HANFORD, California — Decision Desk HQ has projected Democrat Randy Villegas as the winner of California's 22nd Congressional District, defeating six-term Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao and flipping one of the Central Valley's most closely watched seats. The call completes the story Awaaz Punjab reported on election night, when Valadao already trailed Villegas by 21,393 votes as the first count came in from the state's new Proposition 50 map.

Source: Decision Desk HQ — California US House 22

The California Secretary of State's count, updated at 3:17 a.m. on November 4, put Villegas at 54,337 votes, or 66.4 percent, against Valadao's 27,480 votes, or 33.6 percent, with all 575 precincts reporting. The Associated Press count showed the same totals but had not yet issued its own race call on Wednesday morning — a reminder that a projection by a decision desk is not the same as the state's official certification, even when the margin is this wide.

Source: California 2026 General Election results (Secretary of State feed)

Prop 50's first big scalp

Valadao's defeat is the clearest product yet of Proposition 50, the mid-decade redistricting measure California voters approved on November 4, 2025, with about 65 percent of the vote. Promoted by Governor Gavin Newsom, the new map redrew the state's congressional districts through 2030 and was designed to net Democrats as many as five additional House seats. The 22nd District, which runs from Bakersfield to Hanford through the farm-rich San Joaquin Valley, was redrawn to lean Democratic — and on Tuesday night it did exactly that.

A late-October USC Dornsife poll had already pointed this way, putting Villegas ahead 54 percent to 44 percent. Villegas celebrated the result on Tuesday night as the lead held at roughly 30 points, a margin no late-arriving ballot in the district can plausibly erase.

The incumbent and the challenger

Valadao, a Republican, has served in the House on and off since 2013, representing the 21st and then the 22nd District. His support for H.R. 1, the federal budget law Congress passed in July 2025, and the health-care fight around it — including the future of Medicaid coverage in a district where farmworker families depend heavily on it — were at the centre of the campaign, according to KFF Health News coverage of the race.

Source: The Center Square — GOP sees mixed results in California congressional races

Villegas, a Democrat described in campaign coverage as a progressive educator, ran as the change candidate in a district where the farm economy, immigration enforcement and the cost of living were the daily arguments. The race was also fought in the shadow of federal immigration operations across the Central Valley, including the 45-day 'Operation Save California' sweep that became a flashpoint in the district's campaign.

What it means for Valley families — and for Punjabi Californians

For the district's residents, the switch changes who carries their case in Washington on farm labour, water, highway safety on the Highway 99 corridor and immigration enforcement. The Central Valley is home to one of the largest Punjabi communities in the United States — farming and trucking families spread across Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties, the same corridor where Punjabi truckers and farmworkers live and work. A new representative in Congress is the person those families will now call on everything from farmworker protections to trucking and licensing issues.

Valadao's loss also widens the Democratic margin in the new House. Democrats have already been projected to win control of the chamber in the November 3 midterms; every flipped seat like CA-22 widens the majority that will choose the next Speaker, control the committees and set the agenda for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.

Counting continues across California, and several other Valley and Arizona races remain uncalled. Awaaz Punjab will report the certified results when the Secretary of State publishes them.