As the deadline approaches to file to run for office, veteran Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has decided not to run for reelection in his newly-configured congressional district in San Diego and Riverside counties, according to three GOP strategists familiar with his plans.
An Issa spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment, but the congressman’s decision was confirmed by three veteran Republican strategists who requested not to be named because they were not authorized to speak about Issa’s plans. The congressman pulled papers to run for reelection in late February but had not turned them in as of Thursday night.
Issa, among the wealthiest members of Congress, began telling people earlier this week that he would retire from Congress, those sources said.
He had an out-sized impact on state and national politics, according to political experts and strategists, from funding the successful 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis, which ushered Arnold Schwarzenegger into office, to his work as the head of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during high-profile investigations of the Obama administration.
“Darrell Issa was a constant and consequential presence in the Republican Party in California without ever being its most prominent leader,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “He’s the person probably most responsible for the recall of Gray Davis going forward but then he got boxed out of the race when Arnold Schwarzenegger got in. He became one of the most prominent protagonists of Barack Obama. But that never elevated him to statewide prominence or statewide office in his own state.”
Kevin Spillane, a San Diego-area GOP political strategist, said Issa substantially enhanced his national profile during the investigation into the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
“He’s been a national figure pretty much since he has been in Congress,” Spillane said. “He was of the people most vocal on Benghazi. He has been a national foil to Obama and Hillary Clinton. He was a major statewide figure in terms of funding the recall that allowed Arnold Schwarzenegger to be elected. He has been a major figure in San Diego County politics for more than two decades. He’s an important member of Congress.”
“It is a loss for California Republicans in terms of our congressional delegation,” Spillane said. “It’s a loss for national republicans in terms of losing a significant figure in the Republican caucus.”
Issa’s move was prompted by the reconfiguration of his congressional district under Proposition 50, a redistricting plan voters passed in November to counter President Trump’s efforts to push GOP-led states to redraw their congressional lines to favor Republicans.
“Rep. Issa is unfortunately a victim of his own inaction,” said Paul Mitchell, the Democratic strategist who drew the new congressional districts voters approved in November that made Issa’s reelection prospects shaky. “Privately all the California Republican incumbents knew it was a mistake, and yet the veterans with all the chairmanships and power didn’t speak out.”
Issa is backing San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond to replace him, the GOP strategist sources said. His supervisorial districts includes more than a quarter of the new district.
Desmond has been running in a neighboring congressional district that straddles Orange and San Diego counties that is currently represented by Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano). Though the Levin district has been considered competitive, Proposition 50 made it more safely Democratic. Desmond withdrew from that race and filed to run in Issa’s district on Thursday, according to the San Diego County registrar of voters.
Desmond’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Issa, 72, has represented various San Diego-area districts in Congress for 23 years. Issa’s once solidly Republican district had been trending more moderate in recent years.
In Issa’s new district, Democratic registered voters outnumber Republicans by more than four percentage points in the new district, which spans San Diego and Riverside counties and was reshaped to include liberal communities such as Palm Springs, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book. Issa’s current congressional district had a 12-percentage-point GOP edge in voter registration in 2024.
As soon as the new districts were approved, speculation began swirling about Issa‘s reelection plans. Some of his supporters in Texas urged him to move there to run in a GOP-friendly Dallas-area district, but he said in December that he declined and would instead seek reelection in California.
“I believe that the people of San Diego County, who have elected me so many times, will, in fact, regardless of registration, vote for me,” Issa told the Fox affiliate in San Diego in December. “This is my home, and I’m going to fight for it.”
Several Democrats had already announced plans to challenge Issa, including San Diego City Council member Marni Lynn von Wilpert and repeat candidate Ammar Campa-Najar.
Issa, a high school dropout and Army veteran, made his fortune by purchasing a struggling electronics business in 1980 and transforming it into the Viper car alarm system, with Issa’s voice warning potential thieves to “stand back.”
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