Former Republican congressman backs Cook

A former Republican congressman from Northern California endorsed Democratic Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook in her race against incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.

Paul “Pete” McCloskey, 81, who served 16 years in Congress starting in the late ’60s, changed his party affiliation to Democrat in 2007. When he left the party, McCloskey said he was frustrated with out-of-control spending and increasing bureaucracy.

In his endorsement, he said she brought a fresh perspective from outside of the Beltway to the 46th Congressional District, which Rohrabacher has represented for two decades.

“I am confident that she will help bring courtesy and thoughtful compromise back to Washington, and maybe even help restore some of the faith in our system of government that all of us have lost at least a little bit of over the last few years,” McCloskey said in a news release from the Cook campaign. “Dana Rohrabacher is part of the problem.”

“McCloskey comes from Northern California and has been left of liberal for 20 years,” Phaedra Dugan, Rohrabacher’s campaign spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. “If Debbie Cook were running for Congress in San Francisco, his endorsement might help.”

The race between Cook and Rohrabacher is widely anticipated to be the closest that the heavily Republican district has seen in decades. But Republican registration is 13% ahead of Democrats, so Cook will need to attract a lot of decline-to-state voters and moderate Republicans.

Today McCloskey will appear at a fundraiser for Cook, and Saturday he will lead a Get Out the Vote event. Both appearances are in Long Beach.

— Alan Blank