Via email:
More than four months have passed since the election and I am still humbled and inspired by what we accomplished. It was truly an incredible journey.
And now, the journey continues. After a period of honest reflection and consultation with my family and members of the community, I have decided to run again for Congress in 2012. I am running because the issues we care about are no less important today than they were last November, and the dysfunction in Congress is only getting worse. I’ve dealt with these issues in a recent Huffington Post Op-Ed addressed to Congress.
Though he lost, Ami Bera was one of the rare bright spots for Democrats in 2010. A physician with no prior political experience, he ran a deft campaign and hauled in a ton of money, putting the fright into the Republican Party and Rep. Dan Lungren. In the end, Bera outraised Lungren by an impressive $3 million to $2 million margin, but thanks to the brutal overall climate, Lungren hung on with just 50.1% of the vote.
Of course, with California’s new redistricting commission, district lines are liable to change quite radically. But hopefully Bera will have someplace he can reasonably run – and with any luck, he’ll put an end to Dan Lungren’s career, too.
my numbers indicate that Bera was one of the Democrats most overperforming expectations in 2010. I don’t know if that more due to Bera being great or Lungren being bad, probably a combination of both, but it doesn’t matter, this is great news.
…will happen soon enough, and it would be fitting, even if stereotypical, if it’s a doctor. Ami Bera is a great candidate and from all the accounts I’ve heard also a fine man.
One thing we need in Congress in the way of diversity, IMO, is more professional diversity. If the stereotypical chosen path of many South Asians and East Asians of medicine and engineering puts more doctors and engineers in Congress, then that’s a double-bonus on the diversity front.
to barely holding onto his district in the best climate for republicans in the past 16 years.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Here’s hoping Bera clobbers Lungren in 2012.
Most SSPers who have attempted California have ended up with a more liberal, more compact CA-03 than the current iteration, given the district’s need to shed a ton of population.
Who knows what the commission will draw, but given the strength demonstrated by CA Democrats in 2010, I’m really optimistic. The districts that Republicans used to be able to hold easily are slipping away fast. I was really impressed by the good numbers that Democratic incumbents put up compared to GOP incumbents this past election.
Sort to California and you’ll see just how weak and bloated the GOP caucus is from CA. Lungren winning with 50%, Bono Mack winning with 51%, Dreier winning with 54%, Calvert winning with 56%, and even Bilbray and Herger being held to 57%.
If anything, I’m hoping the commission scrambles the lines significantly…without the power of incumbency, they will struggle to hold districts that Obama is winning next year.
The commission will probably draw two districts completely within Sacramento County and Garamendi’s home is in the tail of the county. CA-3 would have about a PVI of D+1 or even.
More obviously, Bera (or most anybody) could beat Mcclintock if he carpetbagged to this district instead of the much redder one he is in.
So it isn’t that Lungren underperforms, to the contrary. That area is certainly not blue, but even gerrymandered as it is now it is only pink.
Lungren could get a light pink district from the commission, but more likely the lost Dem district in the Bay Area will sprawl out to here. Lungren would likely beat a terrible Dem, but a strong Dem should be able to handle him.
Ideally Lungren will choose to run against Mcclintock (and crush him) instead. That would be a double upgrade, a Dem in Sac county and sane Lungren replacing insane Mcclintock.