After losing his reelection bid in one of the closest House races in history, Rep. John Duarte is pursuing a job leading the Bureau of Reclamation, three sources confirmed to NOTUS.
During his one term in office, Duarte was frequently one of the few dissenting voices in the House GOP conference. He was one of two members to vote against a hard-line border security and immigration measure, and he often stood against “poison pill” amendments brought by members of the House Freedom Caucus on abortion and transgender rights.
But after conceding his race to Democrat Adam Gray earlier this week, Duarte is now trying to lead the Bureau of Reclamation, an agency within the Department of the Interior that manages, develops and protects water resources in the western half of the U.S., bringing water to more than 31 million people and providing irrigation for 10 million acres of farmland. The race was the last House contest to be called in 2024 and was the closest congressional election of the cycle, with Gray beating Duarte by 187 votes. It was the 15th closest House race in the last 100 years.
During his time in Congress, water was perhaps Duarte’s biggest issue. His family runs Duarte Nursery in California’s Central Valley, a highly agricultural region, and his campaign focused on water rights for farmers. (Duarte also sits on the House Natural Resources and Agriculture committees).
Duarte has just begun approaching fellow Republicans in the California delegation and the Trump transition team about his bid, sources familiar with the effort told NOTUS.
Duarte’s office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
But in an interview with NOTUS on Thursday morning, prior to news of his Trump administration bid, Duarte said he planned to go back to working at the nursery, to “grow wine grapes and grow almonds.”
“If I see an opportunity and need to step back up, I will,” Duarte said. “If this has been it, this is it.”
All throughout the 2024 campaign, Duarte said his race was winnable, and he blamed the GOP and the Congressional Leadership Fund for not investing enough in his campaign, allowing Gray to draw considerable fundraising and ad spending leads.
“We know this race was winnable. It was just underfunded,” Duarte said. “They simply miscategorized and underestimated the race.”
“If they had thought I had more of a chance, if they just would have kept reading our own polls, it was clear it was going to be a very, very close race,” he said. “They never expected to win this race last time.”
While Duarte campaigned as a champion for water rights, the Gray campaign often criticized him on the issue, pointing to a lawsuit from the Justice Department against Duarte Nursery in 2012 that accused the company of illegally destroying fragile wetlands on his 450-acre wheat field; the nursery faced a $2.8 million fine for violating the Clean Water Act.
Duarte Nursery agreed to a settlement in 2017: $330,000 as a penalty and the purchase of $770,000 worth of credits to restore natural wetlands in the area.
Among farmers and conservatives, Duarte’s fight against the federal government has made him a symbol against overreach in agriculture. To Duarte, the ordeal remained at the forefront of his mind, becoming a catalyst for his political future in his first run for Congress in 2022.
Reflecting on his accomplishments in the House, Duarte highlighted his record on water rights.
Duarte also pointed to his accomplishments on water projects for the Central Valley. In last fiscal year’s spending bills, he secured $9.4 million for water-related projects alone.
The 2024 Water Resources Development Act also included over $51 million in federal authorizations for water projects in the Central Valley, including flood risk management and water supply.
He also highlighted a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on water that was held in his district in September.
“We’ve put into work a lot of real solutions for water,” Duarte said.
Duarte’s approach to water in Congress — and what to expect from his leadership of the Bureau of Reclamation, if successful — is to “move the discussion to things that can happen in two or five years that would have significant impact.”
During his interview with NOTUS on Thursday, Duarte underscored how natural resources like water are affecting job opportunities.
“When you’ve got problems to solve, you’re going to look to parties that can solve them,” he said.
Duarte also referenced an exchange with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this year when he criticized Buttigieg for allocating millions of dollars to high-speed rail projects instead of supporting wastewater treatment plants around the San Joaquin Delta and the Highway 5 corridor. Those treatment plants would recycle wastewater back into drinking water to help alleviate drought-ridden communities’ reliance on groundwater.
As a member of Congress, Duarte has already tried to make reforms within the Bureau of Reclamation. He previously requested the bureau update reservoir control guides to get them up to current standards and technologies, something that hasn’t been done in decades.
“I do have a lot of confidence that this administration will deliver results,” Duarte said.
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Katherine Swartz is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.