In today’s episode of The Depolarizers, I’m in conversation with Congressman Adam Gray, who represents California’s 13th congressional district.
Congressman Gray’s district covering the San Joaquin Valley is the largest agricultural valley in the world, meaning if you’re eating something right now, there’s a chance it was grown in Gray’s district. Gray likes to tout that one of the counties in his district produces more milk than the entire state of Wisconsin — we won’t tell our friend Rebecca Cooke he said that :)
Now serving as Whip of the Blue Dog Coalition, Gray ran as a Blue Dog in a district that is home to one of the founders of the original Blue Dog Caucus, and he is one of many Blue Dog Democrats to have served CA-13 in Congress.
Remarkably, in 2024, Gray was the only Democrat to flip a district that voted for Trump in that election cycle. Yes, I too wanted to order an Adam Gray T-shirt after learning that!
Gray is speaking at WelcomeFest June 4 in Washington, DC. RSVP to hear from him live!
Before he was elected to Congress, Gray served as a member of the California State Assembly for 10 years. He found the legislature to be too partisan and notably co-founded a Legislative Problem Solvers Caucus that would eventually include Democrats and Republicans in both the state assembly and state senate.
Having the Problem Solvers Congress of California has been been really positive. We started it — myself, a former Republican leader in the California Assembly who had become an independent an had won his seat as an independent, and then another of our colleagues who was a Republican from the coast, the San Luis Obispo area.
And funny enough, the Republican from the coast was more progressive on environmental issues than I was, this Democrat from the Central Valley, which kind of shows people that depending on where you're from, your perspective on issues can be vastly different. And that creates interesting spaces for compromise and collaboration.
The three of us started that caucus, and the Democratic leadership was against it, and the Republican leadership was against it.
We bucked both of them, and we started a caucus that grew over time. That caucus is still going today, even though the three of us have left the legislature. So I think it's a really key investment of our time to create spaces where people can collaborate outside of the pressures of the party leadership and use that bully pulpit to put good ideas out there and put political peer pressure on our colleagues to do the right thing on policy and figure out how to reach across the aisle and work together.
Gray’s story about his Republican colleague in the California legislature being more progressive than him on environmental issues felt super relatable — as a pro-life Democrat from the South, I often find myself to the right of Never Trump Republicans on that issue.
Throughout our conversation, Congressman Gray spoke about the uniqueness of his California district and the types of individuals who get elected in his region of a state known for its progressive politics.
For those of you who don't know, my part of California is rural central California. It's in a valley called the San Joaquin Valley. It's counties that are made up of largely small to medium-sized farming communities.
I grew up in a place called Merced, California. Some people know it as the gateway to Yosemite, but it's one of the largest ag producing counties in the country. And all five counties in my district are some of the largest ag producing counties in the country.
So when you think of California, whether it be sunny beaches, Hollywood, or the tech industry, well, we're none of that. But yet we're the biggest agricultural producing valley in the world. We're literally the best at agriculture, and we provide about two thirds of the nation's fresh fruits and vegetables — and like 90 percent of the world's pistachios.
So it's a pretty incredible place, but very different politics than I think most people associate with California. So when I ran for the legislature, it was because I felt like our part of California got overlooked, and I wanted to do something about that.
We didn't fit neatly into the box of the Democrat or Republican Party. In fact, there's a term where I'm from called a “Valleycrat.”
And a lot of the elected officials in this region are called Valleycrats on both sides of the aisle because we'll put the interest of our valley, of agriculture, and of our communities ahead of the political parties.
On that note, becoming Whip of the Blue Dogs Caucus was a no-brainer for Gray:
I think this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Blue Dogs, and one interesting piece of history or note about my district is that in the past 30 years, for 28 of those years, my district's been represented by a Blue Dog Democrat.
So outside of the two years served by this Republican congressman that I just beat, it's always been Blue Dog Democrats here since the inception of the group. And I think what that means is that, consistent with that term Valleycrat of putting your district and the needs of your district ahead of any political party, I think that's been the tradition here.
And for me, that's what the Blue Dogs stand for.
The Blue Dogs aren't a group of Congress members that see eye-to-eye on every issue. In fact, I’ll give you a perfect example:
I represent an ag district that exports a lot of food all over the world. Like I said, we're the largest agricultural producing area in the country and the world.
And one of my good friends and allies and colleagues Jared Golden, who represents Maine, has a community that's more concerned about some of the manufacturing base and the effect that free trade is having.
So whereas I'm very anti-tariff, I think Jared's very pro-tariff.
And that's okay, because what are we both doing? We're representing the people and the interests of our constituents.
And I think that's what Blue Dog leadership is about in the Democratic Party. It’s saying, “hey, the singular most important thing or influence on a member of Congress should be what the needs of their district are and making sure that they're good advocates for those constituents.”
And, unfortunately, the two-party system has done the opposite — it's created a situation where everybody's got some kind of ideological purity test, which means you got to fit yourself into a certain box to be part of our party.
And frankly, we've seen these close margins in Congress for some time now. We've seen dysfunction. I think the party that's going to ultimately be able to punch through that and get a large majority and margin is the party that accepts diversity in its own ranks. Diversity of thought, and diversity of every kind. Because if you got legislators who are being authentic to the people that voted them in, they're going to be successful.
And I think that's what Blue Dog Democrats means for me. And I'm really proud to be the Whip of the group and work with some really great independent thinking people who have the courage and the conviction to stand up for what's right for the people who voted them into office.
Gray’s point about ideological diversity is important for a liberal democracy, and for the Democratic Party. Nuance within our party will help us understand and better relate to voters. Gray expounded more on the importance of ideological diversity on the left:
I think diversity is strength. And I think the more we look for ideological purity tests within either party and a very narrow vision of what's right for the future, it's just unrealistic. Because at the end of the day, to pretend that somebody who represents a rural agricultural district like me and somebody that represents Manhattan have exactly the same needs is absurd.
And neither political party probably has all the answers for those two communities. And so I think parties that accept diversity of thought and see it as a strength — which is what the country should be like when we all come together, representing our different parts of this wonderful country. We all have a lot to learn from each other. And that's a good thing, instead of trying to force everybody into a mold that they don't fit in.
And I think that's what you're seeing, and that's why you're seeing a lot of flip flopping in the control of Congress and the Senate and everything else.
We're trying to make something fit that’s just a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn't make sense.
And I think if you look back to the founding of the country, you literally had these states debating whether or not they even wanted to join together as a country. And why? Well, because each state had different interests and needs and so on.
And they were debating those ideas. But somehow we've lost track of the fact that we elect someone to go represent us in a government to make sure that that government keeps in mind our needs. And instead, we seem to think that there's some set of values or priorities — one set by the Democratic Party, one set by the Republican Party — that should just neatly address everyone else's interests.
And I just think it's really at the core of what's wrong, which is why we need things like Blue Dogs and other independent-thinking groups who want to do the work to figure out. How does all this fit together and how do we make the necessary trade-offs to kind of get a rising tide that lifts all boats and helps all people but accepts our diversity and our differences?
As I mentioned earlier, Gray was the only Democrat to flip a Trump district in 2024. Gray believes voters in his district were sending a message by electing both him and Trump:
I think, first and foremost, voters are looking for some type of authentic leadership. They're not necessarily interested or totally immersed in either party's current image. I think they're asking the questions, “who's going to go to Washington and actually get things done? Who's going to make a positive change and care about my needs?”
I think we forget that whether you elect a city councilman, a state assemblyman, or a member of Congress, you elect somebody to make your life better. And whether that's a city councilman working to build a new park in a community with neighbors that want that, or a member of Congress trying to make our infrastructure and our roads better and deliver results.
And I think instead, both parties just deliver rhetoric. And when the voters go looking for results, they can't find it… And I think the political parties have really lost their way in that respect. The fact that there's a bunch of voters in my district who essentially voted for a Democrat in Adam Gray and a Republican in Donald Trump, well, you got to ask yourself, what message were they sending?
And I think the message they were sending is — the status quo? We're unhappy with it. And we want somebody who we believe will work every day to make change. And whether you agree with Donald Trump or you don't — I certainly have quite a few things I find very concerning about this Trump administration — But he certainly is working to do something every day, right? And I think Democrats can take that lesson.
Gray made an interesting comment about the language Democrats use when communicating with voters, specifically emphasizing how he intentionally frames himself as a “worker,” not as a “fighter.”
We talked on the campaign about using the word “work” every time one of the political consultants wanted to use the word “fight.” And I said I don't want to see the word fight in my literature, in my speeches, in my commercials. Because we don't elect people to fight for us.
In fact, it's kind of juvenile to say, “oh, I'm fighting for you. I'm fighting for that. I'm fighting.”
Well, how about you get to work and do something? How about that? How about when you come home from Washington or Sacramento, you show me the new road that's paved or built.
I remember I voted for an infrastructure act back in California. And every day for three years after the passage of that infrastructure act, I touched base with my county government about a road that we had funded that was really important to the community. I got to know the guys on the crew that were building the road because I drove out there in my truck and introduced myself, and I told them I wanted regular updates. And if you run into any problems, call me.
That's what people want.
Do some work. Ultimately, make my life better.
I just think voters are really looking for their elected leaders to make their lives better and engage in the important work and not the fight. I think we've had way too much fight in our politics, and it doesn't accomplish anything. Nobody's life is better at the end of the day, and I think voters are real tired of it. And I think we really do need to turn a new page in politics where we reengage with what being in elected office really means, which is A, representing your district and being authentic to that place, not a political party or anybody else, and B, doing the work each and every day in a meaningful way and caring about the results. Not just the rhetoric, but actually delivering results, you know for the people that sent you there to do a job. Because in fact, that's what it is at the end of the day. It's a job.
Since Gray was able to win over Trump voters in his district, I asked him what his response was to the fact that swing and Republican voters are still largely in support of Trump despite the challenges the Trump Administration has caused, and further, what lessons Democrats are learning or should learn as we look to 2026.
I think it really illustrates the point when Trump has cratered the stock market, your 401k, has pushed a budget proposal through Congress that looks to decimate your healthcare, and the price of eggs and food because of tariffs is getting higher by the day — the fact that voters say, “hey, we're still going to give them a chance,” says something about what voters think of the alternative.
And what's the alternative? Well, the alternative is Democrats being in charge.
And so if they're willing to lose all their money, have their food be more expensive and their healthcare be terrible before they're willing to vote for a Democrat then we might want to look in the mirror and ask ourselves why.
I think the most incredible lesson — as the guy who beat a Republican in a Trump district, the only guy who did it in the country — I think the lesson learned is we got to represent our districts. And it's why I've leaned in so heavily to the Blue Dog mission.
We're out recruiting Blue Dog candidates around the country. We're talking to supporters in every community from New York to California to Florida to Texas to Washington. And we want to build a movement of Democrats who want to embrace diversity, embrace representing your district first, and change Washington to a place that delivers results, not rhetoric.
And so I think if candidates around the country want to follow that recipe, I think they're going to find success no matter what kind of district they come from.
Lastly, as in every episode, I asked Gray what’s one depolarizing activity listeners can do to help depolarize our politics.
I'll never forget a conversation Sen. Alex Padilla and I had over dinner in my freshman year [in the legislature] where I was asking him where he got some of his ideas for creative legislation and different things. He was educated at MIT and had kind of an interesting background for an elected official.
And he talked about how he would read magazines that were outside the political discourse: Things like Wired magazine or various science and technology stuff and things that weren't bringing a political perspective but just were talking about cutting edge innovation and across a lot of different sectors. And that when you pick up and read those pieces and learn about what's going on in the world — a lot of innovative ideas and how that translates into public policy that can make the world a better place.
So I guess I would say a great depolarizing activity is read some abnormal publications, get outside of your box, don't just watch the same news stations — watch some interesting documentaries or things about subjects that maybe you didn't even know you were interested in. And I think as we expand our minds and have a more diverse set of interests and we learn a diverse set of information, I think a lot of good can happen.
Like what you’re hearing? Listen to the full episode on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts, and subscribe to hear new episodes of The Depolarizers. You can also support our work to depolarize American politics via our 501(c)3, The Welcome Democracy Institute.
Be sure to sign up to join Rep. Gray at WelcomeFest on June 4 in DC!
Share this post