Resigning California congressman's seat to be left vacant for year
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[January 09, 2020]
By Jennifer McEntee
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - California Governor
Gavin Newsom has decided against calling a special election to fill the
seat U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter will leave vacant in Congress
next week when he resigns following his conviction in a federal
corruption scandal.
Newsom's decision on Wednesday, a day after the six-term Republican
announced he would leave office effective Jan. 13, means Hunter's
district, encompassing parts of San Diego and Riverside counties, will
go without elected representation through 2020.
The timing of Hunter's exit would leave an extremely narrow window in
which to conduct a special election, and a run-off if needed, before the
state holds its normal election-year primary, scheduled much earlier
than usual this year for March 3. The general election will be held in
November and new representatives sworn in next January.
"Based on the timing of the resignation, a special election will not be
called," Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for Newsom, a Democrat, said in an
email to Reuters.
After professing his innocence for many months, Hunter, 43, pleaded
guilty in December to a federal charge of conspiracy to misuse campaign
funds, a felony offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in
prison.
He is due to be sentenced on March 17, and a federal prosecutor has said
Hunter is likely to face "upwards of 14 months" in jail if the presiding
judge accepts the recommendation of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Hunter, a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran and early supporter of
President Donald Trump, was indicted in 2018 along with his wife,
Margaret, on charges of misappropriating $250,000 in campaign donations
to pay for personal expenses.
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U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter leaves federal court after
pleading guilty to misusing campaign funds in San Diego, California,
U.S., December 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
Prosecutors alleged Hunter spent some of that money on extramarital
liaisons with five women. His wife pleaded guilty in June of last
year, naming her spouse as a co-conspirator and agreeing to
cooperate with prosecutors.
Hunter's conviction set off a scramble among Republicans to succeed
him while seemingly boosting Democrats' chances to gain his seat.
The 50th congressional district incumbent narrowly fended off a
Democratic challenge while under indictment in 2018. [L1N29D03U]
Jim Newton, a longtime journalist and author who lectures on public
policy and communication studies at the University of California,
Los Angeles, said Newsom had no particular political motive to rush
a special election to fill Hunter's seat.
He said the year-long vacancy probably gives Democrats a slight edge
in providing more time to mount a campaign operation and raise money
in a district that remains heavily Republican by registration but
is, like much of California, moving farther to the left.
(Reporting by Jennifer McEntee in San Diego; Additional reporting
and writing by Steve Gorman in Culver City, Calif. Editing by
Lincoln Feast.)
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