BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise were the guests of honor at a fundraiser for Congressman David Valadao held Tuesday night at Gentlemen, a private club in downtown Bakersfield.  Republican incumbent Valadao, a 45-year-old dairy farmer from Hanford, is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Rudy Salas of Bakersfield for the 22nd Congressional District seat. How fast food prices in California changed after the minimum wage hike In a brief news conference with local media, the three members of Congress, joined by Bakersfield’s newly elected representative, Vince Fong, addressed the 22nd District’s outsized role in Republicans’ hopes of holding on to their tenuous eight-seat majority. “Everyone is watching this one closely because the district has some interesting demographics and interesting numbers in terms of the breakdown of the parties,” Johnson said, “but ultimately at the end of the day it’s about the quality of the candidate and David Valadao is one of the strongest leaders in Washington” Johnson and Scalise, both from the Gulf Coast state of Louisiana, said they would continue to resist calls to bring Congress back into special session prior to the election to increase funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA leaders have said they are likely to run out of disaster relief funds if Congress does not reconvene in the wake of a succession of devastating hurricanes. “Now, there’s going to be an assessment of more supplemental damage money that's going to have to be required by Congress but it takes the states some time to calculate that,” Johnson said. No answers yet for Arvin City Council vacancy FEMA’s disaster relief funds are separate from migrant services funding, but the Republicans said FEMA has tapped both funds for migrant services.  FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has called those claims “ridiculous.” Valadao isn’t the only one trying to keep his job. Johnson’s speakership hinges on Republicans’ ability to maintain control of the House, and their advantage is small.  Valadao’s race is one of a handful that could turn things in Democrats’ favor, and Salas has a slight polling lead – very slight, and well within the margin of error.