a Bakersfield events center…Of a half-dozen attendees Playbook spoke to, all were impressed by Villegas.
- …Each of them thought Villegas was the best chance they had had in nearly a decade [to beat Valadao].
- [Villegas] squarely trained his fire on Valadao, pillorying him for his vote on last year’s megabill that cut Medicaid spending.
- …Democrats this cycle have viewed health care as the issue that can win them this district, which has some of the highest Medicaid enrollment numbers in the country.
- [CA-22]…has more people on Medicaid than anywhere else in the country…Randy Villegas held a town hall…to talk about making health care more affordable and to hear directly from local families.
- A crowded meeting hall in old town Kern was filled with an energetic crowd, campaign posters, and local…leaders.
- …Villegas took questions from the crowd. Some asked about how prescription drug prices could be lowered, while others asked what he can do to reform the health care system.
- “These corporations don’t care if you have a D or an R next to your name on the ballot, they care if you will take their money and do their bidding.” – Villegas
- “[The Big, Ugly Bill is] stripping away health care from rural communities. 70% of this community relies on Medi-Cal so the fact that funding is disappearing is a big deal.” – Kellie Pollack, President, Democratic Women of Kern
- David Valadao…[voted] for the massive budget bill.
- “[I hoped] that [Valadao] would do the right thing, that he would stand up to his constituents… if we had had 5 or 10 Republicans with the guts to say no to those Medicaid cuts we wouldn’t have so many people suffering.” – Rep. Ro Khanna
- We reached out to Valadao for a comment on the cuts to Medicaid and Thursday’s town hall… we [have] not yet heard a response.
KVPR: Democratic House candidate Randy Villegas pitches himself to voters ahead of midterms
- …Randy Villegas told voters…that healthcare should be treated as a human right. He criticized Republican David Valadao over his support last year for federal cuts to Medicaid…
- Healthcare remains a central issue in the 2026 midterms, and in this competitive race it has become among the top issues since more than half of the residents are enrolled in Medicaid.
- Villegas highlighted the…Valley’s already fragile healthcare landscape, including a shortage of specialists and clinics that rely heavily on Medicaid payments.
- Villegas has made healthcare a foundation of his campaign platform. He said he supports providing health coverage regardless of a person’s income.
- “We know that everybody gets sick, which is why we need healthcare for all. Your mortgage, your bills, your utilities don’t ask you for your party ID, and neither will this campaign because we are focused on fighting for every working family across the valley and beyond.”
- “I am proud to be here with all of you, our farmworkers, our teachers, our nurses, our working families who get up every single day and make the Central Valley the most amazing place in the world,” he said.
Bakersfield Californian: Villegas, Khanna tout guaranteed healthcare at Bakersfield town hall
- The only time Valadao lost his seat was in 2018, following the Republican’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
- In a district where a majority of the population is on government healthcare, Valadao’s vote for H.R. 1, the former One Big Beautiful Bill, is…a major liability.
- That message was front and center Thursday night.
- “From the people that I talk to…Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, they all agree that our healthcare system is fundamentally broken, and that Valadao has only made things worse,” Villegas told The Californian.
- …Villegas has a real shot at unseating the five-term incumbent.
- …Democrats outvoted Republicans in the primary by a significant margin, and The New York Times poll tracker shows three polls rating the race as even or favored by Democrats.
- Melissa Wegman said she had never been to a political meeting until Thursday afternoon. She said she came because Valadao voted for H.R. 1, a bill that massively overhauled government assistance programs.
- “He was a deciding vote on many people in our district, losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits, and then he goes on and creates programming and content on YouTube, saying how he’s saving healthcare. It’s really kind of like ‘Twilight Zone’ time,” Wegman said.
- “What I care about is that [Randy] will help people like me.”
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