Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced Thursday that he would run for reelection next year in his San Diego area district instead of moving to Texas to run in friendly GOP territory.<\/p>\n
The announcement follows speculation that Issa was considering relocating to the red state because of Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s successful campaign to redraw California voting districts in favor Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the people of San Diego County, who have elected me so many times will, in fact, regardless of registration, vote for me,\u201d Issa told the Fox affiliate in San Diego Thursday. \u201cI think I can hold this seat in spite of the governor\u2019s gerrymandering and you know, my intention is to stay right where I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Issa acknowledged that Texans urged him to run for a seat there, but that California is his home, where he raised his family and where his mother and three granddaughters live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my home, and I\u2019m going to fight for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Issa, 72, is among the wealthiest members of Congress. The high-school dropout and Army veteran made his fortune by purchasing a struggling electronics business in 1980 and transforming it into the Viper car-alarm system, with Issa\u2019s voice warning potential thieves to \u201cstand back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bonsall resident has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 22 years, representing various San Diego-area districts. He headed the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during high-profile investigations of the Obama administration.<\/p>\n
But Issa\u2019s district, once solidly Republican, has grown more moderate in recent years. And the new congressional boundaries that California voters approved by passing Proposition 50 in November \u2014 a response by state Democrats to counter President Trump\u2019s efforts to boost GOP seats in Congress \u2014 dramatically impacted Issa\u2019s electorate.<\/p>\n
His congressional district had a 12-point GOP edge in voter registration this year, but now Democrats have a lead of more than four points in the new map, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book. Several Democrats have already announced plans to challenge Issa.<\/p>\n
The redrawing of congressional districts traditionally occurs once every decade \u2014 after the census \u2014 to account for population shifts across the nation. But after President Trump urged leaders in GOP-led states earlier this year to change congressional boundaries to boost Republican efforts to keep control of Congress in next year\u2019s midterm election, Democratic leaders in states across the nation weighed in, notably California Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
Since 2011, California congressional districts have been drawn by an independent commission created by voters to stop gerrymandering and incumbent protection. But Newsom and other prominent California Democrats pushed to create new district lines that could boost the number of Democrats in the state\u2019s 52-member delegation, the largest in the nation.<\/p>\n
California voters approved the move in November, though the new districts are being challenged in the courts, as are new congressional boundaries drawn by Texas legislators as well as a challenge to a significant plank of the federal Voting Rights Act.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court is expected to rule imminently on the new Texas congressional lines, because the state\u2019s filing deadline for candidates is Monday. And that is what fueled speculation about Issa running for a Dallas-area congressional seat, first reported by Punch Bowl News<\/a>.<\/p>\n