Posted on 04/29/2015 4:06:27 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Laura Capps announced Monday she will not seek the California seat being vacated by her mother, Democratic Rep. Lois Capps.
The younger Capps, a Democratic political operative and nonprofit consultant, had long been viewed as a potential successor in the Santa Barbara-based 24th District.
“I’ve decided that now is not the right time for me, Bill and our four year-old-son, and I will not be seeking election to Congress in 2016,” Laura Capps said in a statement. “I have great respect for members of Congress who have young families, and hope there will be more of them, but a cross-country commute would make it hard for me to be the mom I try to be every day.”
Two Democrats have already announced bids: Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal and Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider.
For Democrats, Capps’ pass removes a complication from the state’s top-two primary system. Some feared another Democrat in the race could splinter the primary vote and allow two Republicans to advance to the general.
There are currently two Republicans in the race: Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian and cattle rancher Justin Fareed.
The district leans more strongly Democratic in presidential years. President Barack Obama carried it by 16- and 11-point margins in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
But in 2014, with a smaller electorate, Lois Capps nearly lost re-election, defeating a lackluster GOP opponent by 3 points.
(Excerpt) Read more at atr.rollcall.com ...
Interesting district, all beach towns.
State Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian has a history of winning independent and crossover Democrat voters and currently represents a legislative district that voted for Democrats in the statewide elections in 2014. In a side note, he speaks five languages fluently, which may be a record for any member of Congress if he wins.
Sounds like this woman made the right choice for her child. She’ll be lucky if the dems don’t run her out of town on a rail.
What?!
Congressional seats are not inherited?
An unfortunate fact where CA Congressional politics are concerned, the Republicans have not won a Democrat-held seat since 1998 (when they picked up two seats from 2 Dem retirees, Doug Ose when Vic Fazio left and Steve Kuykendall when Jane Harman lost the nomination for higher office — but Harman came back 2 years later and reclaimed her House seat). They have not defeated a Democrat House incumbent since 1994 (when they knocked off 3 incumbents).
Going into the 1996 elections (the last year the GOP was in any degree of power and competitiveness), they held half the House delegation (then 26R-26D), and thanks to the disaster that has unfolded since (RINO incompetence, statism, Ah-nold, and the so-called “Independent” redistricting commission), those numbers have dwindled down to an appallingly bad 39D-14R split.
Even worse in Senate races, the CA GOP hasn’t won a race since 1988, and hasn’t defeated a Dem incumbent since 1976 (when Sam Hayakawa beat Ted Kennedy’s best buddy John Tunney).
However, I concluded that voter fraud kept the GOP from winning some House seats in the last 3 cycles.
We need a law similar to sweepstakes rules that anyone related to the person retiring, dying or just leaving office cannot run for the office or be appointed to it.
He is a RINO or a good guy?
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