Adam Gray Says ‘No One Works Harder for our Valley,’ But Record Says Otherwise

Rep. Adam Gray (D-Merced) sent out a  last week proclaiming “Nobody works harder for our Valley.” On Tuesday’s primary, the incumbent advanced to the November general election with a plurality of roughly 40.9% of the vote (20,481 votes with 55% counted).

The June 2 primary was the first held under the new congressional map created after California voters approved Proposition 50 in November 2025. That measure “temporarily” suspended the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and let the Democrat-controlled legislature draw new district lines through 2030 to their advantage. The reshaped 13th District now reaches into strongly Democratic portions of Stockton while shedding more conservative areas in Fresno County, flipping the seat from a previous Republican lean (R+5.4%) to roughly even or slightly Democratic (D+0.5%). The Cook Political Report promptly upgraded the district from toss-up to lean Democratic.

Under California’s top-two nonpartisan primary system, Gray will now face former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln (R), who took second with about 29.1%. A third Republican, Vin Kruttiventi, placed third at roughly 16.6%. The two Republicans combined for 45.7% of the vote (22,909 votes total). The other Democrat in the race, Daniel Garibay Rodriguez, received 13.4% (6,689 votes). 

Gray carried Merced and Stanislaus counties but turned in a decidedly soft performance for an incumbent in a district deliberately redrawn to be more favorable to Democrats.

This underwhelming showing comes on the heels of Gray’s razor-thin performance in his prior run to win the seat during the 2024 general election. In that race, held under the old, more Republican-leaning map, Gray eked out a victory over then-Rep. John Duarte (R) by just 187 votes after weeks of post-election ballot counting, one of the closest House races in the nation (105,554 votes to 105,367 votes).

That narrow win followed Gray’s 2022 loss to Duarte by 564 votes, underscoring how competitive the seat has historically been even before the Prop 50 redraw handed Gray a structural edge.

Gray’s mailer cites his work on water storage, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and securing federal funding for local projects. His attendance record on Natural Resources Committee matters and other key votes provides context for evaluating that claim.

Contrary to his assertion that “No one works harder for the Valley, in his very first term Rep. Gray has already missed three times as many roll call votes as the median member of Congress.

According to GovTrack: “From Jan 2025 to May 2026, Gray missed 30 of 553 roll call votes, which is 5.4%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.” Since the beginning of 2026 alone, Gray has already missed 10 roll call votes, bringing his total to 30 missed votes this Congress.

And these weren’t meaningless procedural votes.

In February 2025, while serving on the House Natural Resources Committee, Gray skipped an entire markup session, missing 20 consecutive roll call votes on amendments and final passage related to oversight, water, fisheries, and natural resources, core issues directly impacting Central Valley families, farmers, small businesses, and communities.

Then again on September 17, 2025, Gray was absent for another full House Natural Resources Committee markup, missing four additional votes. Despite being in Washington, Gray refused to vote to keep the government open.

Missing votes is part of a long-running pattern.

During his time in the California State Assembly from 2013 to 2022, Gray missed 157 votes while collecting a taxpayer-funded salary exceeding $120,000 annually. Reports showed that more than 80% of the time he missed votes despite physically being present in the chamber.

When Gray did show up, it was to raise taxes. During his tenure, he voted for more than $14 billion in higher taxes and fees on everyday essentials, payroll tax increases, and levies hitting agriculture, health care, and construction– including a vote in favor of taxing a composted corpse.

With a congressional salary of $174,000, that means California taxpayers have paid Adam Gray more than $1 million over the years while he missed nearly 200 votes.

The NRCC didn’t mince words as it eye a possible pickup. “Lazy Adam Gray has built a career collecting taxpayer-funded salaries while repeatedly skipping votes on issues critical to the Central Valley. Families in the Central Valley show up to work every day, but Adam Gray can’t even be bothered to consistently show up for the six-figure job taxpayers are paying him to do,” said NRCC Spokesman Christian Martinez