There’s no such thing as an ex-politician, as the approaching contest for a Central Valley congressional seat proves.
When GOP Rep. George Radanovich announced last month that he would be leaving Congress after eight terms to spend more time with his ailing wife, he endorsed state Sen. Jeff Denham of Atwater as his chosen successor.
“Jeff and I share over 100,000 constituents and I have witnessed firsthand the work he has done for our special part of California,” Radanovich said in a statement. “Given his proven record as a candidate and elected official, I will do everything in my power to help him win in June and November of next year.”
Not so fast. Dick Pombo, who lost his Tracy-area congressional seat to Democrat Jerry McNerney in 2006, is heading south for a comeback.
“I talked to a lot of people over the past week,” he told the Fresno Bee Monday. “I spent 14 years representing the Valley. I would stack my conservative credentials against anybody.”
Then there’s former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson, who lost the 2002 GOP primary in the neighboring 21st Congressional District to Devin Nunes.
“The campaign started this morning at 8:30 when I woke up and heard on the radio that George was going to retire,” said Patterson, who already was rumored to be plotting a primary challenge to Radanovich.
Then there’s former Fresno Assemblyman/Secretary of State/gubernatorial candidate Bill Jones, who’s been out of the political game since getting thumped by Democrat Barbara Boxer in the 2004 race for U.S. Senate.
Jones is reportedly talking to people in the district about jumping into the congressional race and is expected to make his decision sooner rather than later.
As for Denham, this is his third race in less than a month, which should be some sort of a record. But for any ambitious pol, consistency is no concern when a better job presents itself.
For better than a year Denham was running for lieutenant governor, raising more than $1 million, hiring people, printing the posters and doing all the stuff needed for a serious run.
But he switched gears in early December, announcing that he now really, truly wanted to serve in the state Assembly, particularly after Tom Berryhill of Modesto announced he was giving up his Republican-friendly Assembly seat to run for state Senate.
When a congressional seat comes open, though, all other considerations go out the window. Remember, there are no term limits in Congress, which makes it just about the last remaining opportunity for a lifetime political job.
The 19th Congressional District is especially attractive for an out-of-work GOP politician, since not only do Republicans hold a healthy 43 percent to 37 percent registration edge over Democrats, but the district was one of just 11 in the state to pick Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential contest.
Radanovich didn’t even have a Democrat opponent in 2008 and pulled 60 percent of the vote in his 2006 re-election campaign.
It’s a rare political prize, which is why it’s luring Republicans from across the Central Valley. Pombo’s old district didn’t even border his new target and Denham also lives outside the district.
Of course that didn’t hurt Democrat John Garamendi last November, when he won a special election for a Contra Costa-area congressional district, despite living just beyond its boundaries. And Republican Tom McClintock was elected to Congress from a suburban Sacramento district in 2008, despite serving as state senator from the Southern California city of Thousand Oaks.
When the race does sort itself out, water and ag are likely to be the two most talked about issues, which is no surprise in the Central Valley. But the district, which stretches from the outskirts of Modesto in the north to the edge of Fresno in the south and then east into Yosemite National Park, is a GOP stronghold, so stay tuned for plenty of conservative chest thumping during the primary.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.