San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond appears to be mounting a run for the seat in Congress held by fellow Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, raising new uncertainty about Issa’s political future and potentially remaking a race made newly competitive by Democrat-led redistricting.
Desmond has withdrawn from the race for a neighboring congressional district represented by Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, a race the Republican supervisor has been running in for more than a year, according to election officials.
According to the county Registrar of Voters, Desmond pulled nomination papers on Thursday to run in the 48th Congressional District, the seat currently held by Issa, indicating an interest in running for the office. Issa also pulled nomination papers in recent days, a key preliminary step.
By midday Friday, neither had formally filed to enter the race.
Friday is the deadline for incumbents to file nomination forms with the registrar. But there’s a five-day extension for other candidates to file in any races where the incumbent hasn’t filed.
Desmond, who’s served on the Board of Supervisors since 2018 and faces term limits, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The late switch from Desmond, just before a Friday deadline, comes after months of uncertainty about whether Issa planned to stay in the race.
When asked for comment via text message Friday, Issa replied: “Don’t owe you anything nothing no.”
With California voters’ November approval of Proposition 50, Issa’s seat became one of handful of Republican-held congressional districts redrawn to become more competitive for Democrats.
The redistricting shifted Issa’s district from having a Republican registration advantage of 12 percentage points to a 4-point Democratic advantage.
Even before Prop. 50 passed, Issa was already signaling a possible departure from the race, telling the news organization NOTUS that he was “not clinging to this job” and “can do other things.”
On election night, the longtime congressman took a different stance, pledging in a defiant statement that he was “not going anywhere.”
Weeks later, he teased the possibility of jumping into a more Republican-friendly congressional race in Texas, before days later saying he would remain in California.
On Monday, Issa told Punchbowl News he planned to continue his reelection bid.
Since the 48th was redrawn, a large field of Democrats have also launched campaigns for the seat, which will now include Escondido, San Marcos and Vista and reaches up into Palm Springs and neighboring areas of Riverside County.
The Democratic candidates include Ammar Campa-Najjar, who ran against Issa in 2020, and San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert — along with Vista City Councilmember Corrina Contreras, Palm Springs economist Brandon Riker and State Board of Equalization member Mike Schaefer.
In a statement, von Wilpert likened Desmond’s potential entrance to the race to “musical chairs.”
“Swapping one MAGA loyalist for another doesn’t change a thing, and Jim Desmond is as MAGA as it gets,” she said. “This district is ready to flip, and no last-minute, desperate Republican reshuffling is going to change that.”
Campa-Najjar said “Republicans are scrambling to reshuffle their candidates” and that “momentum in this race is on our side.”
On Thursday, the same day Desmond pulled papers to run in the 48th district, another Republican filed papers to run in the district from which the supervisor withdrew.
Armen Kurdian is now challenging Levin for re-election to his coastal North County seat in Congress. Kurdian was previously running for a nearby state Senate seat represented by Sen. Catherine Blakespear.