Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) is a rare figure in Congress. Not because he’s a California Republican — though that does make him an outlier because only 12 of the 52 members in the Golden State’s House delegation. What makes Valadao an interesting character is that he has boldly and repeatedly distanced himself from former President Donald Trump and lived to tell the tale.

California’s 22nd Congressional District is a sprawling inland section of central California that starts in Bakersfield and fans out west to touch Monterey and near San Luis Obispo wine country. The nearly 800,000-person patch of California desert is a Republican outpost that has been under siege by Democrats trying to finish squeezing out the remnants of a once-powerful GOP presence in the state.