The 22nd Congressional District in California contains about 640,000 people. The district covers most of Kern and San Luis Obispo Counties, and northeastern Los Angeles County.  The district includes the cities of Bakersfield, Taft, Tehachapi, Ridgecrest, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande, and Lancaster.

The three biggest industries in the 22nd district are agriculture, energy, and defense.  Agriculture in Kern and San Luis Obispo Counties is a multi-billion dollar industry. Kern  and San Luis Obispo are among the nation's top agricultural counties, producing over $3 billion in crops such as cotton, citrus, grapes, stone fruits, pistachios, wine grapes, almonds, olives, tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, alfalfa, cattle and sheep.  

In addition, Kern County annually produces more oil than the state of Oklahoma.  Eastern Kern County and Northeastern Los Angeles County are the site of Edwards Air Force Base  and the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake resides near Ridgecrest in Kern County.