(NewsNation) — With 55.1% of the vote, NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ has called the race for California’s District 22 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in favor of David Valadao. See the results of U.S. House and U.S. Senate races from around the country here.
Tuesday’s election was a rematch of the closely contested 2022 fight for the District 22 seat in which Republican Rep. David Valadao defeated former California Assemblyman Rudy Salas by just 3 percentage points.
Valadao has served on the House Appropriations Committee, determining how American tax dollars are spent at the federal level.
In the California Assembly, Salas focused on issues such as public safety, better workforce development programs and expanded rights for veterans and workers.
The race was considered among the nation’s most competitive battles for a congressional seat that could affect which party controls the chamber.
The tight race was the latest difficult fight for Valadao, who lost his seat in Congress in 2018 before being reelected in 2020 after the seat had been redistricted to include its current area of the Central Coast, including parts of Kings, Tulare and Kern counties.
The region has shifted to purple politically, in part due to the Latino majority in the district, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans, the Sacramento Bee reported.
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Throughout this election cycle, both Valadao and Salas focused on economic issues such as the price of groceries and gas for residents across the congressional district.
Both candidates attacked their opponent’s legislative record, with Salas taking aim at Valadao’s voting record in Washington, D.C., over the past 12 years, while Valadao focused on Salas’ tenure as an assemblyman.
Heading into Tuesday’s election, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans control the chamber with a narrow majority of 220 seats, while the Democrats occupy 212 with three vacancies.
