Morning Digest: Darrell Issa abandons plan to flee to Texas

The GOP congressman will stay in California to defend a seat that just got much tougher

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (left) will seek reelection in California instead of Texas (credit: Darrell Issa Facebook)

Leading Off

CA-48, TX-32

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced Thursday that he would seek reelection in California’s 48th District rather than try to save his imperiled congressional career by running for office in another state entirely.

“I’m thrilled to set the record straight and here’s the truth: Texas House members and residents of that state did ask if I would consider running there following Gavin Newsom’s historically corrupt gerrymander,” Issa, whose constituency in the San Diego area became considerably more competitive under the state’s new congressional map, said in a statement to Fox News.

“I appreciate the opportunity, but California is my home. I told them I’m going to stay in Congress, and I don’t need to go to Texas for that,” he continued. “I can hold this seat, I’m not quitting on California, and neither should anyone else.”

Issa, though, has projected anything but confidence about remaining in his seat—or his state. The passage of Proposition 50 on Nov. 4 transformed his 48th District overnight from a safely red constituency that Donald Trump carried 56-41 into one that Kamala Harris would have narrowly won 50-47.

While Issa said on election night he would “continue to represent the people of California—regardless of their party or where they live,” he notably didn’t say exactly where in the state he’d be running.

Political watchers immediately speculated that Issa, who retired after nine terms ahead of the 2018 blue wave only to wage a comeback two years later in a much redder district, could try a similar maneuver in 2026—only without the retirement part.

They wondered whether Issa might join fellow GOP Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim in competing for the 40th District, a conservative seat based in Orange and Riverside counties, and he didn’t do anything to tamp down on the chatter.

Punchbowl News, however, reported Monday that Issa had an even more ambitious relocation in mind. The publication revealed that he was considering running in Texas’ 32nd District, a Democratic-held constituency that Republicans in the Lone Star State redrew over the summer to be safely red.

Issa was initially anything but eager to discuss his possible move. When CNN’s Manu Raju tried to question him about it the day after Punchbowl’s report, Issa made for a stairwell as an aide tried to shut the door on Raju.

“You can’t close the door on me! What are you doing?” exclaimed the reporter before he continued to ask the still-silent congressman about his plans. “Why won’t you answer the question, Mr. Issa?”

Issa was, however, considerably more forthcoming on Wednesday in an interview with Mark Davis, a conservative radio host based in Texas.

“One of my colleagues from Texas called me and told me, ‘We don’t have a good candidate. I understand your district has been made pretty close to impossible. But we’ve got TX-32—would you look at it?’” Issa recounted.

The congressman, who described his current constituency as the “east Texas of California,” acknowledged he was open to the idea and would talk to Trump about the idea.

MAGA’s master, though, seems not to have been a fan. Later that same day, Davis reported that, according to Rep. Lance Gooden, Rep. Ronny Jackson told Texas’ GOP House delegation that Trump wanted Issa to defend his current seat “because they are worried a new person has no chance of winning it and the President thinks Darrell can.”

Issa said the next day that he would take up that daunting task rather than seeking safer ground elsewhere.

“I believe the people of Southern California in San Diego County and Riverside County who elected me so many times will, regardless of registration, consider my record in full and allow me to continue serving them,” he told Fox.

That same day, Issa expressed unhappiness with Kim for continuing her campaign against Calvert in the 40th District rather than joining him in taking one for the team and running in a tougher seat—though it appears he did not realize a camera was trained on him when he delivered those remarks.

“Ken has nowhere else to go,” Issa told another attendee at a White House event in a conversation filmed by Spectrum News. “She does have a hard seat she could go to, and I know the administration would look favorably if she would do that. And then if she doesn’t win, you know, she could go to the administration for two years.”

“With Ken, we need him exactly where he is, and most of this district is or has been his,” Issa added. “If anyone else had a claim for it, it’d be me because we’ve overlapped a lot.”

But the 72-year-old Issa has finally settled on running in the 48th, where several Democrats are competing for the chance to permanently end his decades-long career.

The lineup includes Navy veteran Marc Iannarino; wealthy businessman Brandon Riker; San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert; and Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Navy Reserve officer who lost to Issa in 2020. Vista Council member Corinna Contreras also filed FEC paperwork on Tuesday for a potential campaign.

GOP in disarray after Tennessee special

Redistricting Roundup

TX Redistricting

In a terse, unsigned ruling on Thursday evening, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court order finding that Texas’ new GOP-drawn congressional map was likely unconstitutional, a decision that allows the new districts to be used in 2026.

The majority said that the three-judge district court panel, which issued a 160-page opinion last month determining that the map was likely an improper racial gerrymander, erred because it “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith.”

In other words, according to the Supreme Court, it should have given greater credit to legislators’ claims that their motivations in redrawing the lines were partisan in nature and not race-based.

It also said that the district court should have required plaintiffs to “produce a viable alternative map that met the State’s avowedly partisan goals.”

In addition, it chastised the panel for intervening “on the eve of an election,” even though the lower court had concluded that the plaintiffs “could not possibly have acted faster or more diligently.” It further noted that it was the lawmakers—not litigants—who “set the timetable” by voluntarily choosing to redraw Texas’ map just weeks before election-related deadlines began kicking in.

In a furious dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues, Justice Elena Kagan blasted the majority for running roughshod over the extensive work of the district court, which included “a nine-day hearing, involving the testimony of nearly two dozen witnesses and the introduction of thousands of exhibits.”

“Yet this Court reverses that judgment based on its perusal, over a holiday weekend, of a cold paper record,” she wrote. “We are a higher court than the District Court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision.”

A thin silver lining for Democrats may, however, have come in a concurring opinion issued by Justice Samuel Alito, who previously issued a temporary “administrative” stay pausing the lower court’s ruling.

Alito asserted that the “impetus” for the Texas map was “partisan advantage pure and simple”—and in an aside, he said the same was true of California’s new map, which has also been challenged as an illegal racial gerrymander. Those claims are far weaker than those against the Texas map, but Alito’s comments may have just foreclosed them altogether.

Senate

ME-Sen

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said this week that she intends to run again but hasn’t made a final decision on whether to seek a sixth term.

“I still plan to run for reelection,” she told Punchbowl News on Thursday. “I’ve not made an official announcement yet.”

House

AZ-01

Wealthy businessman John Trobough announced this week that he would seek the Republican nomination to defend Arizona’s 1st District, a swing seat that GOP Rep. David Schweikert is leaving behind to run for governor. The Arizona Capitol Times previously reported that Trobough plans to self-fund at least $1 million.

Trobough will face Gina Swoboda, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, in the Aug. 4 primary. Swoboda has Donald Trump’s endorsement, but she still faces loud criticism from far-right figures.

GA-14

State Rep. Katie Dempsey is the subject of “chatter” as a possible Republican candidate in the upcoming special election to replace outgoing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes. Dempsey does not appear to have said anything publicly about her interest in running for Georgia’s dark red 14th District.

NJ-12

Sujit Singh, a technology consultant who narrowly lost the race for mayor of West Windsor last month, has joined the Democratic primary field for New Jersey’s open 12th District.

Singh last month challenged incumbent Hemant Marathe, whom the New Jersey Globe says is “generally known to be a Republican despite West Windsor’s deep-blue lean,” in an officially nonpartisan race. Singh, who lost 51-48, launched his new campaign by touting his work “outside the political establishment.”

NY-07

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso on Thursday became the first major candidate to enter the race to succeed Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a fellow Democrat who is retiring after 17 terms representing New York’s safely blue 7th District.

Reynoso, whose borough forms about 60% of the district (the balance is in Queens), begins the race with endorsements from three New York City Council members who had previously been mentioned as prospective candidates: Jen Gutierrez, Sandy Nurse, and Lincoln Restler.

Reynoso, however, is likely to face opposition in the June 23 primary from at least one candidate affiliated with the local branch of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The New York Times reports that both state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblywoman Claire Valdez are considering running, though only the latter appears to have publicly expressed interest.

A spokesperson for Valdez tells Politico she’s trying to earn the DSA’s endorsement and will only enter the race if she gets it. The Times adds that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani “has indicated to allies that he believes Ms. Valdez would be the best candidate.”

Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, who is also allied with the DSA, previously said she was considering in running for Congress last month. But state Sen. Julia Salazar, whose 2018 win marked a major breakthrough for the bloc, tweeted Wednesday, “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but: I have no intentions to run for Congress.”

Reynoso is not affiliated with the DSA but is closely identified with the broader progressive movement.

“I have been doing this work as a reformer, as a progressive, for a long time before the DSA had a single candidate they were supporting,” he told the Times, adding that he was running to “be a voice to push the party to the left.”

TX-22

Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed former Fort Bend County Constable Trever Nehls to succeed retiring Rep. Troy Nehls, who just happens to be the candidate’s identical twin brother. Trever Nehls faces opposition from conservative activist Rebecca Clark and former state Rep. Jacey Jetton in the March 3 GOP primary for Texas’ conservative 22nd District.

TX-30

Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua and state Rep. Venton Jones both tell CBS News Texas that they’re interested in running for Texas’ revamped 30th District even though Rep. Marc Veasey, a fellow Democrat, appears set to run there. The candidate filing deadline is Monday, so any potential candidates have to decide very soon.

Republican map-makers cut up Veasey’s 33rd District this summer and left him without an obvious place to seek reelection. Bazaldua and Jones, who hail from Dallas, have reason to think that Veasey, who is from neighboring Tarrant County, could be vulnerable in a primary. About three-quarters of the voters in the new 30th live in Dallas County, with the rest residing in Tarrant.

Anyone who wants to take on Veasey in this safely blue constituency, though, will only have a short time to organize a campaign ahead of the March primary. They’ll also face a well-funded incumbent: The congressman already had $930,000 stockpiled at the end of September to defend himself.

TX-32

Wealthy businessman Paul Bondar announced Thursday that he would seek the Republican nomination in Texas’ revamped 32nd District, a move—both figurative and literal—that comes the year after he badly lost a U.S. House primary in Oklahoma.

Bondar, who threw down over $5 million of his own money to finance his failed challenge to veteran Rep. Tom Cole, spent his last campaign trying to convince voters that his recent relocation to the Sooner State was permanent. He even responded to his 65-26 drubbing by telling supporters at his election night party, “We’re going to be back here in this district running again because I believe that we must do things in a pro-American way.”

Bondar, though, has since decided to take the advice of the band Bowling for Soup and “come back to Texas.” He also seems ready to open his wallet again: A source earlier this week told Brad Johnson of the conservative news site The Texan that Bondar “is willing to put in whatever is necessary financially to win.”

The newly minted candidate made his announcement shortly before California Rep. Darrell Issa said he would remain in the Golden State rather than wage his own campaign for Texas’ 32nd District. (See our CA-48 item above.) But Ryan Binkley, a pastor who self-funded $11 million for a largely ignored 2024 presidential campaign, has been running here since August.

Ballot Measures

MO Ballot

A Missouri appeals court handed reproductive rights supporters a major win on Thursday when it rewrote language describing a GOP-backed ballot measure to eliminate the right to an abortion, saying a summary approved by a lower court was misleading.

In May, Missouri’s Republican-dominated legislature voted to place a constitutional amendment on next year’s ballot that would repeal a citizen-sponsored initiative voters approved last year to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins drafted a summation of the new measure, known as House Joint Resolution 73, that backers of the 2024 amendment argued was inadequate, leading them to sue.

After twice rejecting Hoskins’ language, Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green accepted a third version of the summary that would have appeared on voters’ ballots. It said HJR 73 would amend the constitution to:

• Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages;

• Ensure women’s safety during abortions;

• Ensure parental consent for minors;

• Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest; and

• Prohibit sex-change procedures for children.

Opponents of the measure appealed, saying the new summary was still misleading. They objected in particular to the fourth bullet point, which sought to use a legal citation in place of actually explaining to voters the substantive right that HJR 73 would repeal.

A three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals issued a 34-page opinion on Thursday agreeing with the plaintiffs on almost every count. It ordered a major rewrite and even changed the ordering of the bullet points to make it clear that abortion rights are the main target of HJR 73. The revised version now explains that the amendment would:

• Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability;

• Allow abortions for rape and incest (under twelve-weeks’ gestation), emergencies, and fetal anomalies;

• Allow legislation regulating abortion;

• Ensure parental consent for minors’ abortions;

• Prohibit gender transition procedures for minors.

The appellate panel did uphold one aspect of the lower court’s ruling, concluding that HJR 73’s inclusion of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors does not violate Missouri’s rule that constitutional amendments be limited to a single subject. It is not yet clear whether either side might appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Poll Pile

• TX-Sen (R): co/efficient (R): John Cornyn (inc): 28, Ken Paxton: 27, Wesley Hunt: 19. The pollster says this survey was “[n]ot sponsored by any candidate or committee.”

• CA-Gov (top-two primary): Emerson College for Inside California Politics: Chad Bianco (R): 13, Steve Hilton (R): 12, Eric Swalwell (D): 12, Katie Porter (D): 11, Antonio Villaraigosa (D): 5, Tom Steyer (D): 4, Xavier Becerra (D): 4, other candidates 2% or less, undecided: 31.

• Cook County, IL Board President (D): Tulchin Research (D) for Toni Preckwinkle: Toni Preckwinkle (inc): 53, Brendan Reilly: 22. Politico notes that the poll was conducted between Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, which was before Reilly began airing TV ads.