For more than a week, Republican activists in both California and Texas were bewildered by one of the strangest scenarios to emerge in politics during 2025: that of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa leaving his gerrymandered 48th District in Southern California to seek reelection in the redrawn (and securely Republican) 32nd District in Texas.
Although there is a precedent for a U.S. representative from one state winning a seat in another (Republican Ed Foreman, who represented a Texas district from 1962-64 and later a New Mexico district from 1968-70), no sitting House Member from one state has won or even sought their next subsequent term from another state.
As it turned out, Issa — 72 and now in his 23rd year in Congress — announced he will run again in California-48 (Greater San Diego). But, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax, the multi-millionaire car alarm entrepreneur and stalwart conservative lawmaker revealed that he did consider a run for the Northeast Dallas-area seat at the urging of Republican colleagues from the Lone Star State.
"Some of my Republican colleagues from Texas did urge me to run in the 32nd District [which Democrat Rep. Julie Johnson relinquished after it was redrawn to be much more Republican] and said that I would be a better fit for the district than any other Republican then considering a race," Issa told Newsmax, "And quite candidly, it is appealing to consider running in a district that went for Trump by 19 percentage points instead of one that went against him by six points."
(Issa would not name the Texans who urged him to consider a race in their state, but Newsmax has since learned that Reps. Brian Babin and Ronny Jackson were behind the move to get Issa to move. Babin serves with Issa on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, while Jackson serves with him on the Foreign Affairs Committee).
The Golden State congressman freely admitted that seeking reelection in another state would be an unusual political voyage. But, he quickly added, "I would be following in the path of thousands of Californians who have moved to Texas because of the heavy burden of taxes in our state and businesses such as Chevron, Tesla, and Hyundai."
Did President Donald Trump convince Issa to stay in California-48 during their recent private meeting in the White House, Newsmax asked.
"The official answer is no," he replied, "We spoke for the better part of an hour about his agenda in Congress and I would say we talked about my [political situation] for about five minutes."
The recent Democrat-crafted redistricting of California's 52 U.S. House seats — Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's response to Texas's redistricting reducing the number of Democrat seats — could bring the GOP ranks in the House down to five or possibly 3 Members.
"So I am staying in Congress from the 48th District for the people who will get better treatment from Washington than if I leave," said Issa, suggesting that a senior Republican who has a relationship with the Trump administration would be an asset rather than just one Democrat out of many from California.
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