Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced Thursday that he will run for re-election next year in his San Diego-area district instead of moving to Texas to run in friendly Republican territory.
The announcement follows rumors that Issa is considering moving to a red state because of Gov. Gavin Newsom's successful campaign to redraw California's congressional districts in favor of Democratic candidates.
“I believe that the people of San Diego County who have elected me so many times will, in fact, regardless of registration, vote for me,” Issa told the San Diego Fox affiliate on Thursday. “I think I can hold this seat despite the governor’s machinations, and you know, my intention is to stay where I am.”
Issa acknowledged that Texans urged him to run there, but said California is his home, where he raised his family and where his mother and three granddaughters live.
“This is my home and I will fight for it,” he said.
Issa, 72, is among the richest members of Congress. A high school dropout and Army veteran who made his fortune by buying a struggling electronics manufacturing business in 1980 and turning it into a Viper car alarm, Issa's voice warned would-be thieves to “step aside.”
The Bonsall resident served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 22 years, representing various San Diego districts. He chaired the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during high-profile investigations into the Obama administration.
However, Issa County, once solidly Republican, has become more moderate in recent years. And the new congressional boundaries that California voters approved when they passed Proposition 50 in November — state Democrats' response to President Trump's efforts to expand GOP seats in Congress — have had a dramatic impact on Issa's electorate.
His congressional district had a 12-point GOP voter registration advantage this year, but Democrats have a more than four-point advantage in the new map, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book. Several Democrats have already announced plans to challenge Issa.
Redrawing of electoral districts traditionally occurs once a decade – after the census – to account for population movements across the country. But after President Trump called on GOP-led state leaders earlier this year to redraw congressional boundaries to boost Republican efforts to maintain control of Congress in next year's midterm elections, Democratic leaders in states across the country have stepped in, especially Newsom.
Since 2011, California's congressional districts have been drawn by an independent commission created by voters to stop gerrymandering and protect the incumbent. But Newsom and other prominent California Democrats have pushed to create new districts that could increase the number of Democrats in the state's 52-member delegation, the largest in the country.
California voters approved the move in November, although the new districts are being challenged in the courts, as are new congressional boundaries drawn by Texas lawmakers and a challenge to a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new Texas congressional gerrymander that could send five more Republicans to Congress next year, days before the state's Monday filing deadline. And that's what sparked rumors that Issa is running for a congressional seat in Dallas. first reported by Punch Bowl News.
Tuesday Issa accelerated up the stairs at the U.S. Capitol when CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju asked him about his plans.
Several GOP insiders confirmed that Issa has weighed his options. If he decided to run for the Dallas district seat, he would have to resign from Congress, uproot his family and move to Texas. But they said Issa also recognized the challenge of getting re-elected in his new district.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the leadership of the National Republican Congressional Committee have made it clear to Issa that they will not contribute significant money to his campaign if he seeks re-election in California, according to a veteran California GOP fundraiser who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
“They said we have so many goals and you have the ability to fundraise for yourself or on your own – so you're not a top priority,” the person said.
