A sign for Bakersfield, Calif., is displayed over Sillect Avenue at Buck Owens Boulevard on April 20, 2022. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is a son of California’s Central Valley, a farming and oil-pumping heartland. It's a swath of rural conservatism amid California’s progressive politics and it's Donald Trump's slice of California. It's here that McCarthy launched his political rise. (AP Photo/Lisa Mascaro)