Randy Villegas

And what you've got is a self-described conservative like Bobby Pulido, who I think is gonna really shake up the narrative in a great way nationally for the Democratic Party.

Randy Villegas is, he's not, he's a, he's a w- w- worker's family's party.

He's, he's to the far left of the party.

He's a Bernie Sanders guy.

Those are the four seats that decide the Senate majority.

Then we've got Randy Villegas in California's 22nd.

Really pulling for him.

Marnie Vaughan Wilbert in California's 48th.

Bakersfield, California.

My name is Randy Villegas, and I'm from Medicare for All.

That was how Villegas, a 31-year-old Democratic candidate for Congress, opened a health care town hall in late August for close to 100 residents, most of them Latino.

He was speaking at Salon Juarez, a dance hall that hosts quinceañeras and weddings in a historic section of Bakersfield known as Old Town Kern.

The real transformation will come if we win enough of these swing seats with progressive members who say we need to act if we want to win, instead of preaching inaction.

I talked to more than 25 members of Congress, candidates, campaign officials, polling experts, donors, and constituents about whether progressives can win where it's toughest.

While leftists' toppling incumbents drew headlines throughout primary season, whether people like Randy Villegas can subvert political stereotypes and defeat Republicans will more strongly define where Democrats go as a party.

Matt Dunlap has been a statewide official in Maine for nearly 22 years, first as Secretary of State and then as Auditor.

And then instead of pivoting to the center in the general election, we've seen them continue to, uh, you know, display all the hallmarks of economic populism.

I was up in a district in the Bakersfield, California area with Randy Villegas, who opened his town hall saying, "My name is Randy Villegas, and I'm for Medicare for all." This is a seat Trump won by two points in 2024.

Uh, he beat a DCCC-backed moderate candidate in the primary, and he's still running on Medicare for all, and he's still running in a way that is, uh, you know, what would be termed progressive.

And, uh, we're seeing this all over the country.

You'd have to follow the lead of William Lawrence in a, in a toss-up Trump seat who ran on data centers and, uh, you know, pausing AI and, and, and, and getting rid of flock cameras.

Uh, he was, he was really a national leader in terms of sensing that shift and moving forward on it before anybody else.

You would have to, you know, think about Randy Villegas running a Medicare for All in a district where 67% of the electorate is on Medicaid.

Uh, uh, this is the number one district in the country on Medicaid.

And it's a district that is also 73%.

And in the primary, a moderate assembly member named Jasmine Baines ran and also Randy Villegas, who is a progressive who ran on a message of Medicare for all.

And, you know, we have a top two primary, but there were only three candidates in that primary.

And so it was effectively a race between those two, who was going to face the incumbent, who is David Valadao.

Like I'm going to be driving down the Central Valley.

I'm going to try to get an interview with Randy Villegas, who's basically a working families, DSA type candidate running against David Valadao.

And people are like, can he win in the Central Valley? And I'm like a tree stump could win in the Central Valley right now.

It has nothing to do.

And it's one of a handful of races that we have highlighted and that I've talked about on my Instagram that match that same dynamic.

You also have Randy Villegas in California, Matt Dunlap in Maine, of course, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Angie Nixon in Florida.

How these candidates perform is going to reflect on how progressives are seen as competitive or not competitive in swing districts and swing states.

And that is going to have a huge effect on 2028.

Although I will say if it was that – like maybe they're just shoring themselves up, but it is interesting that they're willing to put down limited resources in a district that – anyway, let's move to California 22.

This is David Valadao, the Republican incumbent versus Randy Villegas.

This is definitely one where you've said is lean D for a while.

Is there anything in California that has changed? I'm very concerned about the top of the ticket there,

Bob holds it down on the ground." [laughs] That's funny.

And then there's Randy Villegas, who's running in, uh, California- Yeah ... um, who is a teacher and a community activist and, and, and a union leader.

So they're all union leaders who are running for Congress right now, and we can work to get these voices to Congress because there are too many millionaires and people who don't look like us or experience what we experience making decisions about us, and that has to change.

Mm-hmm.