Randy Villegas calls out Valadao’s healthcare vote in Central Valley

Last week, congressional candidate in California’s 22nd District Randy Villegas joined advocates and labor leaders outside Republican incumbent David Valadao’s office to demand accountability for his vote to cut healthcare for tens of thousands of working people.

The Central Valley has the highest Medicaid enrollment of any congressional district in the country, with over 65% of residents relying on Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the program, for their healthcare needs. 

The vote was part of a sweeping federal policy package approved last summer that included more than $1 trillion in Medicaid spending reductions. The law also tightened eligibility requirements, limited certain state financing mechanisms and imposed new administrative requirements for beneficiaries and states.

For many low-income residents, these changes are the most significant disruption to their health coverage in years, with 87% of children being affected as well as nearly 87% of Latino constituents in the district.

Last year, numerous community members and organizations came together to express their concerns about the repercussions of his vote to reduce healthcare funding. According to district-level estimates of the healthcare cuts’ impact, approximately 5,000 people are expected to lose coverage through the Affordable Care Act, 63,777 are projected to lose Medicaid coverage and an estimated 68,777 residents could lose health insurance overall.

On Tuesday, community advocates, labor leaders and local organizations gathered alongside Villegas to voice their concerns once again about the impact of federal healthcare changes in the Central Valley.

Participants included representatives from Social Security Works PAC, the Working Families Party, the California Alliance for Retired Americans and United Domestic Workers. The event took place ahead of the first anniversary of the Reconciliation Act of 2025, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, taking health care away from working people in order to give tax breaks to billionaires.

However, just this week the California Billionaire Tax Act was officially certified for November’s election and will now have a ballot designation as Proposition 40. 

Californians will have the opportunity to vote on the proposition, which, if approved, would impose a one-time 5% tax on individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more. Under the measure, 90% of the revenue generated would be dedicated to protecting health care programs, while the remaining 10% would support food assistance and public education across the state.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps serve 42 million people in the U.S., providing essential food support for families, children, the elderly and those with disabilities. However, last year the budget was cut by $187 billion through 2034, resulting in three million Americans losing SNAP benefits between July 2025 and January 2026.

“As someone who grew up right here in the Valley on Medi-Cal and WIC, the anniversary of the ‘Big, Ugly Bill’ is personal for me. Over 68,000 people in our district are losing their healthcare because of David Valadao’s deciding vote,” said Villegas. The changes are expected to affect not only children’s and families’ access to health care in the Central Valley but also their ability to afford food.

While SNAP participation in California is generally higher than the national average across congressional districts, California’s 22nd Congressional District has the state’s highest participation rate. About one in four households in the district, which includes parts of Bakersfield, Fresno, Madera and Visalia, rely on SNAP benefits each month to help put food on the table. 

“These are the working people who keep our economy going. They care for our kids, they harvest the crops that feed the nation, and yet David Valado voted to rip away their access to health care. At a time when the cost of groceries, gas and housing continues to climb, the Valley cannot afford a representative who sells out our health care to please his party and give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy,” said Villegas. “In Congress, I’ll be focused on lowering health care costs, expanding affordable housing and rooting out corruption that rigs the economy against working people.”