The 50th District holds more promise for Issa than his former district, given its robust Republican registration advantage. | AP Photo Issa blasted by former GOP ally as he considers new congressional bid

SACRAMENTO — As California Republicans circle a crippled incumbent’s seat, the intraparty vitriol is intensifying.

Rep. Duncan Hunter’s legal troubles — the San Diego Republican faces a January trial for alleged campaign finance violations — have prompted other Republicans to look at the reliably red 50th District. Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio has already declared a run and former Rep. Darrell Issa is laying the groundwork to try and return to Congress.


But now the Republican who ran for Issa’s seat last cycle with his blessing is blasting the man she sought to replace.

“Issa: The wrong candidate for all the ‘Right’ reasons,” reads a missive from Diane Harkey obtained by POLITICO. Last cycle, she suffered one of the most lopsided defeats among the seven seats Democrats flipped in California.

The scathing letter from Harkey blasts Issa as “a quitter who neglected his own constituents for years and cost us a once reliably Republican Congressional District,” and argues he undercut her campaign for the 49th District last year by waffling on whether to run and then casting doubt on the seat’s winnability — including by going on Fox News and saying a Democrat would win the district.

“While Issa publicly claimed to be helping me, behind-the-scenes with key donors and national groups he was stonewalling and hurting fundraising by telling all that the seat was not winnable,” Harkey’s letter warns. Harkey concludes by endorsing DeMaio.

The 50th District holds more promise for Issa than his former district, given its robust Republican registration advantage. But the note from Harkey underscores how the battle for a safe seat could become a partisan bloodbath.

Issa has not yet formally declared. But he has launched a campaign website and has strongly hinted that he intends to jump in.

As Republicans take shots at one another, Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar is taking another shot at the seat after coming within a few points of toppling Hunter last cycle, a promising result for Democrats given the district’s strong GOP tilt.