CA-22: California Rep. David Valadao voted for Medi-Cal cuts. Will voters hold it against him?

California Rep. David Valadao has some explaining to do.

Nearly two-thirds of constituents in his Central Valley district — approximately 527,000 Californians — are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program that provides health care coverage to low-income Americans and those with disabilities. At 64%, Valadao’s district has the highest Medicaid enrollment rate of any Republican seat in the country.

Yet last year, the Republican cast what would become the decisive vote to pass President Donald Trump’s domestic policy megabill, a law that slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and other programs that help the poorest Americans to pay for tax cuts that will mostly benefit the country’s richest. One of the most drastic changes is stricter eligibility requirements for Medicaid that California officials estimate will kick two million Californians off their health care.

Republicans across the country will face an uphill battle in the midterms as they toil to defend — and sell — the record of their party’s widely unpopular and polarizing president.



https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/congress-valadao-medicaid-cuts/