Composite 7.4 / 10, weighted per the Constitutional Weight Schedule.
✓ Clears the 700 bar, Author's Verdict: supported.
Clears the 700 support line at credit 732 (Sound band) with no severity flag, Author's Verdict: supported on the documented conduct.
No military service on record. David Valadao is a dairy farmer and businessman from Hanford, California, who entered public life through the California State Assembly before Congress. No service badge to weigh; this field is noted, not scored.
The 14 measures
Each measure is scored 0–10 against an anchored example, with a cited source. Hover/expand why? for the reasoning.
| # | Measure | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| M01 | Duty to Constitution & Rule of Law | 9 | why?Oath-fidelity is the spine of this record. Valadao lost his seat in 2018 and was not in Congress in December 2020, he was seated January 3, 2021, so he could NOT have signed the Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus and did not (verified against the 126-signatory list). He voted to certify the 2020 electoral count and then, three days later in office, voted to impeach a president of his own party for inciting January 6, calling Trump 'a driving force in the catastrophic events' and the conduct 'an impeachable offense.' No process-subversion conduct of any kind; the inverse, he defended the certified result against his own party at cost. Held just below apex (reserved for sacrificing a career outright purely for the oath). [source] |
| M02 | Party Over Country | 8 | why?Genuinely strong cross-aisle conduct: 38th most bipartisan member of the 2023 House (score 0.816), a Problem Solvers Caucus member representing a competitive Central Valley district. Country and constituency placed over denying the other side a win. Scored on the documented cooperation record, not on party label. [source] |
| M03 | Persons of Equal Worth | 7 | why?No documented pattern of casting opponents or constituents as enemies who don't belong. Public posture is constituent-service oriented in a majority-Latino agricultural district. Upper-middle absent affirmative high-mark anchors of opponent-dignity defense; no anti-belonging instances on record. [source] |
| M04 | Weaponization of Justice | 7 | why?No weaponization of state power against rivals; the record runs the other way, he used his vote to hold his own side's president accountable for an attack on the constitutional process. No criterion-class conduct. [source] |
| M05 | Incitement / Anti-Belonging | 7 | why?Rhetorical restraint across a long career; measured, low-temperature public communication even when explaining the politically costly impeachment vote. No documented incitement or sustained enemy-making language. Upper-middle. [source] |
| M06 | Fiduciary Conduct | 6 | why?A genuine fiduciary appearance-drag, but personal/business, not office. The family Triple V Dairy filed Chapter 7 in 2019 (~$13.6M liabilities), and a $325,000 farmworker minimum-wage/overtime settlement was reportedly listed among the bankruptcy debts rather than promptly paid; a separate 2018 supplier suit alleged unjust enrichment. These are pre/non-office private business matters that were settled or resolved, weighed as appearance-concerns about stewardship and follow-through, never as findings of office misconduct. Middle. [source] |
| M07 | Duty to Call Out | 9 | why?The active-duty standard, calling out one's OWN side at cost, met in its clearest form. One of only ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump, in a Trump-leaning Central Valley district, then one of only two of that ten renominated and reelected. He stated he had to 'vote my conscience' despite misgivings about the Democratic process. Calling-out at direct personal political risk. [source] |
| M08 | The Discretion Test | 6 | why?No documented abuse of discretionary office power for private benefit; no test of refusing personal advantage at cost on the public record either. Middle, clean but without a documented discretion high-mark. [source] |
| M09 | The No-Camera Test | 7 | why?No documented private/public contempt gap; the conscience-vote posture (acting on stated principle even when costly) is consistent with the public brand. No reported off-camera contradiction. [source] |
| M10 | Constituent-vs-Donor Vote | 6 | why?Represents a swing, majority-Latino agricultural district and survived as one of the only impeach-voters to win reelection, evidence of constituent alignment despite a vote that cut against the district's presidential lean. Middle: solid constituent service, no documented donor-over-constituent capture. [source] |
| M11 | Net-Worth Trajectory | 7 | why?Scored ONLY on office-attributable enrichment, of which there is none: no self-dealing, family-payment, office-information-trade, or foreign-government revenue on record. His financial profile is the opposite of enrichment, a failed family dairy and significant personal business debt predating his return to office. The bankruptcy and wage-settlement matters belong to M06 as appearance-concerns, not here. No office-enrichment breach. [source] |
| M12 | Floor Decorum | 8 | why?Honored the institution over spectacle: a sober, written explanation grounding the impeachment vote in the oath and the constitutional injury of January 6, rather than performing for either base. Regular-order legislative posture (Appropriations work, e.g. H.R.9010 Legislative Branch appropriations 2026). Respect for the office over the show. [source] |
| M13 | Lying & Misleading | 7 | why?No sustained documented-falsehood pattern; affirmed the legitimacy of the 2020 result and the certified count rather than amplifying fraud claims. Truth-telling weighs positive; held at upper-middle absent a long affirmative record of correcting his own side's misinformation publicly. [source] |
| M14 | Knowledge Depth | 6 | why?Substantive command of his lane, agriculture, water, and Central Valley appropriations, as an Appropriations Committee member. Competent and issue-grounded rather than talking-point driven; middle-to-solid, not a marquee national-policy architect. [source] |
Why not higher, the points withheld
The standard is the seat; the ceiling is a perfect 10. Every withheld point traces to documented conduct, weighed where the measures and attributes say it belongs, shown openly here, the same way the earned points are.
| Where | Documented conduct | Mitigation weighed |
|---|---|---|
| M06 | Triple V Dairy Chapter 7 bankruptcy (2019, ~$13.6M liabilities); a $325K farmworker wage settlement reportedly listed among bankruptcy debts rather than promptly paid; 2018 supplier suit alleged unjust enrichment ↳ Fiduciary appearance-of-impropriety (stewardship/follow-through) | Personal/pre-office private business; matters settled or resolved through the bankruptcy process, weighed as appearance-concern, not a finding of office misconduct |
| M14 | Substantive depth concentrated in agriculture/water/appropriations rather than broad national-policy architecture ↳ competence breadth | Genuine command of his committee lane; no substance deficit, just narrower scope |
| M08 | No documented discretion high-mark of refusing personal advantage at cost ↳ Discretion Test, absence of affirmative anchor | Record is clean of any discretion abuse; the gap is missing evidence, not bad conduct |
| M10 | Standard constituent-representation record without a documented constituent-over-donor high-mark ↳ constituent-vs-donor alignment | Won reelection after a vote against the district's presidential lean, evidence of representing conscience and constituents over base pressure |
The Four Pillars, worthy to be followed?
A separate axis from the 14 measures. The measures ask did their conduct meet the standard; the Pillars ask is this someone worthy to be elevated and followed at all. The two can diverge, when they do, the divergence is the finding.
| # | Pillar | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Trust & Loyalty
| 8 | why?Attributes demonstrated: Courage, Loyalty to oath over party, Steadiness Under Pressure. The January 2021 impeachment vote against his own party's president, in a Trump district, is the anchor, loyalty placed in the Constitution rather than the man. Minor drag toward Self-Interest is absent; the vote cut against his self-interest. |
| II | Aspiration & Integrity
| 7 | why?Attributes: Conviction, Authenticity. He voted his stated conscience at real cost and explained it plainly. Held below the top tier by the private-business fiduciary drag (the dairy bankruptcy and the unpaid wage settlement listed as a debt), a Stewardship/follow-through blemish, not an office-integrity breach. |
| III | Protection & Influence
| 7 | why?Attributes: Courage in Conflict, Accountability. Used his vote to protect the constitutional process from an attack on it. No Exploitation of office; the constituent-representation record is solid. Held at 7 absent a broader pattern of using power to shield the vulnerable. |
| IV | Legacy & Virtue
| 7 | why?Attributes: Integrity, Moral Courage. A durable mark of standing for the oath when his party did not. The private-business debts and the wage-settlement handling are real drags toward Stewardship's opposite that temper but do not erase a record of principled accountability. |
| TOTAL: Moderate | 29/40 |
Total 29/40, Adequate-to-Sound. The character pillars are carried by one genuinely costly act of oath fidelity; the drags are private-business fiduciary concerns, not office abuse.
What the Four Pillars are & the questions behind each →
In their own words
“President Trump was, without question, a driving force in the catastrophic events that took place on January 6 by encouraging masses of rioters to incite violence on elected officials, staff members, and our representative democracy as a whole.”
Statement explaining his vote to impeach, one of ten House Republicans to do so · Office of Rep. David Valadao · PRINCIPLED · cite
“I have to go with my gut and vote my conscience.”
On voting to impeach despite misgivings about the expedited process Democrats used · CapRadio, Jan 13 2021 · ACCOUNTABILITY · cite
Full personnel file
1. Identity
David George Valadao (born April 14, 1977). U.S. Representative for California's 22nd congressional district since 2023; previously represented CA-21 (2013–2019 and 2021–2023). Lost reelection in 2018 by 862 votes, then won the seat back in November 2020 (seated January 3, 2021). Dairy farmer and businessman from Hanford, CA; served in the California State Assembly (2010–2012) before Congress. Member, House Appropriations Committee and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
2. Voting / Legislative Profile
Lugar Center / Georgetown McCourt Bipartisan Index 2023 (118th Congress): ranked 38th in the House, score 0.816, top-tier bipartisan. Problem Solvers Caucus member representing a competitive, majority-Latino Central Valley district. Legislative focus on agriculture, water policy, and appropriations; sponsored the FY2027 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (H.R.9010, May 2026). Policy positions are not graded here in either direction; the profile is recorded as conduct context only.
3. Constitutional Moments
The defining moment is institutional fidelity at personal cost. Having lost his seat in 2018, Valadao was not seated until January 3, 2021, he therefore did NOT sign the December 2020 Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus (verified against the 126-signatory list) and bears no process-subversion flag. He voted to certify the 2020 electoral count, then on January 13, 2021 became one of only ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the January 6 attack, and one of only two of that group to survive reelection. He grounded the vote in the oath rather than in party advantage.
4. Rhetoric & Discourse Profile
Low-temperature, constituent-service-oriented public communication. No documented pattern of enemy-making or incitement. Even the politically perilous impeachment explanation was sober and oath-grounded rather than inflammatory. No anti-belonging instances on record.
5. Fiduciary Profile
No office-attributable enrichment on record, no self-dealing, family payments, office-information trades, or foreign-government revenue. The genuine fiduciary appearance-concerns are entirely private/pre-office: the family Triple V Dairy filed Chapter 7 in 2019 (~$13.6M in liabilities after Rabobank seized the farm over ~$8.8M in unpaid loans), a $325,000 farmworker minimum-wage/overtime settlement was reportedly listed among the bankruptcy debts rather than promptly paid, and a 2018 supplier suit alleged unjust enrichment. These were settled or resolved through the bankruptcy process. They are weighed as stewardship/follow-through appearance-concerns (M06), not as findings of office misconduct, and they do not touch M11.
6. Severity-Class Conduct
No documented Severity-class conduct under any of the eight criteria. Critically, the most common Republican Criterion-8 flag, signing the Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus, does NOT apply: Valadao was out of office in December 2020 and was not a signatory. His January 6 record is the inverse of process subversion: he voted to certify and then to impeach. No enemy-making/incitement pattern. Flag count: zero.
7. What The Framework Says
Valadao's record is carried by one genuinely costly act of oath fidelity, the impeachment vote against his own party's president, in a district that leaned the other way, which he then survived. That, plus a top-tier bipartisan cooperation record, places the conduct in the Sound-to-Adequate range. The honest drags are private-business fiduciary concerns: a family dairy bankruptcy and a farmworker wage settlement handled poorly. The standard records those as appearance-concerns about stewardship, not as office corruption, which the record does not show. A principled middle, earned.
8. Sources & Where To Look Deeper
Tier 1 (primary): Congress.gov member profile · Texas v. Pennsylvania Amicus Brief of 126 Representatives (signatory list)
Tier 2: Lugar Center / McCourt Bipartisan Index · CapRadio, Valadao impeachment coverage · The Business Journal, Triple V Dairy bankruptcy
Research links: Congress.gov member profile · Ballotpedia · Impeachment statement (office) · Voteview / DW-NOMINATE · Wikipedia
Scores derive from the fixed Constitutional Weight Schedule. The bar does not move. Conduct, not party.