San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
An Issa win in November not sure thing, but it’s close
Darrell Issa appears to have won a spot on the November ballot and is now heavily favored to return to Congress.
Should that happen, he will go back to familiar surroundings and a possible position of power. He also will rejoin some friendly faces — as far as that goes in politics — and not just those of fellow Republicans.
Issa has had a yearslong, collegial working relationship with two Democratic members of the San Diego congressional delegation, and an interesting connection with a third. The fifth delegation seat, which is being vacated, will be filled by one of two Democrats.
Now, there’s a big caveat here: Democrat Ammar Campa-najjar could defeat Issa in November in the 50th Congressional District, which includes wide swaths of north and east San Diego County and a bit of southern Riverside County.
Campa-najjar nearly won the seat two years ago, coming within a few points of then-rep. Duncan Hunter, who was under federal indictment at the time. Hunter resigned earlier this year after pleading guilty to one charge of using campaign funds for personal expenses.
Campa-najjar’s campaign has only gotten stronger — he jokes he’s been running for three years for a two-year term — and he’s become a better candidate. But the reality is the 50th is a very Republican district and Campa-najjar no longer has an opponent weighed down by tremendous baggage. He has done a good job fundraising, but Issa, who had been the wealthiest member of Congress when he was there, has very deep pockets.
As of late Friday, the Democrat had received 35.6 percent of the primary election vote to advance to the fall election. In November, he presumably would pick up the 5 percent that went to Marisa Calderon, another Democrat who dropped out of the race in late January. But the combined vote of the major Republican candidates stood at 55.5 percent (Issa had 24.2 percent, radio talk show host Carl Demaio had 20.6 percent, and state Sen. Brian Jones had 10.7 percent). That’s not to say all those other votes automatically go to Issa, but the overwhelming majority likely will.
Unlike Campa-najjar — or Demaio or Jones, for that matter — Issa will have no learning curve if he lands back in Congress. He served there 18 years, four of them as chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Despite their sharp partisan differences, Issa worked closely with Democratic Reps. Susan Davis, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas, as well as Hunter, on matters of crucial importance to San Diego, such as funding for border infrastructure — particularly the expansion of the San Ysidro Port of Entry — and military facilities.
Their mutual respect was often on display at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual congressional luncheon, where they sat on stage and fielded questions from a moderator in front of a ballroom packed with civic- and politically minded people. Sometimes their asides revealed more about their relationships than recitations of all the bacon they’ve brought home to San Diego.
At the 2018 event, Issa delighted the crowd with stories about the times he and Vargas traveled to
gether on congressional fact-finding trips.
“Juan is willing to travel with me and eat things he never thought he would eat, in places he thought he never wanted to go,” Issa said. “So, when you need to go places to see things, you take Juan. It’s kind of a bonding experience.”
Now, this warm and fuzzy Issa also has something of a hard edge that can come off as intimidating, even bullying. He relentlessly investigated President Barack Obama’s administration as Oversight Committee chairman, which elevated him to a national figure and gained him praise from the political right. But that, along with his endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, earned him the enmity of many of his constituents in the North County 49th District, which in recent years has turned from solid red to purple.
Facing weekly protests outside his Vista office, Issa decided not to run for reelection in 2018. Before he dropped out, he was confronted by then-candidate Mike Levin at a town hall meeting and the two had a testy exchange. After Levin won what eventually became an open seat, Issa quickly reached out to him and graciously offered to help with the transition, Levin said at the time.
Still, they’ve never worked in Congress together so how they would get along remains to be seen, should the freshman win re-election this fall and Issa win the 50th seat. The same goes for how he would work with either Georgette Gómez or Sara Jacobs, the two Democrats vying to replace Davis, who is retiring from Congress after two decades.
Should Campa-najjar prevail in November, he likely would work hard to get into the collaborative spirit of his fellow Democrats. But he would just be learning the ropes, while Issa not only has been there, but said he has been assured by GOP leaders he would regain his seniority status despite his two-year hiatus from Congress. That would be even more significant if Republicans win back the House majority in November.
It’s an open question how well Demaio would have worked with the delegation had he advanced out of the primary and won in the fall. He is particularly loathed in local Democratic circles for, among other things, seeking to take away or reduce benefits for public union employees — perhaps as powerful a Democratic constituency as there is. He also sought to unseat Peters in a bitter campaign in 2014.
A lot of Republican leaders in Washington aren’t wild about him either, and they backed Issa.
Demaio takes that as a badge of honor, as he rails against the political establishment across the spectrum and calls for reforms in Washington. His “Fix Congress First” plan proposes many things, including stripping members of their perks and pensions. That’s not exactly a popular proposal on Capitol Hill and might have guaranteed him back-bench committee appointments.
Issa has his enemies, but he has a record of working on both sides of the aisle on certain issues, particularly when it comes to local matters.
As for Demaio, collaboration was not a hallmark of his one term on the San Diego City Council.
Tweet of the Week
Goes to Barry Jantz (@barryjantz), former La Mesa City Council member who knows all, sees all in East County politics.
“I’m glad my waste disposal hauler, Edco, has those occasional free pickups for oversized items. All my Demaio and Issa mail won’t fit in my blue bin.”