Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not run for re-election in the Democratic district

from Nadia LathanCalMatters

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Long-standing Republican Representative Darrell Issa will not run for re-election, he announced on Friday.

His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn in favor of Democrats and shortly after San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican, filed to run in the same district.

Issa, a longtime GOP stalwart, said he supported Desmond in a statement announcing his decision to retire.

“This decision has been on my mind for a while and I didn’t take it lightly,” he said. “But after a quarter century in Congress — and before that, a quarter century in business — the time is right for a new chapter and new challenges.”

Displacement history

Issa represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than 20 years. He retired briefly in 2019 when his seat, now represented by Democrat Mike Levin, became more competitive. He returned to Congress in 2021 after winning a seat in the 50th District, which was redrawn following statewide redistricting later that year. He moved to his current seat in the 48th District in 2023.

The newly configured seat attracted multiple Democratic challengers as it became more competitive voters approved Proposition 50 last fall. The redistricting measure was intended to give Democrats up to five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and counter similar redistricting efforts in other Republican-leaning states.

Desmond previously announced he would run in the 49th District against Levin.

“They drew me to this area, but the truth is, I’ve been serving this community for years,” Desmond said in a statement to CalMatters. Before Prop. 50 Desmond lived in the 49th Ward. He now lives in the 48th. “I will fight every day to make life more accessible, safer and freer.”

A crowded field of Democrats

In the 48th District, two Democratic candidates — Amar Campa-Najjar, a former Issa opponent, and San Diego City Councilwoman Marnie Von Wilpert — lead a crowded field eager to flip the blue district. Neither candidate garnered enough support for the party’s endorsement last month.

California Republicans have been reshuffled for months as their districts were redrawn.

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, one of the longest-serving members of Congress, is now running in the 40th District against incumbent Rep. Young Kim of Orange County. His current district, the neighboring 41st, was entirely shifted from conservative pockets of Riverside County to Los Angeles County.

Isa thought for a moment congressional elections in Texas in December after the new districts were drawn, but withdrew.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.