On September 30th, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, visited the small town of Chowchilla in the Central Valley of California to campaign for the Republican Congressional candidate Kevin Lincoln. As the Republican Party seeks to maintain control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections in November, the importance of California’s 13th Congressional District is increasingly attracting national attention.
Chowchilla, located in Madera County, is a small town with a population of less than 20,000, mainly driven by agriculture, far away from the political center of Washington. However, the 13th Congressional District where this small town is located has seen very close margins in the past two elections, making it one of the closely watched congressional battlegrounds this year.
Johnson told supporters at the event that he is currently on a six-week intensive campaign tour, planning to visit 40 congressional districts in 22 states within 34 days.
However, he emphasized that the importance of California’s 13th district was significant enough for his special visit, pointing out that with 435 seats in the House of Representatives, the control of the House could come down to approximately 22 key contests.
“The final outcome rests on these 22 battles,” Johnson said. “You must fight for the Central Valley.”
Johnson noted that as he campaigns for Republican candidates across the country, he often uses Kevin Lincoln as an example.
“No matter where I go, I will bring up Kevin because the 13th district of California is one we should win and must win,” Johnson said. “And we have an outstanding candidate.”
The current Democratic Congressman for the district, Adam Gray, narrowly defeated the former Republican Congressman John Duarte in the 2024 election by just 187 votes. Their respective vote counts were 105,554 and 105,367, with a voting percentage of approximately 50.04% to 49.96%.
In the previous 2022 election, Duarte had won against Gray by a slim margin of 564 votes.
This year, Kevin Lincoln, a former mayor of Stockton, is running against Gray for the congressional seat. They will compete again on November 3rd in the election.
The 13th Congressional District spans across the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley, including all of Merced County, as well as parts of Madera, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, and Fresno counties, with a population of approximately 790,000, where Hispanic residents make up the majority.
Agriculture has long shaped the economic and communal landscape of this region. Besides farming and dairy industries, food processing, transport, construction, retail, and small businesses are vital components of the local economy. Issues such as water resources, irrigation, energy and fuel costs, agricultural regulations, housing, and cost of living have been long-standing concerns for residents in the area.
In introducing Johnson, Lincoln emphasized the unique characteristics of the Central Valley.
“These are the farmers and farmworkers who rise early every morning, ensuring our nation keeps moving forward,” Lincoln said. “They are small business owners who work tirelessly day after day to secure a better future for their families.”
“This is the Central Valley,” he added. “We till, we build, we serve, we sacrifice, but we never give up.”
Lincoln, a former Marine Corps veteran and pastor who was elected as Stockton’s mayor in 2020, highlighted his family’s immigrant background, with his grandfather being a Mexican immigrant who worked in a canning factory in the Central Valley for over 40 years before becoming a U.S. citizen.
His congressional campaign focuses on issues such as cost of living, taxes, public safety, border security, and reducing government regulation and spending.
“When people talk about the cost of living at their dinner tables, they feel it firsthand because every time they fill up at the gas station, they feel the pressure of rising prices,” Lincoln said.
He emphasized that rising costs particularly affect farmers, truck drivers, commuters, and small business owners.
Gray, a native of Merced, served as a California State Assemblymember from 2012 to 2022 before becoming a federal Congressman in 2024. Currently, he serves on the House Agriculture Committee and the Natural Resources Committee.
Gray’s campaign priorities include lowering the cost of living, water resources, agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure. He positions himself as a moderate Democrat willing to work across party lines and advocates for increasing water supply for Central Valley farms and communities, reducing family and healthcare costs, and securing more federal resources for the district.
During the campaign event in Chowchilla, Republicans criticized Gray’s voting record in the California Legislature and Congress, believing that his votes have contributed to increased taxes and cost of living. Gray’s campaign team, however, describes his political record as centered around the interests of the Central Valley, with independence and bipartisanship.
Johnson’s visit underscores how a congressional election centered on agriculture and small communities in the Central Valley has become a national battle for both parties to gain control of Congress.
At the event, Lincoln expressed to Johnson that the residents of the Central Valley hope their voices will be heard in Washington.
“Our community deserves to be seen, our families deserve to be heard,” Lincoln said. “The people of the Central Valley should know that their voices matter in the halls of Congress.”