Hot mic reveals Issa plotting GOP strategy after California redraws House map

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., was caught on a hot mic Thursday discussing strategy following the passage of a new map by California voters that could potentially give Democrats an additional five House seats.

Issa was apparently referring to Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim, both California Republicans, during his remarks while attending President Donald Trump's peace deal signing between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Just before the event began, Issa was captured on a pool camera discussing the race.

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"Ken has nowhere else to go," Issa said in footage recorded ahead of the White House peace-signing event. The footage was posted online by a reporter at Spectrum News' Washington, D.C., bureau.

"She does have a hard seat she could go to, and I know the administration would look favorably if she would do that," Issa continued, apparently referring to Kim. "And then if she doesn't win, you know, she could go to the administration for two years.

"With Ken, we need him exactly where he is, and most of this district is or has been his," he added. "If anyone else had a claim for it, it'd be me."

California voters in November approved Proposition 50, a measure that will redraw the state's congressional map and give Democrats more House seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The move was in response to a similar plan in Texas to give Republicans more seats.

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Calvert will challenge Kim, an incumbent, for California's newly redrawn 40th Congressional District.

"Appreciate Congressman Issa saying what so many Californians already know: Ken Calvert is the strongest conservative who can win this seat and is on track to win the new 40th district," a spokesperson for Calvert's campaign told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of Issa and and Kim.

Issa was reportedly considering a move to Texas to run for Congress. However, he previously told Fox News that he will remain in California to run in the newly gerrymandered 48th Congressional District.

"I'm thrilled to set the record straight, and here's the truth: Texas House members and residents of that state did ask if I would consider running there following Gavin Newsom's historically corrupt gerrymander," Issa told Fox News Digital. "I appreciate the opportunity, but California is my home. I told them I'm going to stay in Congress, and I don't need to go to Texas for that.

"I believe the people of Southern California in San Diego County and Riverside County who elected me so many times will, regardless of registration, consider my record in full and allow me to continue serving them," he added. "I can hold this seat, I'm not quitting on California, and neither should anyone else."