Esmeralda Soria | Esmeralda Soria for Congress/Facebook 'She is tired of waiting her turn': Costa stares down liberal challenger

Rep. Jim Costa, an eight-term incumbent, is the latest moderate Democratic member of Congress to be targeted by a base-energizing opponent from the left.

Fresno City Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria is mounting a spirited challenge to Costa, one of the most moderate California Democrats, powered by a groundswell of local activists and the support of organized labor. And Costa is taking the threat seriously, running negative, personal television ads against Soria.


California's top-two primary system has in recent years yielded several of the kind of intra-party fights between the left and center that claimed the career of a member of House Democratic leadership in 2018 and endanger the careers of other incumbents this year. In 2018, that meant the outgoing state Senate president unsuccessfully challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the left. Multiple moderate Democrats in the state legislature are facing credible liberal challengers.

The race in the Democratic-leaning 16th District is one of a handful of competitive, Democrat-on-Democrat races next month that reflect a broader national reshuffling for the Democratic Party. A rising young cohort of aspiring leaders like Soria are preaching a more liberal vision that can run through centrist incumbents like Costa or colleagues across the country like Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) or Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).

“What’s been good for Jim hasn’t been good for working families,” Soria said in an interview. “We need someone to roll out a vision for the future of this valley where we diversify our economy, [and] we bring better-paying jobs to this area.”

Costa largely dismissed Soria’s candidacy as a blip on the radar, with his party reckoning with an ascendant liberal wing from the presidential race all the way down the ballot. He's leaning on his experience, touting a list of accomplishments that include work on air quality, water deliveries, high-speed rail and veterans’ health care.

“Nobody has done more in elective office at the state or federal level than I have accomplished in 20 years plus,” Costa said.

But Soria's liberal supporters find parts of that resume — he served in the state Assembly and state Senate for more than two decades before running for Congress in 2004 — leave much to be desired.

Activists remember his protracted reluctance to vote for the 2010 health care law, or the fact that a California state law restricting rent control bears his name. Dolores Huerta, an organized labor icon who is backing Soria, said Costa has “always been a Republican-light.”

Local labor leaders, meanwhile, point to a series of votes and decisions, from his role in a Fresno fight over privatizing garbage services to then-President Barack Obama’s quest for trade deal authority, that they say were hostile toward working people.

“A few years back from now, he began showing serious signs of not being as honest about our priority bills, and not being open and supportive of some of the biggest bills we came across that were going to fundamentally change how labor functions in this country,” said Dillon Savory, executive director of the Fresno-Madera-Tulare-Kings Central Labor Council, which has endorsed Soria.

But the race also reflects a generational inflection point. At stake is the nature and direction of the state Democratic Party at a time when it dominates elected office here.

Conventional political wisdom dictates that Costa’s district is California’s moderate heartland. The state’s Central Valley, long dominated by the oil and agriculture industries, is a different world from the deep-blue redoubts of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hillary Clinton won 58 percent of the vote in the district in 2016 presidential race.

Costa, 67, embodies, a long tradition of business-friendly Democrats there.

“I’m a moderate. That’s what I’ve always been. I try to represent the breadth and width of the Valley,” Costa said.

But Soria and her supporters are pushing back on that contention. Savory argued that the 16th District is not moderate, but “a blue district” that should reject someone “who’s not representative of the people but is representative of the business interests in the area.” The California League of Conservation Voters has endorsed Soria for similar reasons.

“It’s important for us to be investing in the Central Valley. There’s no question the oil industry’s been a big influence in that community, but it doesn’t have to be the only influence,” CLCV Political Director Mike Young said. “I think there’s been a narrative in the Central Valley for a long time, and it’s time for that narrative to change.”

The arithmetic of the March 3, top-two primary is a complicating factor for both candidates. In 2018, Costa, who was the only Democratic candidate, won 53 percent of the vote in the primary, a number that increased to 58 percent in the general election.

This time, there are three Democrats: Costa, Soria and Kim Williams, a college professor and single mother. There is only one Republican candidate on the ballot: educator Kevin Cookingham, who will be heavily favored to make the general election against the top-finishing Democrat.

A clear warning sign for Costa came last November, when Soria backers denied him the party’s endorsement at a California Democratic Party convention in Long Beach. Costa still enjoys the support of much of California’s elected establishment, including Feinstein, Sen. Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Battle lines have been hardening since. Costa’s campaign has gone on the attack, launching a TV ad that mocks Soria’s contention she is struggling financially by pointing to her salary and a contract her partner obtained. In an interview, Costa called Soria “an ally of mine up until six months ago" when she decided to run and told supporters that “she is tired of waiting her turn,” according to Costa.

The 37-year-old Soria shot back, accusing Costa of borrowing from President Donald Trump's "playbook.” She said in a statement that she had sought a meeting with Costa “to be courteous because many working families in this district had encouraged me to run.” He told her to wait, she said.

“What I realized was that our families can’t wait two more years,” Soria said. “Costa is costing our families too much.”

Her supporters believe the time is ripe. Some who have long wanted to replace Costa believe that Soria is the most viable Democratic challenger to emerge in years. And there is a through line among her supporters, which include a number of Latinas: It’s time for a new, more liberal and diverse generation.

“I think that her running and challenging the status quo, old establishment it’s a breath of fresh air for us,” said Marina Magdaleno, a longtime labor official who’s a business representative for Operating Engineers Local 39.

“We want more women, and we want more women who do reflect who we are,” Magaleno said. “It’s time for change. We shouldn’t be voting in the same people over and over again just because they have the ‘D’ in front of them.”