Republican David Valadao Reelected Despite Voting to Impeach Trump

Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) was narrowly reelected Monday, defending his seat despite voting to impeach former President Donald Trump last year, only the second Republican of ten who did so to return to Congress.

Valadao defeated Democrat Rudy Salas by three percentage points in the close race in the 22nd congressional district. A Republican in a heavily Latino district, Valadao has always faced tough reelection races. In 2018, he was narrowly unseated by Democrat lobbyist T. J. Cox, who has since been indicted for fraud in that election.

Valadao returned to Congress in 2020, and voted to impeach Trump after the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The issue came up during this year’s primary election, in which Valadao faced criticism from Republican rivals.  It was not a major issue in the general election, however, which came down to a party-line fight on other issues.

In addition to Valadao, only Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) remains in Congress of the ten who voted for the ill-fated impeachment. Others were defeated in primaries or retired. Voters also unseated Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria in Virginia, one of the members of the January 6 Committee conducting a partisan inquiry into the riot.

Valadao has typically run on his strong advocacy for agricultural issues, which plays well both among farmers and workers in the district, especially with Washington and Sacramento limiting water deliveries to the region.

His victory completes a Republican takeover of the U.S. House, albeit by the narrow margin of a few seats. Democrats had hoped to unseat several Republican incumbents in California, but seem to have fallen short.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.