NewDem Action Fund Unveils Latest Endorsements

WASHINGTON — Rudy Salas, Derek Tran and Mondaire Jones, each of whom is running in a key battleground district in the 2024 congressional elections, received the endorsement on Tuesday of the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund.

The fund is the political arm of the New Democrat Coalition, one of the largest Democratic caucuses in the House of Representatives, now boasting nearly 100 members.

“These three NewDem candidates have the resources, skills and determination to flip these critical seats in California and New York,” said NewDem Chair Annie Kuster, D-N.H., in a written statement.

“Rudy, Derek and Mondaire share NewDems’ pragmatic approach to politics and know that in order to win back the House majority in 2024, we have to run strong races and communicate effectively with voters across the country,” Kuster said, adding confidently, “There’s no doubt they’ll be the candidates to beat in November.”

Rudy Salas is running in California’s 22nd Congressional District, a majority-Latino district that mainly encompasses the San Joaquin Valley.

Currently represented by Republican David Valadao, the district, alongside New York’s 4th Congressional District, has been rated the most Democratic-leaning district currently represented by a member of the GOP by The Cook Political Report.

It is also one of 18 districts across the country that would have voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election had the current district lines, considered more favorable to Democrats, been in place during that election.

Salas is a lifelong valley resident who worked as a farmhand alongside his father before graduating from UCLA and becoming the first Latino city councilmember in Bakersfield, California’s, history.

He then went on to serve five terms in the California State Assembly, before leaving to make his run for Congress in 2022. He lost that race to Valadao, 51.55% to 48.5%, but only by 3,132 votes.

A moderate throughout his political career, Salas’ campaign website touts his securing $290 million for the central valley during his final two years in office, money used to improve the region’s water quality, public safety and educational institutions.

“I have always been a pragmatic voice for the valley, fighting for more public safety funding, expanding workforce development programs, expanding veterans’ and workers’ rights, clean water infrastructure and support for our small business community,” Salas said after learning of the NewDems’ endorsement. “In Congress, I’ll partner with fellow NewDems to continue to deliver for valley families.”

Derek Tran, a first-time candidate and personal injury lawyer by profession, is running in California’s 45th Congressional District — one of the nation’s rare Asian-majority districts.

Since redistricting in the wake of the 2020 census, the district is 36.9% Asian, 35.6% White, 23% Hispanic and 2.9% Black.

Tran entered the race to unseat incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., in October and reportedly raised more than $250,000 in the 24 hours following his announcement — more than any of the four other Democrats in the race raised in the preceding quarter.

Like the 22nd Congressional District, the 45th District would have gone for Biden in the 2020 presidential election had the district lines been in their current configuration.

Tran is the son of refugees from Vietnam and an Army veteran, a background that Democrats believe is already resonating strongly with voters in the district.

According to his campaign website, Tran’s family opened a corner market in the U.S. after fleeing the communists in Vietnam, and he worked in the store every day after school until he enlisted in the U.S. Army.

“In the military, it didn’t matter if you were a Democrat or a Republican — you worked together to get the job done,” Tran has said.

He’s also said he plans to bring the same philosophy to Congress.

Though Steel and her supporters are attacking Tran for his work as a personal injury lawyer — they dismiss him as “an ambulance chaser” — Tran describes his job as being one in which he “holds bad actors accountable.”

Tran’s wife Michelle is a pharmacist who grew up in the district, and the couple have three children.

“I am thrilled to have the endorsement of the New Democrat Action Fund,” Tran said in a written statement.

“After just over two months in this race, it is humbling to have the endorsement of an organization that represents so many of my future colleagues,” he continued. “I look forward to bringing my perspective as a veteran, small business owner and a workers’ rights attorney to Congress. We must defeat corrupt career politician Michelle Steel.”

Mondaire Jones, who is running in New York’s 17th Congressional District, is also an attorney.

Unlike Tran, however, Jones has already been a member of Congress, having represented the district, which includes most of central and northwestern Westchester County and all of Rockland County, from 2021 to 2023.

As a member of Congress, Jones, who is gay, was considered a rising star in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

After redistricting, he sought election in 2022 in New York’s 10th Congressional District after Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Sean Patrick Maloney made the highly controversial decision to run in the 17th Congressional District.

Jones chose not to primary Maloney, opting instead to run in New York’s 10th Congressional District; however, he lost to attorney Dan Goldman in the primary.

Maloney also lost his bid, however, going down to defeat to Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler.

Lawler’s victory is said to have marked the first general election defeat for a campaign chair of either party since 1980. It also opened the door for Jones to seek election to his former seat.

Born in Nyack, New York, Jones grew up in nearby Spring Valley where he was raised by a single mother, who worked multiple jobs to support him, and his grandparents.

After graduating high school, Jones earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and then went to work for the U.S. Department of Justice during the Obama administration.

He then earned his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in 2013, and clerked for U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter Jr. in the Southern District of New York.

He also worked for Davis Polk & Wardwell for four years and one year with the Westchester County Law Department.

Since his electoral defeat, Jones has been a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and worked as an on-air contributor on CNN.

“As some individuals and organizations on the far-left have joined the far-right in completely losing their damn minds these past few months, I’ve never been more proud of my record of pragmatism and delivering real results for the Lower Hudson Valley,” Jones said in a statement after receiving the NewDems’ endorsement.

“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of the NewDem Action Fund and look forward to joining the New Democrat Coalition in Congress as I work towards lowering the cost of prescription drugs, passing commonsense gun safety legislation and creating good-paying jobs in our communities,” he said.

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