Condit Says He’ll Seek Reelection

Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) announced Friday that he would run for reelection, brushing aside concern that the controversy surrounding his relationship with missing intern Chanda Levy could imperil his political viability.

“I’m running,” he told reporters and onlookers as he entered the Stanislaus County Courthouse to file the necessary papers for the 2002 election, just 45 minutes before the deadline for federal candidates in California had elapsed. He submitted 1,500 voter signatures with his campaign papers to go with the 1,939 valid signatures he turned in earlier. A candidate must have 3,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot without paying a filing fee.

Condit, once a rising star in California politics, has come under a barrage of attacks stemming from his ties to the 24-year-old Levy, who disappeared in May. Condit, 53, initially denied reports that he was romantically involved with Levy, but her relatives and law enforcement sources have confirmed that the two had an affair.

Condit confronts a tough primary foe in a former aide, and should he survive that March 5 election, he would face an equally bruising general election and a revamped district in which roughly 40% of his constituents are new. He has also been abandoned by House Democratic leaders, who have declared they will not campaign for him.

Condit’s decision to file underscores how the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York and Washington has scrambled traditional political calculations. Late this summer, Condit told fellow California Democrats he was leaning toward retiring as long as he was not pushed out by party leaders, according to several sources. But with the nation focused on the domestic terrorist threat and the ongoing war in Afghanistan, Condit’s name disappeared from the front pages and the evening news, and the congressman apparently concluded that he could win reelection.

As recently as Wednesday, Condit told Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) that he had not decided whether to seek reelection. “It’s going to be a tough race for him,” said Matsui, who has pledged to help Condit in the campaign. “He essentially wants the voters to decide his fate.”

Ben Tulchin, a Democratic pollster who recently surveyed voters in the state Senate district that overlaps Condit’s newly drawn congressional district, said the negative reaction he received in response to Condit’s name was unusually high. “In all the years I’ve been in polling, these numbers are the worst I’ve ever seen,” Tulchin said. “I don’t see voters forgiving him.”

Still, some Democrats said he could defeat state Rep. Dennis Cardoza in the primary. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana), a longtime ally, said she believed Condit would “probably” keep his seat. But she said she would not be helping his campaign “because I’ve got my own primary, and I’ve got my sister’s primary.” Sanchez’s sister is running for a House seat in a neighboring district.

Cardoza, a moderate Democrat who has campaigned in the past on law and order issues as well as education, is expected by party strategists to mount a strong campaign against his former boss.

On the Republican side, state Sen. Dick Monteith, former assemblyman George House and Modesto City Councilman Bill Conrad have entered the race. One other Democrat, former Stockton City Councilman Ralph Lee White, has also filed papers to run.