Darrell Issa’s retirement opens Palm Springs–area House race for queer Democrats

California U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, the veteran Republican who has represented San Diego–area districts in Congress for more than two decades, announced Friday that he is calling it quits, opening a newly redrawn House seat that now tilts toward Democrats.

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Issa, 72, said he decided not to seek reelection in California’s reconfigured 48th Congressional District after reflecting on his career in business and politics.

“This decision has been on my mind for a while and I didn’t make it lightly,” Issa wrote in a statement posted on X. “But after a quarter-century in Congress — and before that, a quarter-century in business — it’s the right time for a new chapter and new challenges.”

Issa also endorsed Jim Desmond, a Republican county supervisor and Navy veteran, to succeed him.

“Jim is not only a personal friend, he’s a true patriot, a Navy veteran, a successful businessman, and has a 20-year record of public service,” Issa wrote.

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Desmond has drawn criticism from some LGBTQ+ activists in San Diego County. In a February 2025 Facebook post, the group San Diego Drag March for Trans Rights accused him of backing efforts to have the county Board of Supervisors support federal legislation that would bar transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports.

Issa said his campaign believed it could win another term, citing internal polling and support from President Donald Trump, but said it was time to step aside.

The retirement reshapes the race for California’s 48th District, which spans parts of San Diego and Riverside counties. A voter-approved redistricting plan last year shifted the once-safely Republican district into one where Democrats now hold a roughly 4-point registration edge.

The new map also added the liberal desert city of Palm Springs, known for its large LGBTQ+ population, altering the political coalitions needed to win.

Issa first won election to Congress in 2000 and became a national Republican figure as chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during investigations of the Obama administration. Earlier, he played a major role in financing the 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis.

Issa’s exit also throws open what had already become a crowded contest. More than a dozen candidates have filed to run in the district, the vast majority of them Democrats, reflecting the seat’s new political balance.

Among them are Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar. Campa-Najjar is married to U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs, an outspoken LGBTQ+ ally in Congress.

Other candidates include Stephen Clemons, an LGBTQ+ candidate whose campaign has focused on affordability, jobs, and housing in the region, and Ferguson Porter, an LGBTQ+ Palm Springs entrepreneur, writer, and comic book retailer who has previously sought congressional office.

Von Wilpert, who is bisexual, previously told The Advocate that her decision to challenge Issa was driven by concern that LGBTQ+ rights and other civil liberties were under threat nationally. “If we want to keep our rights," she said, "I have to step up and fight."

The district now becomes one of the Democrats’ most promising pickup opportunities in the fight for control of the House.