Randy Villegas
Villegas in 2024
Personal details
Born	(1994-11-12) November 12, 1994 (age 31) Bakersfield, California, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Education	Bakersfield College (AA) California State University, Bakersfield (BA) University of California, Santa Cruz (MA, PhD)

Randy Villegas (born November 12, 1994)^[1] is an American political scientist, educator, school board member, auto body shop owner and Democratic politician who achieved an upset victory in what the New York Times called a "high-profile primary in a battleground [California] Central Valley House district," the Congressional race to represent California's 22nd district.^[2] The race is seen as a test of the newly drawn California districts and the ability of the Democratic Party to win back Latino voters.^[2]

He is from California's Central Valley. He is a professor of political science at the College of the Sequoias and has served on the board of education of the Visalia Unified School District since December 2021.^[3]

Villegas is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 election for California's 22nd congressional district. In California's June 2026 top-two primary, he finished ahead of Democratic state assemblymember Jasmeet Bains and advanced to the general election against Republican incumbent David Valadao. His advancement was widely described as an upset because Bains had received the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and numerous state and national party officials.^[4][5]

Villegas was born and raised in Bakersfield, California, in a working-class family. He is the son of Mexican immigrants and was the first member of his family to graduate from college.^[6]

He earned an associate degree in political science from Bakersfield College and a bachelor's degree from California State University, Bakersfield. He subsequently earned a master's degree in political science and a Ph.D. in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His doctoral degree included a designated emphasis in Latin American and Latino studies.^[3][7]

Villegas completed his doctorate in 2022. His dissertation, Voices from the Valley of Vulnerability, examined how local political conditions affected the political participation, organizing strategies, and civic engagement of young people from mixed-status immigrant families in Kern and Fresno counties. His research used interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and other ethnographic methods.^[8]

Villegas announced his candidacy for California's 22nd congressional district in 2025. The district is centered in the southern Central Valley and includes portions of Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties. The seat was held by Republican representative David Valadao, who had repeatedly won reelection despite the district's competitive partisan composition.^[6][5]

Villegas campaigned as a progressive and economic populist. His campaign emphasized the cost of living, health care, labor rights, public education, immigration reform, and opposition to corporate influence in politics.^[4][5]

His candidacy was endorsed by U.S. senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, labor organizer Dolores Huerta, Representative Ro Khanna, the Working Families Party, and other progressive organizations and elected officials.^[4][9]

Sanders endorsed Villegas in November 2025, describing him as an educator and small-business owner from a working-class family and presenting his campaign as part of a broader effort to elect candidates who opposed corporate political influence.^[9]

The principal Democratic candidates in the June 2026 top-two primary were Villegas and Jasmeet Bains, a physician and member of the California State Assembly. Bains was endorsed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an unusual intervention by the national party organization in a contested primary.^[5]

The DCCC's endorsement caused disagreement within the Democratic Party. Progressive politicians and organizations criticized the committee for intervening against Villegas, while the committee argued that Bains was well positioned to compete in the general election.^[5]In May 2026, The New York Times highlighted Villegas's campaign and noted that he had secured endorsements from the campaign arms of both the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, despite the DCCC's support for Bains, and highlighted how this unusual split "highlighted deep divides over the party's tactics and its future".^[10]

Outside groups spent more than $2.2 million on advertising and other communications opposing Villegas during the final month of the primary, according to campaign-finance records reviewed by CalMatters. The groups included organizations associated with centrist Democrats, the Republican Party, and the pro-Israel political organization Democratic Majority for Israel.^[4]

Valadao finished first in the primary, while Villegas finished second with more than 32 percent of the vote. Bains finished third and did not advance to the general election.^[4][5]

CalMatters described Villegas's defeat of Bains as a “stunning rebuke of establishment politics,” noting that he was a political newcomer running against a state legislator supported by national and state party leaders. The Associated Press described him as a “populist insurgent” and said the result reflected a broader conflict between the progressive and establishment wings of the Democratic Party.^[4][5]

Following the primary, the DCCC and Democratic elected officials who had supported Bains endorsed Villegas for the general election. Villegas was scheduled to face Valadao in November 2026.^[4][5]

Villegas has identified access to affordable health care, reductions in household costs, support for organized labor, increased funding for public education, and immigration reform as campaign priorities. He has also opposed corporate political action committee contributions and has described the influence of wealthy donors and corporations as a central problem in national politics.^[4]

During the 2026 campaign, Villegas presented his economic program as focused on working-class residents of the Central Valley. News coverage generally characterized him as a progressive, although his campaign emphasized economic populism and local issues rather than solely national ideological divisions.^[4][5]

Before attending graduate school, Villegas worked as a journalist and community organizer in Bakersfield. His writing appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, The Bakersfield Californian, South Kern Sol, and the Spanish-language newspaper El Popular.^[3]

Villegas became a professor of political science at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. His academic and community work has focused on civic engagement, political participation, Latino politics, immigration, and the Central Valley.^[3][8]

In 2025, the American Political Science Association gave Villegas its Community College Faculty Award. The association cited his teaching, mentorship, community engagement, and work involving student voter registration and political participation.^[3]

In December 2021, the Visalia Unified School District Board of Education appointed Villegas to fill a vacancy representing Trustee Area 6. The board approved his appointment by a 4–1 vote after the resignation of trustee Christopher Pope.^[11]

Villegas was elected to a full term representing Trustee Area 6 in November 2022.^[12]

• Terriquez, Veronica; Villegas, Randy; Villalobos, Roxanna (2019). "Central Valley Freedom Summer". Contexts. 18 (3): 54–57. doi:10.1177/1536504219864963.
• Villegas, Randy (2022). Voices from the Valley of Vulnerability (Ph.D. thesis). University of California, Santa Cruz.

• Campaign website
• Voices from the Valley of Vulnerability at the University of California eScholarship repository