California state flag | Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Rural California's delegate gold mine suddenly matters in Democratic primary

TURLOCK — Vast farm regions once considered California flyover country have suddenly become stopover country for presidential campaigns two weeks before Super Tuesday.

Fresh off a strong showing in New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg landed in this small Central Valley city of 74,000, addressing an excited crowd of 700 Stanislaus County Democrats at their “Rhapsody in Blue” Valentine’s Day gala dinner. Many said couldn’t believe their luck, not after decades of presidential candidates ignoring California's inland areas.


“I’ve lived in California my whole life, and I’ve never seen a presidential candidate,’’ said Kathy Causey, a retired child protective services worker and lifelong Democrat who lives in the foothills area of Twain Harte.

Buttigieg’s road trip into the region John Steinbeck once described as “America’s Breadbasket” underscores how candidates are going to far-flung regions of the state to mine for delegate gold in a competitive Democratic primary.

“California is no longer a strategic consideration. It’s a tactical consideration,’’ said GOP strategist Mike Madrid. He noted that California's primary rules award delegates proportionally by congressional district, meaning that candidates know they must essentially run their ground game essentially “‘in 53 different states,’’ the number of congressional districts in California.

That means recent forays by Buttigieg and other candidates into small-town California “make sense, given how we have constructed this primary,’’ added veteran Democratic strategist Darry Sragow.

“In its infinite wisdom, the Democratic Party has created this bizarre method of cutting the delegation into a lot of little pieces ... so the smart play is to get over the threshold ... and to win as many congressional districts as you can," Sragow said.

Nearly two dozen districts encompass large rural tracts, he noted, so the potential delegate pickup from those areas may be greater than Iowa or New Hampshire. In those regions, “it’s cheaper than trying to do it in LA,’’ or the San Francisco Bay Area, where TV time costs are astronomical — and getting the attention of voters is a much tougher challenge, he said.

Buttigieg was among the first candidates to visit the Central Valley, holding an early town hall in Fresno with Chris Matthews live on “Hardball” months back.

At the Assyrian American Civic Club in Turlock, Buttigieg spoke Friday night about some of the key issues in the region — including jobs and the economy — while aiming to portray himself as a candidate of consensus. In a veiled reference to his Democratic competition, he added that “if your only choice is a revolution or the status quo, maybe it doesn't feel [like] you fit in."

“By some standards, I might be considered a newcomer, a little different from the usual candidate,’’ Buttigieg said. “But I also know that California is a state known for looking to the future ... and we win when we do that.’’

Bernie Sanders has also traveled to the Central Valley for rallies and campaign stops. His California political director, Jane Kim, has said he would be “spending time in parts of California that other campaigns simply ignore ... We have an agenda that is actually going to energize Central Valley voters."

Elizabeth Warren’s team has also scheduled weekly canvasses throughout the heartland of California and touts the endorsement of regional leaders like Fresno Councilman Nelson Esparza.

Tom Steyer last week opened an office in Antelope Valley, on the edge of the Mojave Desert. And Mary Salas, the mayor of Chula Vista near the Mexican border and a Michael Bloomberg endorser, saw Steyer open an office in her town as well.

Bloomberg, a late entry in the presidential race, has put small-town California in his sights big time — highlighting support from mayors of Central Valley hamlets like Lemoore and Dinuba, each with populations around 25,000.

There's an added incentive: the prize of reaching more Latino voters who represent the state’s fastest growing electorate, said Pablo Espinoza, a former Univision journalist and longtime media adviser for the California State Assembly who recently became Latino voter outreach director for the Bloomberg campaign.

He said the campaign this week purchased Spanish-language print buys in 34 outlets in 10 major media markets that include rural areas of the Central Valley and the Central Coast. Its full-page ads are expected to reach 2 million readers, Espinoza said.

The former New York City mayor fully understands “you cannot win California without the Latino vote,’’ Espinoza said.

Lise Talbott, recently elected as the only woman — and the only Democrat — on the city council of Waterford, population 8,000, said Democrats have made gains in rural communities which were once solidly Republican.

The 10th Congressional District that includes her city went from red to blue in 2018 when Democrat Josh Harder defeated incumbent Republican Jeff Denham, she noted, in part because of concerns about issues like health care, jobs, water, air quality and affordable housing.

Jessica Self, chairwoman of the Stanislaus County Democrats, said that the Super Tuesday primary has put a spotlight on such issues — and that’s one reason why she’s been contacting campaigns of Democratic candidates like Buttigieg and urging them to think of the Central Valley as a potential gold mine.

“We have something to offer," she said. “Our voters don’t hear from presidential candidates that often. And we’re a proportional state ... so moderate candidates might do well.”