His victory, which came after nearly two weeks of vote-counting, made the congressman one of just two House Republicans who supported impeaching the former president to remain in Congress.
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Representative David Valadao at the Capitol in September. He defeated Rudy Salas, a Democratic state assemblyman, in a competitive district in the Central Valley.
Representative David Valadao, Republican of California, won re-election on Monday, according to The Associated Press, managing to survive politically after his vote to impeach former President Donald J. Trump, a move that cost some of his Republican colleagues their seats.
Mr. Valadao defeated Rudy Salas, a Democratic state assemblyman, in a competitive district in the Central Valley that became more difficult for Republicans after newly drawn boundaries tilted it more to the left. The outcome was decided nearly two weeks after Election Day, with Mr. Valadao leading by more than three percentage points.
The victory by Mr. Valadao puts him in rare company alongside Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington. They are the only two House Republicans — out of 10 in all — who will remain in Congress after voting to impeach Mr. Trump in the wake of the Capitol riot. The rest chose to retire or lost their primaries.
Mr. Salas had drawn about 20 points more votes than Mr. Valadao in the open primary — which included candidates of any political affiliation — but the Republican was able to beat two Republican challengers. The race was always going to be tight; Mr. Valadao, who first represented the district from 2013 to 2019, had narrowly won back the seat in 2020 by less than a point over Representative T.J. Cox, a Democrat.
By the final month of the campaign, Republican political action committees, including the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is aligned with Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, spent more than $11 million in advertising for Mr. Valadao, according to the nonpartisan political tracking organization California Target Book.
Mr. Valadao largely voted along party lines in the last Congress, opposing a bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Democrats’ pandemic relief package, but he diverged in voting to impeach Mr. Trump. He campaigned on protecting jobs and the economy, agricultural matters, and taking care of older people.
Source: nytimes.com
