David Valadao beats Rudy Salas in key San Joaquin Valley, California, congressional race

Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao defeated former Democratic Assemblyman Rudy Salas again in California’s 22nd Congressional District, The Associated Press projected.

Valadao, of Hanford, had 53.5% of the votes and Salas, of Bakersfield, had 46.5% as of 6:36 p.m Pacific Time on Tuesday. An estimated 82% of votes had been counted.

Their 2024 rematch was expected to be one of the nation’s closest elections, and helps the GOP as it inches toward holding onto control of the House of Representatives in 2025.

Several uncalled California congressional contests could help decide whether Democrats or Republicans have a thin majority.

As it stands, Republicans have 216 seats and Democrats have 206. The number for either party to take control is 218.

The 22nd district includes most of Kings County and parts of Tulare and Kern counties.

It is one of more than a dozen congressional districts across the country held by GOP congressmen where President Joe Biden would have beaten former President Donald Trump in 2020 had current legislative boundaries been in place.

Lines were redrawn to reflect the 2020 census. Voters in the new 22nd would have picked Biden by 13 points in 2020.

It’s a Latino-majority voting-age district with a large population of young people. Compared to the rest of California, this district tends to have low turnout, leading older, white, more conservative voters to disproportionately influence elections here. Still, presidential general elections tend to see the most turnout.

Valadao, 47, is a dairy farmer who served in the Assembly for a term before being elected to Congress. He was won a House seat in 2012. He lost his seat in the 2018 “blue wave” midterms and regained it in 2020, both times by slim margins.

Valadao is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which writes government spending bills, and the House Budget Committee.

Salas, 47, served in the Assembly for a decade before leaving because of his 2022 congressional bid. He was on the Bakersfield City Council before being elected to the Legislature and grew up working in the fields with family members.

Their 2022 contest was one of the closest in the country, helping hand Republicans a slim House majority. Valadao was declared the winner two weeks after Election Day, prevailing by 3 percentage points.