LOSS BANOS, CA – Angie Zamora and Pyedra Medeiros have little disagreement when it comes to President Trump.
Zamora, a 36-year-old Army veteran, has nothing to say.
“Law. All rights taken away from women. Something with ice,” Zamora said. “Why are they chasing people who work on farms when they are supposed to chase violent criminals?”
Medeiros, by contrast, is pleased that Trump has replaced Joe Biden. “He wasn’t mentally fit,” Medeiros said of the elderly former president. “There was something wrong with him from the start.”
Nevertheless, the two share one belief. Both say the government should spit out all the last information about Jeffrey Epstein, his creepy misdeeds, and his powerful companions who have moved into his extraordinary trajectory.
Trump “did the entire campaign to release the Epstein Files,” Zamora said. “And now he’s about to change the subject. “Ah, that’s a ‘hoo’…'”Oh, are you guys still talking about that creep?” Still, there’s a picture of him over the years. ”
Medeiros, 56, reflected his emotions.
Trump and his fellow Republicans “put themselves in this predicament as they kept on talking constantly” about the urgency of the obvious record in Epstein’s sex trafficking cases until they ruled the Justice Department and other Washington. “Now,” she said, “They’re backing down.”
Medeiros suspends outside the engineering company, where she works in Newman’s Central Valley.
“There was clearly a minor involved” in Epstein’s crime, she said, and Trump somehow said, “Then he needs to get off.”
Authorities say that years after his death in a Manhattan prison – killed by his own hands – Epstein appears to have done something nearly impossible in this deep riven country. He is a unified Democrat, Republican and independent, centered around a call to reveal everything he knows about his case.
Epstein, seen in the courtroom and in court, was found dead in his prison while awaiting prosecution for a sex crime.
(Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post/AP)
“He’s dead now, but if people are involved, they should be prosecuted,” said Joe Toscano, a 69-year-old Los Banos retired and unrelated voter who supported Trump’s return to the White House last year. “Bring it all out. Please make it public.”
California’s 13th Congressional District is all live, with Zamora, Medeiros and Toscano all being perhaps the closestly fought political terrain in America. Spreading the middle abdomen of California from far away in the San Francisco Bay Area to the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley, it is a farm country.
Countless small towns are lush carpets of vegetables, fruits and nut trees that stretch to the hazy brown horizon, with short interludes of dairy and chicken farms. Merced, the most populous city, has fewer than 100,000 residents. (The population is approximately 220,000 people, divided into district 5 and 13th.)
Democrat Adam Gray was elected in the country’s closest house race in November, beating Republican incumbent John Duarte by 187 votes out of the nearly 211,000 cast. Squeaky Man was rematched and almost rerun. Two years ago, Duarte defeated Gray with less than 600 votes out of his nearly 134,000 cast.
Naturally, both parties made District 13 the highest goal in 2026. The handicappers are throwing contests at them despite the field being organized. (Duarte says he won’t run again.)
As midterm elections are a long way off, it is impossible to say how Epstein’s controversy will unfold politically. But at least there are baseline expectations for transparency, with views repeatedly expressed in conversations with three dozen voters across the district.
The tractor clears the orchard rows of Merced.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
The 25-year-old independent Zachery Ramos is the founder of the Gustine Traveling Library, promoting learning and literacy throughout the Central Valley. Drawn with polka dots and decorated with giant butterflies, the storefront sits like a cheerful oasis in downtown Gustin four blocks.
Inside, the walls were filled with praise and newspaper clippings celebrating Ramos’ good work. As a nonprofit, he said, “We need to have everything there. All books. All.
He suggested that Epstein should not stop treating him differently.
“When it gets as serious as that, there may or may not have happened with his girlfriend on his private island,” — convicted sex trafficker Gisleine Maxwell — “I think it should all be public,” Ramos said. “If you’re not afraid that your name is in it [the files]especially if you are dealing with minors being assaulted, they should be 100% public. ”
Ed, a 42-year-old Democrat who manages the warehouse business in Paterson, said Trump has released a long, secret government file on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Like some of the people interviewed, he refused to give his last name to avoid being bothered by readers who didn’t like what he had to say.)
Why did Ed wonder if the Epstein Files weren’t revealed? “It wasn’t just Trump,” he said. “A lot of Republicans in Congress said, ‘Hey, I want to put these files out there.’ And I believe in Kamala [Harris] They were winning, so they beat her and demanded that she do so. ”
He slammed his fist into the palm of his hand, highlighting the point.
With around 70,000 people, Madera is one of the largest communities in District 13.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Sue, a Madera Republican and not a Trump fan, expressed her feelings in Staccato’s rage.
“Apparently, years ago, women said who was doing what, and no one listens to them,” the 75-year-old retiree said. “Release it all! Absolutely! You play, you pay, buddy.”
Even Epstein and those who dismissed the importance of his crimes said that if the government only puts its way out of doubt and to rest, the government should not hold back anything.
Epstein “will go away and I don’t really care if they’ll release the files,” said Diane Nunes, a 74-year-old Republican who holds a book about a family farm in the middle of Los Banos and Gustin. “But a lot of people are waiting for it, so they probably should.”
Construction contractor Patrick has done better with “cute boy” Gavin Newsom and “Pretty Boy” and “Nazi Pelosi” who say “yes, that’s what I call her” than anything that might be hiding in the Epstein Files. “When the cat dies, you’re not picking it up and pet. Are you right?” He moved on the pavement and baked it as Patterson’s temperature climbed low in the 90s.
The 61-year-old Republican spoke about Epstein and his villain. “move on.”
At least that would be his preference. But “they should release them so that they can absolutely silence you,” Patrick said. “If not, we’re all going to guess forever.”
Or at least until the polls close in November 2026.
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