Now the prognosticating has moved to the Congressional races, especially for the Democratic Party longing for majority rule once again in the House. Their chances are slightly better for taking back the US Senate, although I believe that the GOP will hold the upper chamber.
As for House, the Democratic chances of flipping thirty seats are slim at best.
Five incumbents Democratic Congressmen are still vulnerable in California, even though three of them won election 2012 and held onto their seats in 2014.
One of those Congressional representatives is Julie Brownley of Ventura.
Who would be the best candidate to run against her in 2016?
Not Tony Strickland. He has twice lost two Congressional races, first against Brownley in 2012, then against state senator, now Congressman Steve Knight of Palmdale, who replaced Buck McKeon.
Who is left?
Doug Ose of Sacramento had a pretty strong showing against Ami Bera in the eight Congressional District. Some conservatives felt that he was not strong enough on key issues, but at least he was willing to fight, and he rode strong on his name ID to enter the general election. Local sources submitted that if more ballots had selected his name in the final tally, Ose would have closed up the gap and taken the seat.
Maybe Ventura County Republicans should reach out to a familiar face, and invite him to run:
Elton Gallegly.
He is conservative on key issues, but also cares about animal welfare, a winning issue with liberal leaning constituents.
He represented the Ventura, Northwest LA Country region for nearly three decades, and before that he was the mayor of Simi Valley.
He also fought hard against illegal immigration.
In 2012, he chose to retire, since he did not want to challenge a fellow Republican incumbent in the 25th (Buck McKeon) and he was concerned about a challenge from a Democratic County Supervisor if he ran for the 26th.
Following two election cycles of failed candidates not able to unseat a winnable district with a still vulnerable Democrat, perhaps a strong contender with deep connections to the district and on-going name ID should reconsider and run.
Why not Elton Gallegly for Congress in 2016?
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