Heat & Dust

In parched California, the battle for a Congress seat between powerful Republican incumbent Devin Nunes and hungry young Democrat challenger Andrew Janz is a microcosm of a broader battle playing out all over the US.

Andrew Janz has surprised many observers by giving incumbent Devin Nunes a tough time in the race for a congressional seat in California Pic: Getty

Five hundred South Verde Vista is a large detached house in a middle-class suburb of Visalia, a smallish town in California’s Central Valley with a population of around 135,000 people. In front of the garage near the entrance, three young women sit behind a table piled with campaign clutter. Half a dozen Stars and Stripes helium balloons sway in the evening breeze.

On the doorstep stand Bruce and Kathleen Yager, a beaming fiftysomething ...