Clueless’ opponent for former mayor in congressional race
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Stacey Dash appearing at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference. Dash announced earlier this week that she would challenge former Hermosa Beach City Councilmember Nanette Barragán for her seat in California’s 44th Congressional District. Photo by Gage Skidmore
Will former Hermosa Beach mayor Nanette Barragán be running unopposed for re-election to Congress? As if!
Stacey Dash, a former Fox News commentator and an actress who appeared in the hit 1995 film “Clueless,” filed papers with the Federal Election Commission Monday. Dash formed a campaign committee entitled “Dash to DC” indicating that she would run as a Republican in California’s 44th Congressional District.
As of Wednesday morning, Dash’s campaign had not released a formal announcement. Her Twitter feed had teased news of a run the last week, and on Monday she said that an official statement was forthcoming.
“It’s time for me to put up or shut up and I want to serve great people,” Dash tweeted.
Dash has publicly staked out conservative opinions on issues such as affirmative action, gun control, and abortion rights. She has claimed that her right-leaning positions contributed to a Hollywood conspiracy to exclude her from major productions, and since “Clueless,” she has appeared mostly in short-lived TV series and B-movies, including an entry in the “Sharknado” series.
Barrgán, a Democrat, was elected to the City Council in Hermosa Beach in 2013, and announced that she would resign in the summer of 2015 to run for Congress in the 44th Congressional District, which includes a portion of the harbor area of the city of Los Angeles, as well as gateway cities like Carson, Compton and South Gate.
Barrgán claimed her seat in Nov. 2016 in a hard-fought race against former state senator Isadore Hall, III. Hall built a wide lead in the primary and received the lion’s share of endorsements from party leaders but ultimately lost, receiving 47.8 percent of the vote to Barragán’s 52.2 percent.
Hall declared last fall that he would again seek the seat. Given California’s top-two primary format and the district’s liberal tilt, it is possible that Dash will not advance to the general election: in 2016, voters in the 44th favored Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump by a margin of nearly seven-to-one.
In an email to supporters following Dash’s announcement, Barrgán sought donations to her campaign war chest. She noted that her new opponent was “getting national headlines just for jumping in,” and said, “We need to ramp up now.”