Marc Iannarino, U.S. Navy veteran and Palm Springs bartender, is jumping into the race against Rep. Darrell Issa in California’s 48th Congressional District.
Iannarino pegged his campaign announcement to Veterans Day, and said his working-class background is needed in a political system overrepresented by elites.
“Watching armed services used to intimidate U.S. citizens, that was a tipping point for me,” Iannarino told Times of San Diego. “I watched 9/11, and that was my inspiration for joining the military. Watching this moment now, I feel the call again.”
Iannarino joins a crowded field to represent a 48th Congressional District that became part of the national battleground for control of the House of Representatives when California voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. 50 last week.
The new congressional map approved by voters moved the district from a safe Republican seat to a toss up.
The group challenging Issa already includes familiar San Diego figures in Ammar Campa-Najjar, who lost to Issa in 2020, and San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who flipped the council seat covering the city’s northeastern suburbs in 2020.
Three other Democrats who already filed to challenge Republican Rep. Ken Calvert said they planned to instead challenge Issa based on the new map.
Iannarino not only dismissed concerns that bartending hadn’t prepared him to work in congress, he said it’s the perfect training to be a good representative: bartenders need to listen more than they talk, and interact with all kinds of people.
He said maintaining healthcare coverage and minimizing cost increases would be his top priority.
“Healthcare costs are the biggest travesty in this country — premiums are about to skyrocket and I will fight with every breath in my body to stop that from happening,” he said.
