Then Punchbowl News reported that WinRed, the Republican version of ActBlue, was embedded in the site's metadata. The "progressive" group was wired into GOP fundraising infrastructure, it is a Republican operation to pick the Democrats they'd rather run against in November. In California's 22nd, Republicans aren't even bothering to hide it: the Congressional Leadership Fund has spent nearly $60,000 on mailers branding primary challenger Randy Villegas as a "lifelong Democrat" who "opposes President Trump's policies," a transparent attempt to boost him with Democratic voters.

The message is unmistakable. Republicans see Dr. Jasmeet Bains as the candidate they don't want to face. But several leftwing groups—including David Hogg's SuperPAC, Leaders We Deserve, along with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Working Families Party—are also dumping resources into the race using nearly identical messaging to boost her far-left primary opponent, Randy Villegas. This is the Left-Right Pincer in action. Dynamic leaders like Bains get whacked from both the purity-test left and a Republican Party that can't beat a pragmatic candidate in the general election.

In today’s episode of the Winner, Winner podcast, I’m in conversation with Dr. Jasmeet Bains, who’s running for Congress in California’s 22nd congressional district against Republican David Valadeo.

Dr. Bains is a frontline physician and California State Assembly member. The first South Asian woman elected to the Assembly, Dr. Bains has been a fearless, independent voice and vote, bucking special interests to protect the Central Valley’s economy and healthcare access.

California’s 22nd congressional district sits in the Central Valley, anchored in Bakersfield and stretching north toward the Fresno suburbs. It is a heavily working-class district shaped by agriculture, energy, and logistics, where voters are primarily driven by the cost of living, water access, fuel prices, and job stability.

Following new maps adopted after Proposition 50 in 2025, CA-22 has been significantly reshaped, altering its political landscape ahead of the 2026 cycle. CA-22 now has a PVI of D+1, and Trump won the district by 1.8 points in 2024. The district is on the DCCC’s Red to Blue list for the 2026 cycle.

Here on the Winner, Winner podcast by Welcome, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.

In this episode, Dr. Bains highlights the relationship between her public health and public service careers. Being a member of the California Assembly and congressional candidate hasn’t stopped Dr. Bains from seeing patients; she still does hours in the clinic most weekends!

Dr. Bains also emphasized her commitment to serving her constituents over party interests:

I grew up in an area where politics is very divisive, and people don’t even want to hear about politics.

My parents immigrated here. We are happy and proud Democrats. It’s the party of immigrants. It’s the party that really worked toward protecting immigrants, and that was important to my mother and father and my grandparents.

I’ve been a Democrat my entire life, and I’m proud of it. But at the same time, when you were elected to represent an area, I think a lot of politicians quickly forget that it’s the voters you are representing; it’s that area, that district, and the constituents. You’re not representing the Democratic Party, you’re not representing the Republican Party — you’re representing those people who voted for you.

When I got up to Sacramento, the very first vote I took was not to destroy oil and gas, which my community relies on for jobs and for health care. I had first-hand knowledge of that when I was out in Taft providing care. As the only doctor out there, I saw the demonization of the oil industries. What I saw as a doctor was people losing access to healthcare insurance and people who died because they could not get access to life-saving medications.

In a lot of ways, the Central Valley was left behind in a pursuit of a transition. And then people get very divisive, “Oh, you’re against transition.” No. This is about listening to the other side, not getting so into the, “I’m right, everybody else is wrong.” Please take a second. Listen to the stories of why people do certain things.

Why was Dr. Bains the only Democrat in the entire legislature who voted against decimating oil and gas? Dr. Bains represents a community that relies on that for jobs, and that’s access to healthcare. You cannot fight corporations and also fight for access for healthcare at the same time because the reality is those corporations are providing access to healthcare insurance in those areas.

Because of the policies, because of the decimation of industries in the Central Valley, now we have the most amount of patients in the state and country that rely on Medicaid because those private insurances were being provided by the industry.

Sacramento shut down our industries, which is access to private insurance. Any physician can tell you we want our patients to have good private healthcare insurance. Medicaid is a band-aid; it doesn’t cover anything, and there’s always changes and cuts to it. And then you have D.C. that cut it by a trillion dollars and added work requirements in an area that has inadequate access to jobs.

You literally took away everything from this community overnight.

My constituents are people who don’t care about Democrat or Republican because they’ve been screwed by both. My independent streak happens because I’m a doctor…This is an area that’s very unique, and there is not a cookie-cutter solution for this community, and that’s why you cannot have extremists who represent this community.

My [primary] opponent likes to say he is fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party. I’m fighting for the soul of the valley. I’m fighting for my community, not fighting for a party, not fighting to represent this or that. The only thing that Dr. Bains is fighting for is for the Valley… because it’s my constituents, my voters who I will always listen to over any political idea or anything political party because this is a very unique area.

The things I saw and my experiences in rural California are what shape me and what I bring to the floor of the Assembly. And it’s my experiences in the clinic because I get to see in real time the impacts of legislation as I go back to provide healthcare on the weekends.

This is an area that needs a person who’s not going to adhere to fighting for the soul of a party but are going to be strong and say, “I’m fighting for the soul of the Valley. I am here to represent the Valley,” and has really done the work, been out to those areas, provided services, and listened not to a party but listened to the people and what their needs are.

You can support Dr. Jasmeet Bains in CA-22 via the Win the Middle slate here.

Shannon is part of Welcome’s Win the Middle slate for the 2026 cycle, and we wrote about her in our endorsement of her campaign last year:

Shannon is the only candidate in the [CO-08] primary who’s won contested campaigns, and she’s working to build the broadest coalition possible. With her bio, record, and commitment to service, Shannon is uniquely positioned to not only flip this must-win district “blue” in 2026, but to remain in elected office for cycles to come.

Shannon served in the Colorado State House for seven years and has been a pragmatic voice and leader for Democrats in the state. As a results-oriented legislator with an independent streak, Shannon has built a record of challenging the status quo to deliver tangible outcomes for her constituents.

In the state legislature, Shannon focused on issues that resonate across party lines: protecting Colorado jobs, improving public safety, and expanding economic opportunity. She has consistently shown a willingness to take politically difficult votes when they align with the needs of her district, reinforcing her credibility with moderate and unaffiliated voters.

Colorado’s 8th congressional district is the near definition of a swing seat and is likely to play a decisive role in determining the control of the U.S. House in 2026.

Located just north of Denver, the district includes many of the region’s northern suburbs. CO-08 has a Cook PVI of even and is currently rated as a toss-up, and Trump won the district by 2 points in 2024.

The district is on the DCCC’s Districts in Play list, a possible precursor to being added to its prized Red to Blue list.

In our conversation, Shannon shares remarkably thoughtful takes on governance and effective leadership.

When we’re elected into office, we are vested with a vote, and that’s a vote on behalf of the people who sent us there.

It’s not my vote — my own personal capacity, my own wishes, how I’d cast maybe even my own ballot… Your voters vest you with agency and with power to weigh in and to either advance an idea forward if it’s going to be good on their behalf, and to stop it if it’s going to be bad for them. And that is something that I take personally… Our votes mean something, and that’s something I wish people understood is not theory. Those votes we take on the floor, on the dais, they mean something to people’s lives… The votes are not without consequence.

I recognize the vote is the power comes from the people. And I just couldn’t live with myself to give that power away to someone else trying to achieve their own objective if it wasn’t in the best interest of the people who trusted me to go and represent them and fight for them.

I couldn’t live with myself.

I often think to myself, what if I had my representative come and say to me, “you know, Shannon, I know you really cared about such-and-such thing, but this person in House District X over here really wanted this and wanted me to show up for them, and I didn’t want to make them mad, so I’m sorry that now your costs have gone up exponentially, but I didn’t want to make them mad over in this other district.”

They would have my head on a platter! And rightfully so.

So every time I put it to myself like that, it’s like, no, I’m not going to do that.

So I vote my district.

Shannon is part of our Win the Middle slate of endorsed candidates for the 2026 cycle. You can support Shannon in her race in CO-08 here.

SUPPORT SHANNON BIRD

Bobby is a native South Texan and a Grammy award-winning Tejano music artist. His hits and star status have helped define modern Tejano music and solidified his reputation as a cultural ambassador for the region.

TX-15 is one of the newly-drawn congressional districts that the Texas GOP is betting will result in a Republican hold. It has a PVI of R+7, and Trump won the district in 2024 by 18 points. But Hispanic voters in South Texas have shown significant volatility in recent cycles, and recent polling has shown meaningful movement away from Donald Trump among Hispanic voters, creating a real opening in this district that may not be as red as recent results suggest.

The district was also recently added to DCCC’s Districts in Play list, a possible precursor to being included in the Red to Blue program, an indication they view the district as a key battleground.

On the Winner, Winner podcast, we speak with the Democratic Party candidates who prove they can win the middle, beat Republicans on Trump turf, and recalibrate the party to the median voter. Here at Welcome, we work to strengthen the centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.

We wrote about Bobby when we endorsed him late last year:

Bobby Pulido is a legendary Tejano musician (check him out!) and small business owner, making him the ultimate political outsider. He represents a new-generation challenger whose appeal aligns with Welcome’s belief that Democrats can regain ground in South Texas by focusing on costs, community safety, and resisting the status quo that has frustrated voters. In a district Republicans redrew to be safe (+18 Trump), Pulido’s deep cultural ties and name ID offer a unique opportunity to reclaim the working-class vote.

Pulido has criticized Biden’s open borders policies, called out the use of the term “Latinx,” and highlighted his faith and support for American energy, calling himself a “Tejano Democrat.”

Bobby will be speaking at this year’s WelcomeFest, so be sure to mark your calendar for June 3 so you can join us in D.C. in person.

Be sure to listen to the whole Winner, Winner episode on YouTube, but check out this quote from my conversation with Bobby when I asked about his response to people who ask him why he’s not just running as a Republican, since he’s someone who identifies as a conservative Democrat.

I am a Democrat, but I am conservative. I want to make sure I can conserve the traditions my dad passed on to me and raise my sons the way my dad raised me, because I happen to like it. So I want to conserve that. Is that such a bad thing for me? I don’t think so. The problem with that was saying, well, I’m a conservative Democrat. People look at that and go like, “oh, no, no, then you’re just a MAGA guy.”

No, I’m not.

I’m absolutely not.

A lot of the things about our way of life that we have in South Texas people do not want them to change… And I’m here to tell you that rural America is probably polar opposite [from urban areas] when it comes to change.

They say, “I just want you to make my life better —Don’t change it.”

So we have that divide where as a Democrat, I feel like we have to understand rural America a little bit better.

Bobby is part of our Win the Middle slate of endorsed candidates for the 2026 cycle. You can support Bobby in his race against Monica de la Cruz here.

Give to Bobby

Here at Welcome, we work to strengthen a centrist faction that wins and governs responsibly. We support centrist Democrats running in Trump districts through WelcomePAC.

Today, I’m excited to be in conversation with Jamie Ager, who’s running for Congress in North Carolina’s 11th congressional district in Western North Carolina. Jamie’s a fourth-generation farmer and a business owner running Hickory Nut Gap Farm, a sustainable meat company that today employs 25 employees and works with dozens of farmers across the region.

NC-11 has a PVI of R+5, and Trump won the district in 2024 by 9.5 points. The district was recently added to the DCCC’s Red to Blue list.

Jamie is part of our Win the Middle slate of candidates for the 2026 cycle. You can support Jamie here.

SUPPORT JAMIE AGER IN NC-11

We wrote about Jamie’s campaign when we endorsed him late last year:

Jamie Ager is a populist moderate with a distinct rural identity. He’s centering his campaign on his agricultural roots. As a fourth-generation farmer who focuses on local economic resilience rather than national culture war issues, Ager explicitly campaigns on a willingness to “speak out against [his] own party” to position himself as an independent voice.

His candidacy is built around his small business Hickory Nut Gap Farms, a regional meat producer that allows him to speak authentically about how Trump’s tariffs are punishing America’s farmers. Ager’s platform is explicitly constructed to distance him from the “Asheville liberal” stereotype that Republicans often use as an attack. He is instead running as a “Mountain Democrat” who talks about his faith, his love for America, and his support for the Second Amendment.

In case you missed it, you can also catch our short documentary on Jamie’s candidacy on YouTube.