Eastman Says He’ll Run in New District

John Eastman, the Republican nominee last year in a losing race against Rep. Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente), has announced that he will run again for Congress, but not against Torres.

Instead, Eastman said, he will probably run against former Assemblyman Charles Bader, a Pomona Republican, for a new congressional seat that would be created in Diamond Bar, Pomona, Chino and Ontario under a reapportionment plan developed by a state Supreme Court panel.

His only uncertainty, Eastman said, is whether Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) will choose to run in that district, the 41st, or in another district, the 28th, that would stretch along the foothills from Pasadena to Claremont and extend south to West Covina. Both districts have strong Republican majorities.

Eastman said he will run in the district that Dreier rejects. Dreier said that most political observers expect him to run in the 28th and that there is no reason why he would not. But he will not announce his plans until the district boundaries are adopted by the high court.

Bader announced last week that he would run in the 41st, and others are also considering the race. Preliminary figures indicate that the district is 50% Republican and 40% Democratic, with the remainder divided among independents and smaller parties.

Eastman, 31, who lives in West Covina, said he lost interest in running against Torres because that district would drop West Covina under the reapportionment plan and Democrats would outnumber Republicans 2-1.