Issa to run in California rather than move to Texas
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced Thursday that he will run for re-election in the San Diego district next year rather than moving to Texas to run in the GOP-friendly district.
The announcement came after speculation that Issa was considering moving to the red state due to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successful campaign to redraw voting districts in California in favor of Democratic candidates.
“I believe that the people of San Diego County, who have elected me so many times, will actually vote for me regardless of whether they are registered or not,” Issa told Fox’s San Diego affiliate on Thursday. “I think I can hold this seat despite the Governor’s insistence, and you know, my intention is to stay where I am.”
Issa acknowledged that Texans encouraged him to settle there, but that California is his home, where he raised his family and where his mother and three grandchildren live.
“This is my home and I will fight for it,” he said.
Issa, 72, is among the richest members of Congress. The high school dropout and Army veteran made his fortune in 1980 by buying a struggling electronics business and turning it into the Viper car alarm system, which Issa audibly warned potential thieves to “back off.”
The Bonsall resident served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 22 years, representing various districts in the San Diego area. He chaired the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during high-profile investigations into the Obama administration.
But Issa’s district, once solidly Republican, has become more moderate in recent years. The new congressional boundaries that California voters approved in November by passing Proposition 50 — a backlash by the state’s Democrats against President Trump’s efforts to increase GOP seats in Congress — dramatically affected Issa’s voters.
The congressional district had a 12-point GOP advantage in voter registration this year, but Democrats now lead by more than four points in the new map, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book. Many Democrats have already announced plans to challenge Issa.
Redrawing congressional districts traditionally occurs every ten years (after the census) to account for population changes across the country. But after President Trump earlier this year called on leaders in GOP-led states to change congressional boundaries to boost Republicans’ efforts to keep control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections, Democratic leaders in states across the country have weighed in, led by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Since 2011, California congressional districts have been determined by an independent commission created by voters to stop gerrymandering and mandatory preservation. But Newsom and other leading California Democrats have sought to create new district boundaries that could expand the number of Democrats in the state’s 52-member delegation, the largest in the country.
California voters approved the move in November; But new districts, new congressional boundaries drawn by Texas lawmakers and challenges to a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act are ongoing in the courts.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on new Texas congressional lines soon, as the state’s filing deadline for candidates is Monday. That fueled speculation that Issa was running for the Dallas-area congressional seat. First reported by Punch Bowl News.
Issa on Tuesday I sped up a flight of stairs at the US Capitol when CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju asked about the issue.
Many within the GOP have confirmed that Issa is weighing his options. Had he decided to run for the Dallas-area seat, he would have had to resign from Congress, uproot his family and move to Texas. But they said Issa was also aware of the difficulty of winning re-election in his new district.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and the leadership of the National Republican Congressional Committee have made clear that they will not invest significant amounts of money into Issa’s campaign if he seeks re-election in California; according to a California GOP fundraiser who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly.
“They said we have too many goals and you have the ability to fundraise or self-finance for yourself, so you’re not a top priority,” the person said.
