BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Republican Congressman David Valadao's 2022 competition has already started even though he just won his race against T.J. Cox. Tuesday Nicole Parra from the 21st District announced her run for Congress.

Parra has some background in politics. She was a member of the state assembly from 2002 to 2008. After that, she worked for former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and played a role in the measure "J" campaign at Bakersfield College as recently as 2017.

Parra said she has lived in all four districts in the Central Valley and has a deep connection to the area. She also said she is announcing her campaign early so she can do it in the right way.

"For me, it was a choice about doing the campaign the right way. I have been involved in about 15-20 campaigns in my life and so I want to be able to, when we can with COVID-19, to be able to do what I'm doing virtually, is I am going to talk and walk when I can to voters from Arvin, Lamont all the way to Wasco, Delano.. and that's going to take me two years to do the right way."

Parra said she looks forward to starting her campaign and getting to know voters.

Republican David Valadao narrowly won his seat during this election cycle after beating out incumbent T.J. Cox.

Parra joined Mike Hart on the 23ABC Morning Show for an in-depth interview: