Randy Villegas

Randy Villegas graduated from Golden Valley High School. He earned an associate degree from Bakersfield College in 2015, a bachelor's degree from the California State University, Bakersfield in 2017, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2022. His career experience includes working as a teacher and business owner.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m an educator, family auto shop owner, proud son of immigrants, and I love the Central Valley. But so many families like mine face the same reality: we work hard to provide for our families and serve our community but are struggling to get ahead.

Politicians in Sacramento and DC talk a big game when it’s time for them to ask for your vote - but they lack the courage and will to take on corporate interests that are the same ones funding their campaigns. In Congress I will fight for Medicare for All, an affordable cost of living, and for our tax dollars to be invested here at home, not abroad.

I’m running for Congress because the Valley deserves a better deal, and I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for our communities. I’m a graduate of our local schools (Golden Valley, BC, CSUB), and as a Professor at College of the Sequoias I work with students and their families trying to improve their lives. On the Visalia School Board I’ve fought and won pay increases for teachers and staff. We need a government that works for us, not against us.

I’m proud to be supported by Senator Bernie Sanders, Dolores Huerta, California Nurses Association, California Teachers Association, the United Auto Workers, Latino Victory Fund and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Every day in Washington DC, I will fight for the Central Valley we deserve like our lives depend on it. Because here, they do.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Our healthcare system is broken. Every year more than 60,000 Americans die because they can’t afford to go to the doctor. Healthcare insurance CEOs are getting richer while our families ration their medicine, or uber to the hospital. We’re feeling these impacts in the Valley more than anywhere else. According to a study about half of our residents have medical debt, and 6 out of 10 people in this region have skipped medical care, due to cost. In Congress I’ll fight for Medicare for All, take on big Pharma by negotiating the price of prescription drugs directly, bringing down costs like making insulin $35 for everyone. Protect our seniors, and those with pre-existing conditions and cap the cost of other lifesaving medications.For far too long, Congress has prioritized an economy that works for billionaires at the expense of our working families. In Congress I’ll fight to:

Pass the PRO act, so workers are able to organize for better wages benefits and working conditions.

Create job opportunities so our kids can find a good career right here at home. Invest our tax dollars in communities, not corporations by supporting small businesses, apprenticeship programs, and workforce training. Fight for trade deals that will put the Valley first, not endless tariff trade wars that hurt our farmers and businesses. Put the Valley and America first. We shouldn’t be funding endless wars, while our own families continue to suffer in debt.End Political Corruption:

Both my opponents have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same corporations that are ripping us off: PG&E, So Cal Edison, Amazon and even United Health,

People are right to be pissed. I’m proud to be the only candidate in this race that has never taken corporate PAC money, because I’m here to work for the people, not special interests. In Washington I’ll fight to end political corruption and:

Ban Corporate PACS and overturn Citizens United

Support a Stock Trading Ban for Members of Congress and refuse to hold Stocks while in office

Pass legislation to ban former members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.

I’m running because I believe politics should be about public service.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Economic justice: The Central Valley produces billions of dollars of wealth every single year, and yet we’re one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. Because all that wealth is concentrated in the hands of the 1%.

If you’re fed up with politicians that put corporate profits ahead of our communities, I am your candidate, and it would be an honor to represent the Valley in Congress. My opponents make it clear, they’re with the billionaires. I’m with our workers. I’m with the people. Central Valley, I’m with you. And we’re going to Washington together.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

US Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Ro Khanna, Congressman Maxwell Frost, Congressman Greg Casar, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Courage California, California Teachers Association, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, National Nurses United, United Auto Workers, Working Families Party, and many more.

Campaign websitesVillegas' campaign website stated the following:Cost of livingBring prices downKeeping food on the table and lights on gets more expensive every paycheck. Whether it’s groceries, energy bills, or your rent or mortgage, the richest corporations in this country are squeezing us for everything we have. Politicians don’t do anything to fight against price gouging because they get campaign contributions from PG&E, United Health, and BlackRock to buy their silence. We all deserve to be able to pay a fair price to keep our families safe, and not a cent more.Protect Social SecurityAsk someone with a fixed Social Security income and they’ll tell you: their check doesn’t go as far as it used to. Inflation is putting our seniors at risk of falling below the poverty line, and we must make sure they are able to live their golden years with the dignity they deserve.Universal childcare and family leaveThe birth of your child should be the happiest day of your life, but so many Americans now face the reality of bills they can’t afford to pay. Families deserve to be together for the first months of a newborn’s life, and it’s time we joined other major countries in guaranteeing paid parental leave. New Mexico just became the first state to offer universal, no-cost childcare to all residents, and expanding it nationwide would ensure parents can continue their careers without pouring all of their income into breaking even.Raise the minimum wageIf the minimum wage kept up with worker productivity over the past 50 years, it would be $25 an hour. Instead, it’s just $7.25. I dare any sitting DC politician to explain to ordinary Americans how they would survive on $7.25 an hour, let alone support a family. Many full time workers need government programs to survive, which means more middle and working class taxes for us. It’s time to raise the wage so everyone who works hard can have their basic needs met, and ease the burden on our support systems.HealthcareMedicare for AllI believe healthcare is a human right, and am a strong supporter of Medicare for All. Every other major country already guarantees healthcare as a human right. We also pay more for our healthcare than they do, with worse outcomes. We need a fair, efficient healthcare system that actually looks after us instead of ripping us off, and is simple and accessible to use. No more reading thousands of pages of documents and then insurance companies denying your claims. If you’re sick, you get help.Price caps on medication and careBillionaires and corporations should not get to decide how much you go into debt when we’re sick. Their record-breaking profits come out of our wallets, and it’s time for that to end. I will fight to cap the price of medical procedures and prescription drugs across the board to an affordable rate in line with other major countries.Expand Medicare to include Dental and VisionYou should not need a completely separate kind of coverage to take care of your teeth and eyes. Our families here in the Valley shouldn’t have to drive across the border to get cheaper dental care. Any Medicare for All bill I sign will include Dental and Vision.Jobs & The EconomyFight for Oil and Gas WorkersOil and gas workers have kept our lights on for over a century. Any transition to clean and affordable renewable energy must guarantee that all energy workers have well-paid, secure jobs and better wages, so they can keep their own lights on too.End pointless tariffsIf we want to bring back American manufacturing, we need a real plan to make sure we do it right. This includes investing in work and apprenticeship programs, our agricultural, manufacturing, and technology sectors, while working with global partners and making sure they abide by our terms. But angering our trading partners with frivolous tariffs has killed the revenue of farmers, and small businesses across the country.A fair tax systemThree people own more wealth than the bottom half of our entire country, yet they’re the ones getting tax cuts while the rest of us struggle to get by. Working families shouldn’t be highly taxed during a cost of living crisis while the ultra rich use loopholes created by their buddies in Congress to escape paying their fair share. The most effective and fair way to increase government revenue is to tax the top 1% of income earners and wealth holders, and give working families the break we’ve earned.Break up monopolies and fight for small businessesAs a family auto shop owner, I know firsthand that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Trump and Valadao cater to multinational corporations who are trying to put local farms, services and stores out of business. No corporations should be allowed to become large enough to control an entire sector, and we need incentives and tax breaks for small businesses so they can remain competitive while serving our communities and fueling our economy.Infrastructure JobsHere in the Central Valley, our working families suffer every day from the poor quality of our roads, bridges and even safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets. And these problems are prevalent across the country. We have the power to create millions of well-paid jobs that also serve the needs of our community by building and repairing our crumbling infrastructure, including broadband internet to rural and underserved areas.ImmigrationWe must fix our broken systemYou’ve seen the videos. Unidentified masked men kidnapping innocent mothers selling fruit, or ripping children away from their parents. The current policies of blanket detention and deportation are unconstitutional and un-American. As the son of immigrants from Mexico, this is personal to me. We need a working system that protects our communities while providing a path to citizenship so our undocumented neighbors, friends and coworkers aren’t forced to live in the shadows.Bring home our deported veteransTrump and Valadao have overseen an administration where veterans, who have bravely served and made immense sacrifices for our country, have been deported. The cruelest part about this betrayal is that they are still entitled to a military funeral, so the only way many of them can come back home is in a casket. I will act with urgency to bring our veterans home, and fight for an immigration system that recognizes the dignity of everyone who has bravely served our country.Address the Root CauseMigration doesn’t come out of nowhere. It starts in parts of the world that are unstable, leading workers and families to seek refuge elsewhere. Instead of destabilizing regions overseas and then panicking when the problem shows up at our doorstep, we must work in alliance with other countries to address poverty and political instability that lead migrants to flee their countries in the first place.HousingStop corporations buying up our homesWe used to talk about the Central Valley as one of the only places in our state where an ordinary family could still afford to buy a home and have a good quality of life. Now that dream is slipping further away as corporate landlords and Wall Street are robbing the American people of their dream of home ownership by buying up entire neighborhoods and pricing us out of the market. I will fight to end corporate ownership of single-family homes.Build affordable housingWe need an ambitious federal program to build an abundance of affordable and safe housing across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of well-paid union jobs in the process.Fight Political CorruptionBan Congressmembers from trading stocks & becoming lobbyistsMembers of Congress within both political parties are trading stocks that "beat the market," making millions, while working class families are a missed paycheck away from homelessness. When they leave office, they become lobbyists and enrich themselves and the next Congressmember all over again. It doesn’t take a political science professor to understand that this enormous conflict of interest must end.Stop corporations and billionaires from buying electionsThe disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision has created a political environment where elections are bought and paid for by the corporations ripping working families off every day. We must seek every legal avenue available to end Citizens United, and ban corporate PACs from buying influence from politicians and candidates.Congressional Term LimitsRepresenting your community is a privilege, not a lifetime appointment. We need fresh ideas and leadership to move our country forward, and that means we need a limit on how long members can serve in Congress - just like the presidency.Education & TrainingUniversal higher education and trade schoolsGetting an education used to be affordable in this country, but then we started treating it like a business. Now millions of young Americans have enough student debt to last a lifetime. In order to build up our young people to enter the competitive global workforce, we must make public colleges - career, technical and community - tuition free, and take on the out-of-control student debt crisis.Build more schoolsSome students in my district drive four hours a day just to pursue their education. We need higher education based locally in our communities, all over the country. Our education system needs to meet the needs of our younger generations, and create more job and apprenticeship centers that allow people to contribute to our economy without the need for a two-year or four-year degree.Invest in our students, teachers and school staffTeachers and education staff deserve salaries they can plan for a future with, and classroom sizes small enough to steward every child’s development. Our education workers are vital for our society and it’s time they were treated like it. As a school board trustee, I have fought for and successfully raised wages for our teachers, custodians, nutritional workers and bus drivers who are often the first face students see every day. We must invest in our students and communities, not tax breaks for billionaires.EnvironmentProtect our communities from extreme weatherAsk any farmer and they’ll tell you: we’re seeing record heat, year after year. If nothing changes, our food, water, and livable temperatures are all at risk. Our farmworkers are already 35% more likely to die from heat-related causes. I will fight to prioritize the health of our farmworkers and our communities, so we can all look forward to a safe and sustainable future.Hold corporate polluters accountableHere in the Central Valley, we suffer from high rates of cancer, asthma and other medical conditions because corporate polluters have been allowed to get away with gas leaks, air pollution and water contamination. These are crimes against nature, but they’re also crimes against our communities. I will fight to hold corporate polluters accountable and keep our communities safe.Protect and expand our public landsValadao and Trump are selling off our sacred national parks to the highest bidder, threatening our country’s natural beauty, wildlife, and polluting our air and water. This needs to end immediately, and we need to expand our National Parks and wildlife conservation programs to ensure they can be enjoyed for generations to come.Foreign PolicyNo More Endless WarsWhether it’s Iraq, Afghanistan, or Palestine - Americans are sick of endless wars. The only way to bring true safety to our people and servicemen and women is by restoring our place in the world as a leader of peace.Invest our tax dollars at homeWe send billions of our tax dollars to countries on the other side of the world that, unlike us, have universal health care and free higher education, all while our families at home are struggling to make ends meet. Foreign aid for those suffering from extreme poverty and natural disasters is important, but when it comes to war or bailing out other countries, we must get our priorities straight and invest in our own communities, people, and country.Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence is changing our businesses, our schools, and our way of life, but Congress is doing little to protect workers and families against its potential dangers. We need leaders who understand its risks and are willing to fight for a future that works for everyone.Defend Your Right to Data Privacy: Your personal data should belong to you. Billion-dollar tech corporations should not be able to sell personal data to advertisers or use it to train their AI models without your consent. In Congress, Randy will work to enact legislation that protects your data from landing in the wrong hands.Regulate AI Safety for All: Congress has been too slow to protect against the potential dangers of new AI technologies. Randy will fight to protect workers, families, and children from its risks.Protecting Families: In Congress, Randy will pass legislation mandating age verification and parental consent for high-risk AI tools, requiring bots to screen for content related to unsafe behavior, and cracking down on the creation and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material with the full force of the law.Protecting Workers: Technology should be a tool for workers, not a threat of replacement. For workers across all industries, Randy will ensure large AI companies pay their fair share in taxes and will fight to protect working people’s job security against the threat of replacement by AI.— Randy Villegas' campaign website (July 17, 2026)Villegas' campaign website stated the following:Cost of LivingBring prices downKeeping food on the table and lights on gets more expensive every paycheck. Whether it’s groceries, energy bills, or your rent or mortgage, the richest corporations in this country are squeezing us for everything we have. Politicians don’t do anything to fight against price gouging because they get campaign contributions from PG&E, United Health, and BlackRock to buy their silence. We all deserve to be able to pay a fair price to keep our families safe, and not a cent more.Protect Social SecurityAsk someone with a fixed Social Security income and they’ll tell you: their check doesn’t go as far as it used to. Inflation is putting our seniors at risk of falling below the poverty line, and we must make sure they are able to live their golden years with the dignity they deserve.Universal childcare and family leaveThe birth of your child should be the happiest day of your life, but so many Americans now face the reality of bills they can’t afford to pay. Families deserve to be together for the first months of a newborn’s life, and it’s time we joined other major countries in guaranteeing paid parental leave. New Mexico just became the first state to offer universal, no-cost childcare to all residents, and expanding it nationwide would ensure parents can continue their careers without pouring all of their income into breaking even.Raise the minimum wageIf the minimum wage kept up with worker productivity over the past 50 years, it would be $25 an hour. Instead, it’s just $7.25. I dare any sitting DC politician to explain to ordinary Americans how they would survive on $7.25 an hour, let alone support a family. Many full time workers need government programs to survive, which means more middle and working class taxes for us. It’s time to raise the wage so everyone who works hard can have their basic needs met, and ease the burden on our support systems.HealthcareMedicare for AllI believe healthcare is a human right, and am a strong supporter of Medicare for All. Every other major country already guarantees healthcare as a human right. We also pay more for our healthcare than they do, with worse outcomes. We need a fair, efficient healthcare system that actually looks after us instead of ripping us off, and is simple and accessible to use. No more reading thousands of pages of documents and then insurance companies denying your claims. If you’re sick, you get help.Price caps on medication and careBillionaires and corporations should not get to decide how much you go into debt when we’re sick. Their record-breaking profits come out of our wallets, and it’s time for that to end. I will fight to cap the price of medical procedures and prescription drugs across the board to an affordable rate in line with other major countries.Expand Medicare to include Dental and VisionYou should not need a completely separate kind of coverage to take care of your teeth and eyes. Our families here in the Valley shouldn’t have to drive across the border to get cheaper dental care. Any Medicare for All bill I sign will include Dental and Vision.Jobs & The EconomyFight for Oil and Gas WorkersOil and gas workers have kept our lights on for over a century. Any transition to clean and affordable renewable energy must guarantee that all energy workers have well-paid, secure jobs and better wages, so they can keep their own lights on too.End pointless tariffsIf we want to bring back American manufacturing, we need a real plan to make sure we do it right. This includes investing in work and apprenticeship programs, our agricultural, manufacturing, and technology sectors, while working with global partners and making sure they abide by our terms. But angering our trading partners with frivolous tariffs has killed the revenue of farmers, and small businesses across the country.A fair tax systemThree people own more wealth than the bottom half of our entire country, yet they’re the ones getting tax cuts while the rest of us struggle to get by. Working families shouldn’t be highly taxed during a cost of living crisis while the ultra rich use loopholes created by their buddies in Congress to escape paying their fair share. The most effective and fair way to increase government revenue is to tax the top 1% of income earners and wealth holders, and give working families the break we’ve earned.Break up monopolies and fight for small businessesAs a family auto shop owner, I know firsthand that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Trump and Valadao cater to multinational corporations who are trying to put local farms, services and stores out of business. No corporations should be allowed to become large enough to control an entire sector, and we need incentives and tax breaks for small businesses so they can remain competitive while serving our communities and fueling our economy.Infrastructure JobsHere in the Central Valley, our working families suffer every day from the poor quality of our roads, bridges and even safe and affordable drinking water from their faucets. And these problems are prevalent across the country. We have the power to create millions of well-paid jobs that also serve the needs of our community by building and repairing our crumbling infrastructure, including broadband internet to rural and underserved areas.ImmigrationWe must fix our broken systemYou’ve seen the videos. Unidentified masked men kidnapping innocent mothers selling fruit, or ripping children away from their parents. The current policies of blanket detention and deportation are unconstitutional and un-American. As the son of immigrants from Mexico, this is personal to me. We need a working system that protects our communities while providing a path to citizenship so our undocumented neighbors, friends and coworkers aren’t forced to live in the shadows.Bring home our deported veteransTrump and Valadao have overseen an administration where veterans, who have bravely served and made immense sacrifices for our country, have been deported. The cruelest part about this betrayal is that they are still entitled to a military funeral, so the only way many of them can come back home is in a casket. I will act with urgency to bring our veterans home, and fight for an immigration system that recognizes the dignity of everyone who has bravely served our country.Address the Root CauseMigration doesn’t come out of nowhere. It starts in parts of the world that are unstable, leading workers and families to seek refuge elsewhere. Instead of destabilizing regions overseas and then panicking when the problem shows up at our doorstep, we must work in alliance with other countries to address poverty and political instability that lead migrants to flee their countries in the first place.HousingStop corporations buying up our homesWe used to talk about the Central Valley as one of the only places in our state where an ordinary family could still afford to buy a home and have a good quality of life. Now that dream is slipping further away as corporate landlords and Wall Street are robbing the American people of their dream of home ownership by buying up entire neighborhoods and pricing us out of the market. I will fight to end corporate ownership of single-family homes.Build affordable housingWe need an ambitious federal program to build an abundance of affordable and safe housing across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of well-paid union jobs in the process.Fight Political CorruptionBan Congressmembers from trading stocks & becoming lobbyistsMembers of Congress within both political parties are trading stocks that "beat the market," making millions, while working class families are a missed paycheck away from homelessness. When they leave office, they become lobbyists and enrich themselves and the next Congressmember all over again. It doesn’t take a political science professor to understand that this enormous conflict of interest must end.Stop corporations and billionaires from buying electionsThe disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision has created a political environment where elections are bought and paid for by the corporations ripping working families off every day. We must seek every legal avenue available to end Citizens United, and ban corporate PACs from buying influence from politicians and candidates.Congressional Term LimitsRepresenting your community is a privilege, not a lifetime appointment. We need fresh ideas and leadership to move our country forward, and that means we need a limit on how long members can serve in Congress - just like the presidency.Education & TrainingUniversal higher education and trade schoolsGetting an education used to be affordable in this country, but then we started treating it like a business. Now millions of young Americans have enough student debt to last a lifetime. In order to build up our young people to enter the competitive global workforce, we must make public colleges - career, technical and community - tuition free, and take on the out-of-control student debt crisis.Build more schoolsSome students in my district drive four hours a day just to pursue their education. We need higher education based locally in our communities, all over the country. Our education system needs to meet the needs of our younger generations, and create more job and apprenticeship centers that allow people to contribute to our economy without the need for a two-year or four-year degree.Invest in our students, teachers and school staffTeachers and education staff deserve salaries they can plan for a future with, and classroom sizes small enough to steward every child’s development. Our education workers are vital for our society and it’s time they were treated like it. As a school board trustee, I have fought for and successfully raised wages for our teachers, custodians, nutritional workers and bus drivers who are often the first face students see every day. We must invest in our students and communities, not tax breaks for billionaires.EnvironmentProtect our communities from extreme weatherAsk any farmer and they’ll tell you: we’re seeing record heat, year after year. If nothing changes, our food, water, and livable temperatures are all at risk. Our farmworkers are already 35% more likely to die from heat-related causes. I will fight to prioritize the health of our farmworkers and our communities, so we can all look forward to a safe and sustainable future.Hold corporate polluters accountableHere in the Central Valley, we suffer from high rates of cancer, asthma and other medical conditions because corporate polluters have been allowed to get away with gas leaks, air pollution and water contamination. These are crimes against nature, but they’re also crimes against our communities. I will fight to hold corporate polluters accountable and keep our communities safe.Protect and expand our public landsValadao and Trump are