Dear Calitics community:

I wanted to give you an update on my congressional race.

On Monday, the LA Times reported some good news about California’s redrawn Congressional districts.  According to the Times, Republican “party leaders aren’t happy about the situation.  Some say privately that the GOP could lose up to five of its 19 California congressional seats.”

However, the Times also quotes David Wasserman, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, who said “there are some Republican opportunities” as well.  Specifically, Republican strategists have targeted my race because Congressional District 24 “has been made more compact and more evenly divided between Democrats and Republican voters.”  LA Times link

Without question, my district is the toughest Democratic-held seat to defend in California.  The district has the slimmest margin of Democratic voters in the state.

During my time in Congress, I have developed strong relationships with the residents of my district.  But the Republican playbook is to “nationalize” this race and try to distract voters from my solid record working as their representative in Washington and providing effective constituent services.  

Already Karl Rove’s SuperPAC Crossroads GPS has run a false TV ad criticizing me for supporting Healthcare reform.  The National Republican Campaign Committee also ran a TV ad against me in the district that the Washington Post factchecker debunked, giving it “4 Pincocchios!”

There are at least three Republicans who have indicated they may run.  Millionaire Abel Maldonado is running and has already invested $250,000 of his own money in the race.  Tea Party favorites Tom Watson and Chris Mitchum are also running and they tied for first place in a recent straw poll, showing their ability to energize the Republican base.

Meanwhile, I’m not taking any chances.  Our experienced campaign manager, Kris Pratt, is on the ground now and we’re staffing up our finance and field teams so we can be ready for 2012.

I know there’s a big bulls-eye on my race, so I’m reaching out to you and progressive activists across California.  I hope you’ll play a big role in my campaign.  You can reach us at [email protected] or get involved at www.cappsforcongress.com

We need your help to organize in my district and raise money so we can communicate with voters.  We need to win seats like CD24 to take back the U.S. House of Representatives.

So I hope you’ll join me in 2012 and help us keep California’s beautiful Central Coastal district blue.

Thanks, and happy holidays.

Lois

www.cappsforcongress.com

(Welcome to Rep. Lois Capps – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

By Rep. Lois Capps

Dear Calitics community:

After following your smart takes on California and national politics, I thought it was time I joined the conversation.   Here’s my first post — an update on my congressional campaign.

First, thank you for many years of support.  Without the help of grassroots activists, I never would have been elected to Congress.  And I never would have been able to write the Nurse Reinvestment Act to address our nationwide nursing shortage, help get Health Insurance Reform enacted, protect our coastline from more offshore drilling, vote against the Iraq war, stand up for a woman’s right to choose and provide more opportunity for the middle class.  I’m proud of my record and can keep going, but my message today is about politics.

This election is different.

There has been a lot of discussion here about the redistricting commission and their new maps.

The new, final map makes my 24th district the toughest Democratic seat to defend in California.  No other congressional district has lost as many registered Democrats as mine. For the past ten years, my district had an 18% Democratic registration advantage.  Now the seat has only 3% more Democrats than Republicans.

The Republicans are not waiting to take advantage of the new map.  In July, Karl Rove’s SuperPAC spent huge bucks running a misleading TV ad criticizing my votes for Health Insurance Reform.  The National Republican Campaign Committee had already run another misleading TV commercial against me in June.  This is a year before the primary and a full17 months before the general election.

Meanwhile, there is a battle brewing among Republican challengers.  Millionaire Abel Maldonado has so far given his campaign over $250,000 from his fortune.  And Tea Party candidate Tom Watson is again trying to join his brethren in Congress.

With the new “jungle primary” (that Maldonado put on the ballot) anything could happen between those two…

So get ready.  This is the hottest Congressional race in California.  And you’re going to hear a lot more about it in the months ahead.

And I hope you’ll join my campaign.  I’d love your help to educate, energize and mobilize voters in my district.

I’m also going to stay in touch with you on Calitics.  Your passion and ideas on this site will be a big boost to my campaign.  Together, we can keep California’s beautiful Central Coast district blue.

Please contact my campaign, be a part of our team and help us win.

Thank you,

Lois

www.cappsforcongress.com