Outgoing Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) said early Tuesday morning that the Democratic candidate running for his seat in the 49th District is poised to win, a remark that came hours before the polls closed.
“Quite frankly, we know the results already,” Issa said on Fox News. “It will be a Democrat representing La Jolla to Solana Beach for the first time in a number of years.”
{mosads}The Republican, who announced his retirement in January, squeaked to reelection in 2016, winning the district by less than a single percentage point.
Issa said the race for his seat in California was not competitive this cycle — a view echoed by election analysts.
Election forecaster FiveThirtyEight considers the race “solid” Democrat. Nate Silver’s polling site rated Democratic candidate Mike Levin’s chances of winning at a whopping 96 percent, compared to the nearly 4 percent chance of victory for Republican Diane Harkey.
Issa, however, said that while Democrats may have won this race, he wants to remind people that he beat a Democrat when running for the seat, saying that the political tides for the 49th District will again change later on.
“Someday it will be taken back, but for now California is leaning very hard to the left,” he said.
Issa, the former chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, grew increasingly laudatory about President Trump’s policies towards the end of his tenure, prompting chatter on Capitol Hill that he is eyeing a role in the administration.
In September, the White House announced that the president had nominated Issa to lead the United States Trade and Development Agency.
Issa told Fox News that he is “looking forward to life after Congress.”
“If you don’t believe in term limits after 18 years, when do you? So it was time,” Issa said.