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Latinx Voters key to Dems flipping Central Valley seats & keeping U.S. House

CD21 CD22

SactoPolitico | May 22, 2022 | Irene Kao and Hatzune Aguilar

… Thanks to redistricting, the 2022 elections present a golden opportunity for Democrats to flip two Republican-held Central Valley Congressional seats and help retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. However to do so requires the Democratic Party to focus and invest properly in Latinx voters and support a wave of younger, progressive Latinx Democrats running for state offices. This is because Latinxs are now the largest voting population in the newly drawn Congressional districts 21 (53%) and 22 (59%), and Latinas, in particular, generally vote at higher rates than Latinos.

For these reasons, most rate these Congressional districts as at least Democratic leaning. Plus, recent polling by Courage California and Communities for a New California found that Central Valley voters in the CD21 and CD22 are more likely to self-identify as liberal (36% in CD21, 42% in CD22) than moderate (35% in CD21, 34% in CD22) or conservative (29% in CD21, 23% in CD22). In CD22 in particular, Latinx voters are more likely to identify as liberal (52%) than white (32%) or Black (26%) voters.

Irene Kao & Hatzune Aguilar

Irene Kao is executive director of Courage California, a statewide progressive organization uniting communities for progressive change, to fight corruption, and press elected officials “to act with courage on behalf of all Californians.” Hatzune Aguilar is director of strategic engagement for Communities for a New California, which is working across California to end “the stealing, excluding and exploiting people of color.”