SCV Talk · Archive
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
SCV Talk
December 2, 2013· santaclarita.com · SantaClarita.com (SCVTalk 5.0) · Wayback capture

It's Official: Strickland is Running for the 25th

By Mike Devlin

Former State Senator Tony Strickland of Thousand Oaks has officially declared his candidacy for the 25th Congressional District, a seat presently held by Strickland ally Buck McKeon. Roll Call has the story. The 25th covers the Santa Clarita Valley as well as most of Strickland's former home of Simi Valley and most of the Antelope Valley.  Strickland's people say this is a declaration made in the event of McKeon's retirement, but it seems that it's more a declaration made in advance of McKeon's retirement (McKeon has said he'd make a decision by January).

Strickland was on the losing end of the race for Ventura County's 26th Congressional District in 2012 and until last week, he was a candidate for that race in 2014. Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorell will instead be running for that seat with Strickland's support.

Strickland has been raising a lot of money as a candidate for the 26th, with about $400,000 on hand as of September 30. While there are three declared Democratic candidates for the June primary, Strickland is the only Republican who has filed paperwork for the race, save for McKeon.

While it's long seemed the case that Strickland was raising big money for the 26th with the intention of choosing the easier path to the 25th, this move may have been hastened by very public discussion of this plan by other Republicans, most notably Assemblyman Scott Wilk, who would rather see a candidate from the district run if McKeon's retires.

Wilk has said he won't run for Congress next year, but in his October piece he mentioned Steve Knight, Sharon Runner, Peter Foy, Glen Becerra, Bob Kellar, Elton Gallegly and George Runner as possible Republican candidates. Knight has since said he's not going to run. Of those, it would seem the most formidable for Strickland would be Elton Gallegly or George Runner. 

Gallegly is a retired Congressman who opted out of challenging Buck McKeon after redistricting. He has campaign money in the bank and experience at winning elections. He would also curb Strickland's appeal in Simi Valley. Runner's strength is heavy name ID in the AV and SCV, representing both in Sacramento since the 90s. Together, the AV and SCV comprise about 80% of the district's Republican voters. Strickland has some limited name ID in SCV from repping a slice of the SCV as a State Senator, and he'd probably have a lot support from McKeonland, but he's all but unknown in the AV.

But so far, no one on the local GOP bench is making much noise. That might change soon.


Comments (8)

  1. Bill ReynoldsMonday, December 2nd, 2013 at 1:11 pm
    Hey Mike, why don't you ask Lee Rogers which Republican he would rather lose to.
  2. ErinMonday, December 2nd, 2013 at 2:32 pm
    Can you say… carpetbagger?
  3. Angelo CandelabraTuesday, December 3rd, 2013 at 1:20 pm
    In his column Mr. Wilk prominently touted former Assemblyman Cameron Smyth as a successor to Mr. McKeon. Mr. Smyth's Assembly district overlapped with Mr. McKeon's congressional district in Porter Ranch, Santa Clarita Valley and Simi Valley. It is surprising that Mr. Smyth was not mentioned in Mr. Devlin's post. Mr. McKeon once viewed Mr. Smyth as his logical successor. This changed last year when Mr. Smyth endorsed and actively campaigned for Mr. Wilk rather than Mrs. McKeon. Mr. McKeon was stunned when the Santa Clarita GOP establishment failed to close ranks behind his wife and was specifically infuriated by Mr. Smyth's high profile support of Mr. Wilk. Mr. Strickland, whose first job in politics was an internship sponsored by Mr. Wilk, double crossed Mr. Wilk and switched his endorsement to Mrs. McKeon. Now, having failed last year to hold a district which Congressman Gallegly held for over two decades and which favored Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Steve Cooley in 2010, Mr. Strickland, with Mr. McKeon's apparent consent, will seek to represent a congressional district in which he does not live and very small part of which he last appeared on the ballot five years. It has been mentioned that Mr. Strickland has raised approximately $500,000 for another congressional campaign. These funds, however, were raised unethically (although legally) because donors believed they were helping to finance a rematch with Mrs. Brownley in the 26th district which if successful would flip that seat back to the GOP. It now appears that Mr. Strickland knew he was asking Republican donors to finance a campaign in the 26th district when he actually intended to run in the 25th district.
  4. timothymyers02Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013 at 2:19 pm
    Angelo: Wilk/Smyth et al have bigfooted the Strickland candidacy with the candidacy of Steve Knight. Fitting footnote to the Strickland biography of political hackery and striving.
  5. Angelo CandelabraTuesday, December 3rd, 2013 at 3:13 pm
    Yes, Mr. Myers, the candidacy of Senator Knight is indeed welcome news. Cameron Smyth is very close to the Knight family (Senator Pete Knight was Mr. Smyth's political patron and mentor). It has always been expected that Mr. Knight and Mr. Smyth would reach an accord regarding the 5th supervisorial district and the 25th congressional district. This is a good indication that such an accord has been achieved. To your point, I agree that the AV and SCV GOP has swiftly organized to bigfoot Mr. Strickland's nascent candidacy. Mr. Strickland is getting as he deserves for his perfidy.
  6. MikeWednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
    Angelo, Always happy to hear your viewpoint. My omission, or lack of elaboration on Smyth should have been spelled out. If he ran, he'd be a stronger candidate than Elton or George. I've heard enough to suggest he truly wasn't interested. I should have alluded to that. Wilk mentions Smyth a lot, but I've come to think it's more out of encouragement and/or deference than a wink and a nod. (As for Knight: I don't usually take politicians at their word when they say they aren't running, and I'm not the sort to really hold them to it, either, but Knight's denial seemed oddly unambiguous giving the changing landscape, so I assumed he meant it.) If a Republican were to win, I'd much rather it be an SCV Republican, all else being equal. It's too bad that we probably won't have a significant local candidate. The 5th District. That's an interesting one. Probably a more natural fit than Congress, too. It's massive, and even with the combined powers of the AV and SCV, I have to imagine that there are people in Mike A's neck of the woods who have been eying this for just as long. IIRC, the registration tilts D, but the turnout probably tilts R. I can't imagine the LACo Democratic Party would take this sitting down, either. Then the winner gets one of the best elected jobs in these United States. Should be a great one to watch.
  7. timothymyers02Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 at 1:28 pm
    It just puts a smile on my face when someone can work "perfidy" into a conversation.
  8. Bill ReynoldsTuesday, December 3rd, 2013 at 3:43 pm
    Knight Rocks!

Preserved as part of the SCV Talk Archive. Text is presented as originally published; presentation has been standardised for readability. The original capture is available at the Internet Archive.

Support