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The landscape of the upcoming Congressional election continues to shift, and images of rats and sinking ships continue to crowd our minds, as yet another endangered Orange County GOP Congressman announces his resignation…
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., one of the most prominent and endangered Republicans in Congress, has decided not to run for reelection in November, becoming the latest in a string of vulnerable GOP incumbents to retire ahead of midterm elections expected to favor Democrats.
Issa, who made a national name for himself as an Obama administration antagonist while leading a House investigative committee, will not seek another term, NBC News has confirmed.
The Southern California Republican, who is the wealthiest member of Congress, was nearly unseated in 2016 in when Democrat Douglas Applegate came within fewer than 2,000 votes of the incumbent. Applegate quickly declared he would mount a re-match in in 2018.
Hillary Clinton won Issa’s 49th Congressional District in 2016 by over seven percentage points against Donald Trump even though Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama there by a similar margin in 2012.
Orange County was once a fabled Republican stronghold, but Clinton became the first Democrat to win the affluent area since the Great Depression as it veered away from Trump.
On Tuesday, another Southern California Republican, Rep. Ed Royce, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he too would not run for reelection.
With many observers expecting a Democratic wave in November, some vulnerable Republicans are rushing to get out of the way.
More Republican incumbents have already said they will retire this year (18) than the number of Democrats who did so ahead of the 2010 midterm elections (11), which swept Republicans into power, according to a former Democratic campaign official.
Issa, the richest and one of the most erratic and publicity-hungry Congressmen, became this blog’s problem after the 2011 California re-districting, when his north-San Diego County district was redrawn to include South OC towns San Clemente, Dana Point, and San Juan Capistrano. Before his announcement several Democrats had already jumped into the race against him; this blog has been supporting Colonel Douglas Applegate, the more progressive, Bernie-supporting Oceanside candidate who nearly beat Darrell last year; while the more corporatist Liberal OC has been backing their friend Mike Levin, who moved down from Irvine for the race, a practice many view with disdain.
**** Afternoon update****
Oh joy. Turns out the Republican Party’s choice to succeed this corrupt mogul is the swindler Diane Harkey, about whom we have written a library. (About her and her husband at least, but she should NOT be allowed to run from his crimes which benefited them both, rocketed her to where she is, and in which she assisted.) I hope this material is helpful to Applegate or whomever Democrats choose, and there are a lot of senior citizens down that way who would love to help…
- The Harkey Files: South County’s Rabid Wolverine Encounters Some Setbacks.
- Harkey Husband Hits New Low, Sues His Own Fraud Victims!
- Harkey-versary: Two Years After Judgment, Criminal Power Couple Has Paid Their Victims NOTHING.
- and YOU could own one of Criminal Harkey Power-Couple’s Exotic Cars!
Grab your popcorn!
Ah, Vern’s just out and we’re already stepping on one another’s breaking stories again! Anyway, here’s how I answer his question in the headline.
Nice to be back to normal!
Harkey jumping in is graat news. She will be roundly dispatched with her history of bankrupting seniors with her husband.
Rocky Chávez. a far more sane and honest Republican, a vet, and an Assemblyman from San Diego, is also in, and would be harder to beat, especially as he’d pose a less polarizing target.
Here’s a quiz to see if readers are alive, awake, and aware:
in this heavily military district, would you rather have a Marine Lt. Col. as the Democrat running against him or someone whose big stint in public service was shining Frank Barbaro’s shoes? (Metaphorically, of course.)
Dana HAD BETTER NOT drop out! Dem & Left activists need someone to hate!
*Congratulations to Ed Royce – we always liked Ed, even his likable Dad too! Glad he is showing the Class necessary to do the right thing. Parker needs to take Darrell’s seat, but he has a couple of tragic flaws, like not taking a stand against The Trumpster in firm enough terms. Not standing up for 2nd Amendment issues….with reasonable regulation like Mandatory Drug Testing for all new Firearm Purchase and Transfers. He needs to stand for something like Removing Big Pharma Ads from the Television. He needs to support DACA and in fact a broader array of Immigration Legislation. Parker needs to stand up and take the reigns away from Issa in a positive, direct and creative way. Replacing Reagan Country will require some serious intellectual arguments which make sense to the average voter and still assures CA Citizens that he will fight for their rights at the Federal Level…including changing the recent Tax Reform Package to re-include business tax write-offs and State Tax Right Off and the Mortgage Tax Deduction back up to $1 million bucks. Oh and of course bringing the individual Exemptions back. When Issa said he VOTED AGAINST the Tax Bill….he already knew the votes were there and was purely playing politics to the max. What we would love…is to hear every Republican running for office REPEAT verbatim all the things that the Trumpster has said…..starting with “Grab ’em by the ………..” and go on from there! Can you imagine Mimi saying those things? National News!
*One more thing….those 1000 protesters outside of Darrell Issa’s Office for the last year…will be traveling to wherever he goes, whatever district he may want to Carpetbag in……that’s the rumor anyway!