The Candidates
David Valadao (CA-22)
After narrowly losing reelection to California’s 21st Congressional District in 2018, GOP Rep. David Valadao won back the seat in 2020 by campaigning as a different sort of Republican, including featuring Dreamers in his campaign ads. In 2022, he was redistricted to California’s 22nd, another heavily-Latino and agriculture-rich district. But while Rep. Valadao has talked about the need for immigration reform and voted with Democrats for the Dream and Promise Act and Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, the current session of the U.S. Congress has seen him repeatedly vote with the most extreme and nativist members of his caucus. He’s also remained largely silent as his Republican friends have lied about the 2020 election and echoed the same white nationalist “invasion” and “white replacement” conspiracy theories that inspired domestic terrorists who committed massacres in cities like Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh.
The GOP have supported ripping apart American families and deporting Dreamers. Will @RepDavidValadao stand with the 580,000 DACA recipients who call the U.S. home? https://showmeyourfriends.org
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- Valadao provided a critical vote to help deliver the passage of H.R. 2, also known as the Child Deportation Act: Rep. Valadao’s first immigration vote of the new Congress was to help deliver a nativist wish-list that offers no solutions to our nation’s broken immigration system, and instead proposes a slew of Trump-era proposals, including stripping unaccompanied minor children of critical protections. Valadao’s Republican colleagues promoted this legislation with white nationalist conspiracy theories about “replacement” and “invasion” that have inspired multiple domestic terrorist attacks. In his statement supporting H.R. 2, Valadao noted the importance of immigrant workers in California’s Central Valley, and claimed he would “continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reform our broken immigration system, provide certainty for our farmers and farm workers, and secure the border.” In reality, H.R. 2 would do the exact opposite.
- Valadao joined GOP House extremists in giving thumbs-up to racist resolutions: In June 2023, Rep. Valadao joined his extremist colleagues in approving two baseless but dangerous resolutions advancing the racist conspiracy theories and paranoia targeted at immigration and immigrants. One resolution pushed bigoted falsehoods about migrants supposedly posing a threat to communities. The second resolution, from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), introduced baseless impeachment articles against President Biden. One glance at the resolution showed this effort was instead about advancing the party’s embrace of deadly, white supremacist “invasion” rhetoric. This dangerous and bigoted rhetoric would again come to play during the sham impeachment effort against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
- Valadao voted to make a great replacement theory promoter the new House Speaker: Last fall, Rep. Valadao was one of 220 House Republicans to unanimously vote to make Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana the new Speaker. Johnson, America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas previously noted, “has gone farther than most of his Republican colleagues in elevating alarmist and dangerous rhetoric.” Rep. Valadao had initially voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a key amplifier of the white nationalist “great replacement” conspiracy theory and completely unworkable and cruel demands, including the Child Deportation Act. But after that vote failed, Rep. Valadao then voted for someone even more extreme, cementing conspiratorial rhetoric “at the highest levels of power,” as observer Greg Sargent noted.
- Valadao voted for impeachment effort driven by white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracies: In one of the most egregious votes in recent Congressional history, Rep. Valadao supported the sham impeachment effort against DHS Secretary Mayorkas. Extreme members of the House repeatedly peddled white nationalist “invasion” rhetoric and antisemitic replacement conspiracy theory as part of their effort against Mayorkas, who is a Jewish Cuban-American refugee. “You don’t have to be a Holocaust survivor like me to be concerned,” wrote Abraham Foxman, former National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. “The murderer who shot at a synagogue in Poway, CA claimed that Jews were responsible for the genocide of ‘white Europeans.’ Mayorkas has publicly warned against the growth of conspiracy and hate fueled extremist violence.” But despite warnings from Jewish organizations, constitutional scholars, and former GOP officials, Rep. Valadao chose party over country and continued normalizing dangerous rhetoric putting a target on the backs of communities.
- Valadao remained silent as Trump echoed Hitler with vile “poisoning the blood” remarks: Rep. Valadao has refused to condemn former President Trump for his despicable claims that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America. This incendiary language is virtually indistinguishable from Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric, but when given the chance to distance himself or disavow this horrific language, Trump instead doubled down. Republicans and their right-wing allies have also been engaged in a campaign spreading nativist conspiracies in order to justify subverting democracy amongst supporters, socializing the idea that any election result they do not like can be blamed on this conspiracy of fraudulent immigrant voters. Yet Rep. Valadao has remained silent as Trump has echoed the language of dictators, and as his extreme colleagues have used immigrants to sow doubt and distrust in our electoral process.
- Valadao prioritized the passage of dehumanizing legislation over improving the lives of working families: While Rep. Valadao was working to pass dehumanizing legislation targeting vulnerable families and children, such as the Child Deportation Act, he’s done vanishing little while in the majority to improve the daily lives of working families. An ABC News analysis found that the 118th Congress, which saw Republicans in control of the House following the 2022 midterms, to be the least productive in U.S. history. Criticism even came from within the party, when Rep. Chip Roy, one of the most far-right members of the GOP caucus, questioned how Republicans can claim to stand for something, “and then do nothing about it.” But instead of trying to deliver solutions for working Americans, Rep. Valadao has joined extreme colleagues in prioritizing anti-immigrant legislation and a sham impeachment driven by conspiracy theories.
Rep. Valadao has also remained silent as leaders within the GOP have called for “shooting” migrant families at the southern border, and as Speaker Johnson has vowed to not take up any legislation that would constructively address immigration and the border as long as a Democrat is in the White House. Rep. Valadao would continue to be a rubber stamp for the Republican agenda and their failed chaos and cruelty approach to the border. He offers no real solutions to address the concerns at the border while his friends embrace dangerous conspiracy theories, jeopardizing all our safety. Rep. Valadao’s friends are bullies and extremists who demonize our communities and have spent their time in the majority pushing dangerous conspiracies that threaten our public safety and our democracy. Rep. Valadao’s friends show us exactly who they are.
