In early 2014, Rep. Darrell Issa gave a speech at a Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire that gained a lot of attention. Despite his appearance in the nation’s first presidential primary state — automatically triggering speculation — Issa insisted he had no intention of running for the White House two years later. “I came here to hopefully shape the debate for 2016, not join it,” he said at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Concord. Regardless, the event solidified his status as a national GOP player and fundraiser, an image that was well underway as the aggressive chair of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. This week, he gained national attention for something also audacious, though far less lofty, than teasing presidential speculation: potentially jumping state lines as an incumbent to run for a newly configured Republican House seat in Texas, as first reported by Punchbowl News. After President Donald Trump reportedly urged him to stay in his newly Democratic-leaning 48th Congressional District, Issa said on Thursday that’s where he will run, ending the Lone Star dalliance and earlier speculation he might shift to a more Republican-friendly California district. Those heady days of yore have been in the rearview mirror for Issa for some time. He chairs a low-profile, though not insubstantial Judiciary Committee subcommittee. At age 72 and with more than two decades in Congress, the relevance of any seniority he has is open to question. He may still be a regular on Fox News and other conservative-leaning media outlets, but he’s not shaping national debates. Scrambling to find a district that fits, though sometimes unseemly, is commonplace for politicians of both major parties after the usual once-a-decade redistricting process. The artificially timed realignment happening now has led to even more bizarre dynamics, starting with President Donald Trump’s pressure on Texas to redraw House lines to gain GOP seats, which triggered a Democratic response in California. Fighting it out in his now-purple San Diego-based district was always going to be a challenge for Issa, given the liabilities of his outspoken loyalty to Trump and votes to cut government programs, particularly health care, among other things. The notion that he was willing to flee halfway across the country not to run there doesn’t help matters. Further, his blunt style and partisan-warrior approach have fueled a particular hostility among opponents, who also have brought up his past business disputes and legal issues. All this suggests that Issa’s long, influential career in San Diego and California politics finally could come to an end. However, that history also underscores that you can never count Issa out. He has regrouped from previous political setbacks. Issa made his fortune creating and running Directed Electronics, which was one of the nation’s largest companies making automobile security and alarm products. As an increasingly politically influential businessman from Vista, he was key in helping San Diego land the 1996 Republican National Convention, the first GOP convention in California since 1964 — and possibly the last one the state will see for decades to come. That same year, he chaired the campaign for California’s Proposition 209, the voter-approved measure that prohibited California government institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in public employment, public contracting, or public education. Issa sought to parlay that activism, financial backing and partisan goodwill into a U.S. Senate seat in 1998. That was an expensive failure. Having spent $10 million of his own money, Issa lost the primary to state Treasurer Matt Fong, who was then defeated by Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer. But the exposure in that race helped him win an open congressional district in 2000 in north San Diego County that included portions of Orange and Riverside counties. Just three years later, Issa rose to national prominence as the main financial backer of the recall petition effort against then-Gov. Gray Davis. Issa intended to run as a replacement candidate, but the entry of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger changed the equation. Issa tearfully bowed out, but he can lay claim to being the driving force that ousted Davis and forged the path for Schwarzenegger to become governor. Meanwhile, Issa’s power in Congress grew and he seemed safe in his North County district. He had won re-elections easily, but then barely hung on in 2016. Facing a tougher challenge in 2018, in large part because of the Trump effect and his vote to replace the Affordable Care Act, Issa opted not to run. Democrat Mike Levin was elected and continues to hold the seat. “The district changed,” Issa said later, “I didn’t.” In 2020, Issa ran in and won a very Republican East County-centric seat that was vacated by Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. That, too, seemed a long-term, safe district, until the nationwide gerrymandering dominoes began to tumble this year. Issa seemed committed to his new 48th Congressional District, though there was speculation that he might run in the nearby 40th, where GOP incumbents Young Kim and Ken Calvert already have lined up to go head-to-head. Several Democrats were already angling to take on Issa in the 48th, a group headlined by Ammar Campa-Najjar, who had run against Issa for Congress, and San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert. Like Trump, Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, made clear he wanted Issa to stay in the 48th District. It seems the GOP should pick up the heavily Republican Texas district without Issa there. But the notion of another Republican stepping into the San Diego district was not a good option for the GOP. UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser wondered how enthusiastic national GOP financers would be if the district was “abandoned and seen as unwinnable by a well-financed incumbent.” “(Issa’s) got the best shot,” Kousser added. “If you’re the Republican congressional campaign leadership, you want him in this race.” Kousser said Issa could “bank on his experience” in a Texas run, but could have run afoul of local sensibilities as West Coast transplants have residents leery of the “Californiazation” of their state. He suggested Issa is in a “political no-man’s land.” “He’s too supportive of Trump, which is a huge issue in a purple district, and he’s not MAGA enough to galvanize that wing of the party in another state,” Kousser said. Issa faces a tough road, maybe even the end of it. But if he holds a difficult seat that helps Republicans preserve their House majority next year, perhaps he’ll be rewarded with elevated status — and a taste of past glories. ...read more read less