Josh Harder Looks Toward Congress, Says He Wants House Leader Who Will Push for Dream Act

A week after the midterm elections, Democratic challenger Josh Harder is the winner in the race to represent California’s 10th Congressional District in the Central Valley.

Harder beat out Republican incumbent Jeff Denham, who has served in Congress since 2011.

Denham, who led the votes after Election Day but was eventually overtaken by Harder in the following days, conceded Wednesday.

Harder said he shares the enthusiasm of many newly elected members of Congress.

“This is going to be, I think, the most diverse freshman class in U.S. House of Representatives history,” Harder told The California Report on Wednesday. “And just judging from some of the conversations that we’re having, I think it’s going to be a really exciting Congress where we actually have a chance to put in things that people elected us on just last week.”

Harder said he spoke with Denham about a productive transition plan.

“I expect there’s going to be a pretty gracious handoff and a good transition plan,” said Harder. “The valley has a history of bipartisanship. I think the rest of the country could learn a lot from how Republicans and Democrats have a history of working together in this district.”

Harder said he admires Denham’s ability to manage both family obligations and his work. Harder himself married about three months ago, during his congressional campaign.

The proximity of the 10th District, which borders the Bay Area, led many Bay Area liberals to pour time and money into Harder’s campaign, which raised $7 million in his bid to unseat Denham.

“We felt good on election night that we had left everything we could, every ounce of effort on the floor, and now we have a chance to actually fulfill all those promises,” said Harder. “I tell people, you know, we have only been granted the opportunity to do good things and now it’s up to us to go out and actually do them.”

Harder said he hasn’t made a firm commitment to vote for congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to be the next majority House leader. But he wants a leader who will push for legislation that would protect undocumented young people.

“We have to vote for a speaker who’s going to put forward a clean Dream Act on the floor of the House to make sure that we’re protecting the tens of thousands of dreamers in my district and elsewhere in the valley,” he says.