Add one more to the list of potential Democratic open seats in the House to be filled by special election soon: CA-31 in downtown Los Angeles. Xavier Becerra, House member since 1992, has, in something of a surprise pick, been asked by the Obama administration to be U.S. Trade Representative. (Anonymous sources seem to conflict over whether or not he has already accepted.)
A vacancy in the Fightin’ 31st will not pose much of a threat; it’s D+30 and 70% Hispanic. State Senator Gilbert Cedillo (SD-22) seems to overlap much of this same turf, but this is also the turf of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (AD-46), who was just term-limited out of his Assembly position and may well be looking for something new to do.
If anything, the interesting fight over the musical chairs will be in the House leadership, where Becerra was just elected vice chair of the Democratic caucus, the #5 role on the leadership totem pole, possibly meaning more reshuffling involving Chris Van Hollen ditching the DCCC to become vice-chair, or perhaps Debbie Wasserman Schultz leapfrogging into the job, or perhaps another challenge by Marcy Kaptur (who was defeated by Becerra for the job several weeks ago).
City Council President Eric Garcetti is likely to become one of the best members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
But Eric Garcetti would be a strong candidate, has won in a majority hispanic district before and would be one of the best congresspeople in the country. He’s so awesome I’d consider going to probably my least favorite city in the country (LA) to campaign for him. He’s brilliant, progressive and young. I could see him as president someday.
I’m not sure if Garcetti lives in Congressional district 31 (Becerra) or 33 (Diane Watson). The bio on his website says he lives in Echo Park, which would probably place him in Becerra’s district. There’s a little bit of overlap between his 13th council district and Diane Watson’s 33rd Congressional district, but more overlap in that area between the 13th Council District and the 31st Congressional district.
I agree he’d make a great Congressman. His father is Mexican-American, though most people don’t know it. I think he’s a good enough politician to win in a heavily-Latino district, though.
Rockard J. Delgadillo, however, isn’t going to get elected to much of anything in the near future unless he can make people forget the various scandals of recent years, but I don’t really see that happening.
Fabian Nunez, on the other hand, has a big problem at home — his son Esteban was arrested for murder today.
I hope Becerra runs for something statewide one day. He was a Dodd supporter (as was I) in the primary season and I think he is a very qualified representative who would serve the state of California well.