Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Calif), who ranks among the Democrats’ top targets for next year, has his first challenger.
The Sacramento Bee reports that Gary Davis, a former mayor of Elk Grove, has declared he will run against Lungren next year.
Davis has been on the Democratic Congressional Committee’s radar screen and has met with the committee. Democrats also point to Republicans having only a narrow advantage in party registration in the district as a sign that a Democrat could be successful there.
Lungren’s district was one of eight Republican held districts that voted for President Obama last year. Obama carried Lungren’s 3rd District by a narrow 49 percent to 48 percent margin. Lungren won his reelection race last year by six percentage points.