Washington — The latest fight over the direction of the Democratic Party is playing out in a competitive California congressional primary, as progressives accuse party leaders of trying to muscle a moderate past a Latino challenger in one of the state's most heavily Hispanic districts.

The late intervention by the House Democrats' campaign arm has touched off an unusually public and persistent intraparty feud that began when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee earlier this month added moderate California State Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains to its "Red to Blue" program. The program unlocks fundraising and organizational support for candidates the DCCC believes are best positioned to flip Republican-held U.S. House seats in November.

"This is just another perfect example of D.C. elites and industry being out of touch with what people are actually feeling on the ground," Randy Villegas, the progressive challenging Bains in the race, told CBS News.

The two Democrats are competing to take on Republican Rep. David Valadao in a Central Valley district that the University of Virginia's Center for Politics rates a toss-up. The seat is seen as "the heaviest Democratic lift" of the five Republican-held California seats that were redrawn in the redistricting plan California voters approved last year.

The DCCC's decision to intervene in the race highlights disagreements within the party over whether to back moderates or progressives. It also sends a mixed message about Democrats' efforts to regain ground among Latino voters after Republicans made inroads in 2024. The dispute is playing out in a district that Democrats view as essential to winning control of the House.

A question of electability

The DCCC has defended its decision as the surest way to win a seat that could prove crucial to retaking the House. 

DCCC chair Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington praised Bains' record as a Bakersfield physician and her overperformance in her 2024 state House race, where she ran more than seven points ahead of the top of the ticket. Bains has won twice in her state legislative district, which overlaps heavily with the 22nd Congressional District.

DelBene said Bains would fight to "lower costs, expand access to health care, and strengthen public safety."

The DCCC's Red to Blue program is also backing candidates with broader support, like retired firefighter and union leader Bob Brooks, who just won the primary in Pennsylvania's 7th District. Brooks had the backing of progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the Working Families Party and the moderate Blue Dog PAC.

Villegas, meanwhile, has picked up support from leading progressives, including Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Progressive leader David Hogg has campaigned for Villegas, and contends that Bains' fundraising and grassroots footprint don't support the committee's electability argument.

"There's really no case to be made that she's stronger," Hogg said to CBS News. 

"Randy is the stronger Democratic candidate in fundraising, endorsements and campaign momentum," Hogg added. "And yet, the DCCC is backing a candidate who was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans against Prop 50, shares nearly 60 corporate donors with the Republican incumbent, and couldn't even show up to a vote forcing ICE agents to remove their masks. I mean, what are we even doing here?"

Bains' supporters see her standing in her current legislative district as a boon. Delano city council member Mario Nunez, who said he's known Bains since before she ran for the state assembly, told CBS News that Bains has shown in the race that she "cared about what really mattered to Delano and people in the Valley."

Bains declined to be interviewed, but said in a statement she's proud to have the DCCC's support. 

Villegas seems unfazed by any concern that he's too progressive to win the seat. He said his campaign has seen "a surge of support, both locally and all across the country." He pointed to recent polling from Data for Progress, a group supporting his candidacy, showing him leading the Democratic field heading into California's June 2 primary.

The Data for Progress poll shows the leading primary candidate is Valadeo. California uses a "jungle" primary system in which the top two finishers advance to November regardless of party. 

A Latino flashpoint

Villegas, the son of immigrants, called the DCCC's intervention a slight to Latino voters in a district that is approximately 70% Latino. That figure was amplified after Proposition 50, California's voter-approved mid-decade redistricting plan, changed the district's boundaries and now juts from Bakersfield to the Fresno region.

"We're the most Latino district here in California after Prop 50, and it's one of the most important districts to make sure we take back control of the House," Villegas told CBS News. "Fortunately for us, D.C. insiders don't get to choose who represents the Valley in Congress. Voters do."

He argued the episode reinforces a broader complaint among Hispanic Democrats — that the party has repeatedly underinvested in Latino communities even as it tries to win back voters who shifted toward Mr. Trump in 2024.

"The Democratic Party has taken Latino communities for granted," Villegas said. "Far too late, far too little for Latino communities. And this is just another example of that."

The Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, in a joint statement from co-chairs including Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Greg Casar of Texas and Maxwell Frost of Florida, said it "disagrees with the DCCC's decision to attempt to tip the scales in this race."

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus' campaign arm called Latino voters "central" to the fight for the House majority and pledged to stand with Villegas "every step of the way."

Republicans pounce

The National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans' campaign arm, pointed to the 22nd District — along with the Pennsylvania race where Brooks took on Hispanic Democrat Carol Obando-Derstine — as evidence that national Democrats are "sidelining Latino voices in favor of handpicked establishment picks." 

NRCC Chair Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina told the committee's members in a recent briefing that "Hispanic voters are the most important voting bloc" heading into the midterms.

The NRCC is highlighting a slate of Hispanic Republican candidates in battleground districts, including former federal prosecutor Eric Flores, longtime Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina in Texas and Marine veteran Greg Cunningham in New Mexico. If elected, they would join Hispanic GOP incumbents including Reps. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, Gabe Evans of Colorado and Nicole Malliotakis of New York.

The DCCC has also touted its recruitment of Latino contenders in other frontline districts, including in Texas' newly redrawn 15th District, where the Democratic nominee is moderate candidate and Tejano music star Bobby Pulido. He will face off against De La Cruz in the general election.

Recent polling suggests Democrats' historical advantage with Hispanic voters has narrowed. A recent Economist/YouGov survey put Democrats just two points ahead of Republicans among Hispanic voters on the generic congressional ballot, down from a 40-point edge in 2018 and a nine-point edge as recently as 2024. 

Mr. Trump carried roughly half of the Hispanic vote in 2024, a 12-point improvement over 2020, and flipped longtime Democratic strongholds along the South Texas border. The president also carried more than half of Latino men in 2024, exit polls showed.

But more recent data show slipping support for President Trump. The latest CBS News poll, conducted May 13–15, found Mr. Trump's job approval among Hispanic voters at just 34%, with 66% disapproving. That marks a sharp drop from the roughly half who approved of the job he was doing at the start of his second term, with affordability and inflation the dominant concerns.

Approval of the administration's hardline deportation program among Hispanics has fallen by a similar magnitude over the same stretch, the CBS News analysis found. Latinos now say they prefer the Democrats' approach to both the economy and immigration.

Still, Villegas warns that Democratic leaders may be out of step with the district.

"Democratic insiders need to understand that we can't just offer people 'not Trump,'" Villegas said. "We have to be willing to offer people a vision for something better."