I don't know Emilio Huerta yet, but I do know his mom, Dolores Huerta, a national treasure who I've been urging to run for Congress for years. She always smiles but I get the idea she knows her national activism is accomplishing more than anything she could do in Congress. I knew Emilio had been considering running for one of the Central Valley seats and over the weekend he announced he would be taking on Republican David Valadao in CA-21. The district, which covers all of Kings County and chunks or Kern and Fresno counties, practically surrounds Bakersfield and heads north to Delano, Cesar Chavez's old headquarters, and through Lost Hills, Coalinga and Hanford into the southern parts of Fresno. The district is nearly three-quarters Hispanic and Obama beat Romney 55-46%. The Democratic Party has a 16.4-point registration advantage over the GOP. So why do they have a Republican congressman? Meet Steve Israel, the infamous, highly destructive force behind DCCC atrophy.A few weeks ago we reported on the growing anger among Central Valley Democrats towards the DCCC and their interference. Democrats throughout the Central Valley and in most of the country feel the DCCC is more a hindrance than a help in winning congressional races, recruiting congressional candidates with virtually no local input and then imposing corrupt out-of-state hacks as staffers to the candidates, who consistently make idiotic decisions and consistently lose races.Emilio is 58, an attorney in Bakersfield with a name that speaks volumes to his fellow Valley residents. The other Democrat in the race, Fowler Mayor Pro-Tem Daniel Parra, hasn't been able to make any fundraising headway and if he's smart he'll bow out and endorse Huerta asap. Last week, the Bakersfield Californian speculated that Huerta might run and give Valadao a tough time.
[H]is pedigree-- he’s the son of United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta-- could give Valadao some trouble... [A] complicating factor for Valadao would be Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. That would bring out a huge Latino turnout and could be enough to simply swamp him."
Randy Borntrager is the Political Director of People For the American Way and his organization has spent time with Emilio discussing the issues that are motivating his campaign. This afternoon he told us that "If Democrats are serious about winning the House back anytime soon, we have to win Congressional seats like this one. By all accounts, Emilio Huerta's strong connection to the area, and his compelling life story should easily make this one of the best pick-up opportunities in the nation."