LOS ANGELES _ Rep. Paul Cook, R-Calif., will retire from Congress at the end of his term and will announce a run for a seat on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, according to John Sobel, the congressman's chief of staff.
California's Republican U.S. House delegation has been greatly diminished in recent years. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats took control of half of the 14 remaining Republican seats in California, which has a total of 53 congressional districts.
Cook's departure from the 8th Congressional District will mark the latest in a series of other House Republican retirements as the lawmakers have had to confront life in the minority. In all, more than a dozen GOP members have announced plans to leave Congress after 2020, including several in Texas.
Cook, who was mayor of Yucca Valley and served in the state Assembly before being elected to Congress in 2012, is in his fourth term. He plans to announce a run to represent the 1st District of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. Robert Lovingood, who currently holds the seat, recently announced he won't seek reelection.
Republicans hold a lead of 4 percentage points in voter registration in the district, which stretches from Mono County to San Bernardino County along the Nevada border. But despite recent Democratic interest in making inroads in the district, it's been long known as a deeply conservative area. President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by more than 15 percentage points, besting Mitt Romney's 2012 margin in the district, and Cook won his last reelection fight against a fellow Republican with 60% of the vote.
Among those expected to seek Cook's seat are Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake, whose district overlaps with about two-thirds of the 8th Congressional District. A statement released previously by a spokesman for Obernolte praised Cook's record of service and added, "Should (Cook) decide to seek a different office," Obernolte "intends to continue Congressman Cook's advocacy."
