Randy Villegas
American politician and educator (born 1995)
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Randy Villegas (born c. 1995) is an American political scientist, educator, and politician from Kern County, California. He is a professor of political science at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia and a member of the Visalia Unified School District Board of Education, where he has served since 2021.[1][2] He advanced from the June 2, 2026, top-two primary for California's 22nd congressional district and will face incumbent Republican David Valadao in the November general election.[3]
Randy Villegas | |
|---|---|
Villegas at Vota Palooza in 2024 | |
| Member of the Visalia Unified School District Board of Education Area 6 District | |
| Assumed office December 9, 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1995 (age 30–31) Bakersfield, California, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Bakersfield College (AA) California State University, Bakersfield (BA) University of California, Santa Cruz (PhD) |
| University of California, Santa Cruz | |
| Occupation |
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Early life and education
Villegas was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, the son of Mexican immigrants.[4] His family received Medicaid and food assistance while he was growing up.[5] He attended Bakersfield College, then earned a bachelor's degree in political science and history from California State University, Bakersfield.[6] He received a full fellowship to the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he completed a doctorate in politics.[4][6] He was the first member of his family to earn a college degree.[7]
Before entering politics, Villegas worked as a journalist at Kern Sol News and wrote for the Bakersfield Californian.[2][7]
Career
Villegas teaches political science at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia.[6] In 2025, the American Political Science Association awarded him its Community College Faculty Award for his teaching, mentorship, and voter-registration work with students.[2]
Villegas co-owns a family-run auto shop in Bakersfield, California.[8]
Political office
School board
In December 2021, the Visalia Unified School District Board of Education appointed Villegas to fill a vacancy in Trustee Area 6 by a 4–1 vote.[1] He was elected to the seat in November 2022.[9]
2026 congressional campaign
In April 2025, Villegas announced his candidacy for California's 22nd congressional district in the 2026 midterm elections, challenging incumbent Republican David Valadao.[4] The district, which spans parts of Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties, is approximately 75% Latino and has the highest rate of Medicaid enrollment of any Republican-held congressional district in the country.[10]
Villegas has run on a platform of increasing affordability and reducing prices of groceries and power bills, protecting Social Security, expanding healthcare access to all, fighting for oil and gas workers, and opposition to cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition programs.[6][4] He has refused corporate PAC donations.[5]
The race attracted national attention as a contest between competing Democratic strategies for winning back voters in working-class districts. CalMatters described the primary as an example of the party's debate over whether to pursue centrist or economically populist approaches.[6] U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Villegas in November 2025.[5] Other endorsements include U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,[11] Dolores Huerta,[12] the California Teachers Association, Indivisible, United Auto Workers, the Working Families Party,[5] the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC,[13] and U.S. Representative Ro Khanna.[14]
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsed his primary opponent, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, which drew public criticism from the Congressional Progressive Caucus and several Democratic members of Congress.[13][15]
Villegas received outside support from the progressive Working Families Party as well as from the pro-Palestine super PAC American Priorities, which was created to counter the influence of the pro-Israel AIPAC.[16] Some Republican PACs spent in support of Villegas, seeing him as the weaker nominee against Valadao.[16] On the other hand, Bains received outside support from the lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel and from 314 Action, a group which supports Democrats with STEM backgrounds.[16]
Villegas advanced from the top-two primary held on June 2, 2026, finishing second behind Valadao and ahead of fellow Democrat Jasmeet Bains. He will face Valadao, the incumbent, in the November 3, 2026, general election.[3][17]
Publications
- Kraybill; Mirakazmi; Villegas (2017). "Chapter 8: Tweeting Religion: The Impact of Religious Language and Rhetoric in the 2016 Presidential Election". Unconventional, Partisan and Polarizing Rhetoric. Lexington Books.