SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Assembly member Jasmeet Bains and her political allies have escalated attacks against opponent Randy Villegas with aggressive messaging that accuses him of concealing decades-old sexual abuse claims and invokes comparisons to Jeffrey Epstein.

The attacks come as Bains and Villegas are locked in a bitter primary for California’s 22nd Congressional District, a left-leaning district in the Central Valley. The two Democrats are seeking to challenge Republican Rep. David Valadao, who is widely expected to advance to the general election.

But as the rhetoric intensifies, some people have raised questions about how accurately the attacks portray Villegas’ role as a school board trustee in approving confidential settlements and whether the campaign messaging exploits deeply sensitive allegations.

“We would call for the campaigns involved here to tone down the rhetoric, to refrain from using the trauma of victims as props for political battles,” said Blaine Mustoe, an attorney based in Bakersfield. “Some things should be out of bounds in politics.”

Mustoe pointed to recent television ads from Democratic Majority for Israel, an outside group supporting Bains. The ads, released earlier this month in English and Spanish, accuse Villegas of helping cover up child sexual abuse in schools.

“Kids abused sexually in the school,” states one ad in Spanish. “The Los Angeles Times investigated what congressional candidate Randy Villegas did next. He covered it up. Five secret agreements. $14 million to silence. Paid to protect himself, not our kids.”

The ads reference Villegas’ role as a trustee on the Visalia Unified School Board and reporting from the Los Angeles Times that identified the district as one of many across California that approved confidential settlements tied to decades-old child sexual abuse claims.

The Times story, which makes no mention of Villegas, reported the seven-member Visalia school board settled five cases in three years for $14.4 million. Claims against California schools districts surged following a 2019 law that changed the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse and opened a temporary window for survivors to file lawsuits about past alleged abuse.

The increase in litigation has also led more districts to seek confidentiality provisions in settlements, said Jamie Majerus, an attorney at Gould Grieco & Hensley whose practice focuses on representing survivors of childhood sexual abuse. At least 25 districts, including Visalia, have entered agreements in recent years that shield some details from public disclosure.

Settlements are generally negotiated by attorneys and schools’ insurance companies, though school boards provide final approval, Majerus said.

She said confidentiality provisions are often sought by both sides for different reasons. School districts often want to keep settlement amounts or case details private, while survivors and their attorneys often seek to protect victims’ identities.

“It’s generally the school district that wants to preclude the plaintiff from being able to speak out about the specific allegations,” Majerus said.

Bains has repeatedly targeted Villegas over the settlements.

In a Facebook post earlier this month, she blasted him for signing off on the settlements and called for voters to recall him. She then referenced several men found guilty or accused of sexual abuse including Epstein, Cesar Chavez and former Rep Eric. Swalwell.

“We’ve seen so many power hungry men exposed for abusing their authority recently,” Bains said in the post. “Epstein, Scrivner, Chavez, Swalwell. And now Randy Villegas. What do they all have in common? They were all exposed by strong women.”

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Bains did not back away from the comparisons. She and her campaign had not reached out to Visalia victims or their lawyers to learn more about the confidentiality provisions in the agreements.

“I absolutely stand by it,” she told The Sacramento Bee. “Monsters do not operate in a vacuum. Whether it is Jeffrey Epstein or Cesar Chavez, serial abusers are only able to continue their crimes because they’re supported by a vast network of enablers…Randy Villegas functioned as exactly that kind of enabler.”

Villegas, in a written statement Tuesday, called the attacks “sickening” and an exploitation of “survivors’ trauma and suffering for political gain.”

“For me, that’s way over the line,“ Villegas said. “I strongly believe that anyone who has been harmed or abused in a school setting is entitled to restitution for the pain and trauma caused.”

The Working Families Party, a progressive group backing Villegas, has released its own ads against Bains. They portray Bains as someone backed by wealthy, corporate donors and who has failed to show up in the Assembly for healthcare votes.

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