HUNTINGTON BEACH : Silva Starts Process to Run for Congress

Mayor Jim Silva on Friday started the process to become a Republican candidate for the newly drawn 45th Congressional District. He will oppose incumbent Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who filed for the seat earlier this week.

“I took out the papers today (at the Orange County registrar of voters office), and I’ll file and formally announce next week,” Silva said. “I am definitely in the race, and I wouldn’t be entering unless I expected to win.”

The newly reapportioned 45th Congressional District includes northwest Orange County. Huntington Beach is the new district’s largest city.

Rohrabacher, who formerly lived in Long Beach, recently moved to Huntington Beach so that he can run in the new district. For the past four years, he has represented the 42nd Congressional District, which includes part of Huntington Beach and parts of Los Angeles County, including Long Beach.

Silva, 48, a civics and economics teacher at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, lives in Huntington Harbour with his wife, Connie, and their 16-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. He was first elected to the Huntington Beach City Council in 1988, and his fellow council members elected him to the one-year post of mayor in December.

Silva said one of the reasons he decided to run for Congress is “to get more federal help for jobs and businesses in our local area.”

The mayor also said he will bring up Rohrabacher’s new residency in Huntington Beach and his record in Congress as issues in the campaign.

“I’m the only local candidate because Dana Rohrabacher just moved in,” Silva said. “Also, I’m the only candidate opposed to offshore drilling, because Rohrabacher has supported it. And I’m the only conservative candidate in the race, because Rohrabacher has been spending taxpayer money for mailings in the district.”

The latter reference was to Rohrabacher’s controversial postage-free mailings to residents in the district he does not yet represent. Such mailings are permitted by federal law, but the practice has been criticized by some good-government groups.

Silva and Rohrabacher will compete in the June Republican primary. The winner will oppose candidates from other political parties in the November general election.

So far, no Democrat has filed for the 45th Congressional District seat. Gary David Copeland of Fountain Valley has filed for the Libertarian Party nomination for the seat, and Lee H. Chauser of Long Beach has filed for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination.