Rep. Issa, high-profile Obama foe, will retire
WASHINGTON — Rep. Darrell Issa of California said Wednesday he will not seek reelection, marking the exit of a leading Republican critic of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and potentially easing the way for a Democrat to succeed him in November.
Issa built a national profile as the chief congressional antagonist to Obama and his administration during his tenure as ranking member and then chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee between 2008 and 2015. He later targeted Clinton as she moved toward seeking the presidency over her response to the deadly 2012 terrorist attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.
But Issa’s hold on his San Diego-area district became increasingly tenuous in recent years, and he only barely fended off a Democratic challenger in 2016. National Democrats have put Issa’s district at the top of their target lists for November’s midterms.
In a statement Wednesday, Issa did not give a reason for his departure but reflected on a two-decade political career that included jump-starting the process that led to the 2003 recall of Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis.
“Throughout my service, I worked hard and never lost sight of the people our government is supposed to serve,” he said. “Yet with the support of my family, I have decided that I will not seek reelection in California’s 49th District.”
Issa rocketed to national prominence during his four years as Oversight chairman, during which he mounted aggressive investigations into Obama’s administration that fueled attacks from the tea party movement and made him a cable-news stalwart.