What the Central Valley is seeing: Dr. Jasmeet Bains Launches Campaign for Congress
What the Central Valley is seeing: Dr. Jasmeet Bains Launches Campaign for Congress
DELANO, CA - Last week, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a family physician and Assemblywoman from Delano, officially launched her campaign for California’s 22nd Congressional District — and the news has traveled fast. Voters across the Valley are learning more about the doctor taking on Rep. David Valadao after his vote to gut Medi-Cal and slash affordable health care access for working families.
Here’s a sample of what the Central Valley is seeing:
In Bakersfield…
“I have been working day in, day out, to help expand access in an area with some of the most Medicaid patients in the country and this directly cuts a lot of the work that I have been doing.”
“I was shocked when I saw Congressman Valadao vote for what he himself said would decimate health care in our Central Valley, would take away vital access to care in an area that has the least access to begin with,” Bains said.
“This is a doctor taking her oath to the highest level. I never signed up for this job in the Assembly to be a career politician. I am staying true to who I said I was from day one. This is about a doctor taking her oath to protect her community.”
“My biggest dream for this community was my UC, the Kern medical school… Well within the Big Beautiful Bill is a tax on endowment funds that Congressman David Valadao voted for.”
“Instead of doing more to strengthen health care, we cut it by a trillion dollars?”
“This is about being a doctor and taking her oath to the highest level to protect her community.”
"Our Congressman David Valadao, just voted for the largest cut to health care in history, to give tax breaks to billionaires and Wall Street, even after he admitted this bill threatens access to care and Jeopardizes our hospitals, Valadao the followed the party line. Really Dude?," said Bains.
“I’m a doctor, not a career politician — and I’ve spent my life on the frontlines, listening to Valley families and fighting for their health, their safety, and their future.”
“Valadao just voted to gut Medi-Cal that provides 68% of the affordable healthcare in our community, jack up prescription drug prices, and cut off food assistance for thousands of hardworking folks. That’s not leadership — that’s betrayal.”
“For too long, politicians in both parties have treated the Central Valley like an afterthought. I’m running to change that.”
“David Valadao sealed his fate by betraying the Central Valley. He lied to his constituents, then turned around and voted to gut health care and food access for tens of thousands of working families — all to hand billionaires another tax break. That’s not leadership, it’s a spineless sellout voters will not forget. In 2026, they’ll hold Valadao accountable by flipping this seat,” DCCC spokesperson Anna Elasser said.
“I’m running for Congress because our communities deserve better than broken promises and backroom deals.”
“David Valadao doesn’t work for us — he works for the donors and D.C. insiders who drive up drug prices.”
In Fresno…
KSEE:
“She wants to focus on health care… there are multiple barriers to people’s health, including economic and environmental factors.”
When asked about her political identity, Bains said: “I describe myself as a person of the Valley. I grew up here. This is my community.”
And Around the State and Nation…
Jasmeet Bains, a doctor who represents Kern County in the state Assembly, becomes the latest Democrat and likely frontrunner in the race against Republican Rep. David Valadao.
“I did not envision ever running for Congress. But this is a matter of a doctor upholding her Hippocratic Oath that she took to protect her patients.”
“My community overwhelmingly elected me to office to fight for them because they know I am not afraid to go to any length to protect them.”
“In the middle of an affordability crisis… Valadao just voted to gut Medi-Cal… That’s not leadership — that’s betrayal.”
She has broken with her party on oil and gas regulations and public safety. Early in her tenure she was removed from a committee position after she voted against a bill sponsored by Gov. Gavin Newsom to crack down on oil industry profits.
Bains, a moderate Democrat from Delano, became the first Sikh American and the first woman of South Asian descent elected to the California Assembly when she won her 2022 race.
After announcing her congressional campaign last week, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Bakersfield, has already collected a long list of endorsements from politicians and labor unions. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove, is among those jumping behind the lawmaker and physician who is running on a promise to unseat Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, and deliver a healthier and more affordable Central Valley.
“As a fellow physician and someone who’s fought to defend the Affordable Care Act,” Bera said in a press release from Bains’ campaign on Monday. “I know Jasmeet Bains will be a strong voice for accessible, high-quality healthcare in Congress.”
Health care is central to Bains’ campaign in-part because incumbent Valadao supported the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which is expected to cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid in the next decade. His vote came after he said he would not support large-scale cuts to the program that about two-thirds of his district relies on.
BAINS TRAIN — Democratic Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains this morning announced she’s running against Republican Rep. David Valadao in what’s poised to be one of the nation’s closest-watched House races next year.
“I know what it takes to win tough races in the Central Valley — and I know Jasmeet Bains has what it takes to do it too,” said Rep. Adam Gray.
“Dr. Jasmeet Bains is SEIU members’ choice for Congress because she’s fighting for our lives, our kids’ healthcare, and home care our seniors need to thrive.”
“It’s time that communities like mine get access to higher services in health care, not lower, and the way we’re going to do it is electing their doctor to Congress,” Bains said. “I have the experience and knowledge of providing rural health care, and that’s what’s important to me, and that’s what I’m going to continue stressing.”
KQED:
Few places in California will feel the squeeze of recently approved federal cuts to SNAP and Medicaid — the nation’s low-income healthcare program — more than Bakersfield and its surrounding communities. The fallout from those cuts, enacted as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could play a key role in next year’s election for the 22nd Congressional District seat held by Republican Rep. David Valadao, who voted for the legislation.
Even deeper cuts are coming to Medicaid. The bill includes new requirements for recipients to prove they are working, volunteering or attending school, along with new limits on provider taxes — mechanisms that states such as California use to fund their Medicaid programs. Nonprofit health research group KFF estimates that California will lose 19% of its federal Medicaid funding over the next decade — a total of $164 billion.
In a sign of how motivated Democrats are to center the One Big Beautiful Bill vote in the midterms, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, a state Assemblymember, launched her campaign against Valadao last week, wearing a lab coat and stethoscope in a video decrying the health care cuts.
“Nowhere else has this much to lose,” Bains said.
Rep. David G. Valadao (R-California) is staring down another Democratic challenger in Jasmeet Bains, who launched a campaign against the vulnerable Republican on Wednesday.
Bains, an addiction specialist who serves in the California state legislature, is matching her credentials as a doctor who sees Medicaid patients against those of Valadao, who voted this month to pass President Donald Trump’s legislative package.
“When I saw what was going to be put in the bill, we sounded the alarm,” Bains said in an interview. “I’ve got patients in my clinic that are like, ‘Dr. Bains, can you, like, please do something? I know you’ve done a lot for us here in the clinic,’ but they elected me to the state Assembly overwhelmingly because they know I would do something.”
Bains acknowledged that the race won’t be easy, but she said she believes her credentials and reputation among patients can help mobilize voters.
One of California's most watched House races is about to get more interesting
Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a 40-year-old physician and state legislator who was elected in 2022 to represent Bakersfield, announced her congressional run Wednesday. She pointed to her background in health care and the impending threat to Medicaid recipients in the 22nd District as a major motivator to run.
“This community has believed in me, and I will take any leap I need to protect this community,” Bains told SFGATE in a phone call Wednesday.
Bains works full time in the statehouse during the week and as a physician on the weekends back in Delano, a town near Bakersfield where she was born and raised.
“This is not an easy decision for me… But you know what is an easy decision? Making sure we don’t cut access to care.”
“I’ve got my stethoscope to people’s hearts and lungs. I’m listening to those problems.”
And already earning key endorsements…
“The choice before voters in November is clear. A dishonest politician who has voted repeatedly to take health care away from his constituents, or a practicing physician who fights for the health of our kids and our families.”
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: BAINS’ MAINS — Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains racked up a slew of endorsements from fellow Democrats on the first day of her campaign against Republican Rep. David Valadao. They include Central Valley state Sen. Melissa Hurtado and seven members of California’s congressional delegation: Reps. Luz Rivas, Laura Friedman, Dave Min, Judy Chu, Ami Bera, Julia Brownley, Norma Torres and Adam Gray.
“I know what it takes to win tough races in the Central Valley — and I know Jasmeet Bains has what it takes to do it too,” Gray, who flipped a Republican House seat in the region last fall, said in a statement.
For more information, visit DrJasmeetBains.com and follow @DrJasmeetBains on social media.
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Dr. Jasmeet Bains is a Central Valley doctor and State Assemblymember who has spent her life fighting for working families. The daughter of immigrants and a Delano native, she served on the frontlines of California’s wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic before winning office in 2022. In Sacramento, she’s delivered results — from tackling the fentanyl crisis to bringing a new medical school to Kern County — and continues to lead the fight for healthcare, clean water, and dignity for vulnerable Californians, all while still treating patients at her hometown clinic on weekends.
California’s 22nd Congressional District spans parts of Kern, Tulare, and Kings Counties — including many communities Dr. Bains already represents in the State Assembly.