• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Josh Harder: The Kid Who Came Back

March 22, 2018 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Harder family portrait

For decades, valley citizens have been lamenting the exodus of their children to distant locations. “We have to make our cities more attractive so our kids will want to come back here and live,” they say. But still the kids leave and don’t come back.

The exodus of the valley’s best and brightest young people is no mystery. Over the years, a dark shadow has fallen across a region that was once a bright land of promise. Today, from one end to the other, the San Joaquin Valley is led by minions of Donald Trump, a man who squats in the nation’s Oval Office like a putrid abscess, oozing civic and moral corruption.

To the south, Congressman Devin Nunes outperforms even the most accomplished contortionists, bending virtue and civic duty into grotesque displays of fealty to a consort of porn stars, tyrants, and bagmen. Here in the north, Jeff Denham recycles biennial promises of immigration reform that he knows will die stillborn in his Republican Congress. He supports the policies of Donald Trump over ninety-eight percent of the time.

In Stanislaus County, supervisors Jim DeMartini and Dick Monteith praise Trump and Trumpism to the heavens while their fellow Republican board members try to divert attention from the ugly reality of a president they prefer not to admit they voted for.

But Trumpism didn’t happen overnight. Like the rest of the nation, the economy of the San Joaquin Valley has slowly become a cruel engine of injustice, punishing the Valley’s hardest workers with unlivable wages and ever-rising costs for housing, health care, and transportation. The greatest agricultural region in the world has become monolithic and insular. Rising land costs have made entry-level farming a thing of the past, and technology is eliminating more jobs every planting and harvest season.

With few exceptions, the Valley economy has failed to diversify. Under Republican leadership, innovation and opportunity have lagged, and partnerships between government and private enterprise have too often failed to go beyond subsidies and tax breaks for farmers.

The Valley’s old guard Democrats have been beaten into a conventional wisdom that tells them the only way they can win elections is by, “moving to the right.” Despite the evident failure of that strategy, none can muster the courage to revive Democratic fundamentals of equality, social justice, and economic opportunity. No wonder their kids prefer elsewhere.

It was only in January of 2017 that Valley citizens saw the beginnings of a movement that offers hope and the promise of change. The global Women’s March lit a torch around the world, and nowhere was it more inspiring than in the San Joaquin Valley.

Regional conference tally prior to recount

By late last summer, energized Valley citizens were preparing to run for office and take back government for the people in a region where far right Republicans had dominated for years. Exciting young candidates like Valley native  Andrew Janz were daring to run against entrenched Republicans like Nunes, the incumbent in Congressional District 22 (CA-22).

Only thirty-four years old, Janz majored in economics at CSU Stanislaus, in Turlock.  In the first two days of February of this year, he raised $165,900. That was on top of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he’d already accumulated.

In the neighboring district, CA-21, former CA-10 favorite TJ Cox is running against David Valadao. Cox has spent years in the Valley, building partnerships with government and private enterprise, leveraging money to create jobs and to provide better access to health care.

In Jeff Denham’s Congressional District 10 (CA-10), a host of candidates declared for the Congressional Primary. But the Democratic embarrassment of riches quickly turned into a frustrating dilemma. Even after Dotty Nygard dropped out and Cox switched to CA-21, Democrats in CA-10 still had too many candidates to choose from.

The race became even more complicated when two-time contender Michael Eggman jumped in, after vowing months before that he wasn’t running. With Eggman in the race, candidates like Virginia Madueno and Sue Zwhalen were no longer the only establishment favorites. Eggman seemed to have garnered the prized stamp of official party approval.

But in the San Joaquin Valley, outside party approval hasn’t led to winning politics. Too often, there’s been a disconnect between party officials and local voters.

Prior to Eggman’s late entry, Cox and Turlock native Josh Harder were early frontrunners in the strong Democratic field—after a recount, they tied for support at the Democratic Regional Conference in January. Like Andrew Janz, Josh Harder took a degree in economics, but his was at Stanford, not CSU Stanislaus.

Early success in business outside the valley didn’t keep Harder from returning to his roots. Instead of pursuing wealth and opportunity elsewhere, Harder came back home and took on the imposing challenge of unseating an incumbent in a district long viewed as a secure Republican stronghold.

Though he’s even younger than Andrew Janz, Harder can also raise money. He’s brought in over a million dollars already, and his campaign continues to gain momentum. For Valley Democrats, the prospect of a trifecta win—Harder in CA-10, Cox in CA-21, and Janz in CA-22—would establish not only a high water mark for the Blue Wave, but offer hope for a stronger and more diversified local economy, brought about by a team of Democrats with the knowledge and experience to make it happen.

A year ago, the prospect of bringing social and economic justice to the San Joaquin Valley seemed dimmer than ever. Today, Valley citizens can unite and carry three candidates into congress on a Blue Wave of democracy that could also bring back the promise and opportunity that once brought the best and brightest of our young people back home. What they need now is the unity and courage to move forward and make it happen.

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: CA-10 congressional race, Jeff Denham CA-10, Josh Harder for congress, Michael Eggman for Congress, Sue Zwahlen for congress, Virginia Madueno for Congress

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pearl Alice Marsh says

    March 22, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    I appreciate this article! I saw Josh the other evening and was very impressed. I was pleasantly surprised that with all Of his success in the “wider world“ he’s come back home to bake district in a better place.

    Reply
  2. N. Karr says

    October 24, 2018 at 10:32 am

    What absolute hogwash!!! Democrats are the worst thing to happen to this country, which is why they no longer sit in Washington, D.C. Obama proved exactly how bad Democratic leadership is! Democrats are on the handout, and that’s why they get votes from those who usually don’t work and want to live off of those who do work! Democrats want to take your money and give it those who don’t participate in the work force, and they want to control every aspect of our lives. Nobody who is a self-thinker would ever vote for a Democrat, and especially Harder!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes of the L.A. Times interview Mayor Karen Bass about homelessness and housing problems in California.
calmatters.org
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Judge Luttig Has a Warning for America
Our democracy is “under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack” from within…
morningshots.thebulwark.com
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Rupert Murdoch has fuelled polarisation of society, Barack Obama says
Former US president tells Sydney audience that media coverage has helped exacerbate divisions and that we no longer have a “shared story”
www.theguardian.com
California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design