Issa is the representative for California’s 48th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2023. Issa is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 69 years old.
He was previously the representative for California’s 50th congressional district as a Republican from 2021 to 2022; the representative for California’s 49th congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2018; and the representative for California’s 48th congressional district as a Republican from 2001 to 2002.
Our work to hold Congress accountable only matters if elections are decided by counting votes. President Trump, his senior government advisors, and Republican legislators collaborated to have the 2020 presidential election decided instead by incumbent politicians running in the very same election. Their attempts to suppress entire state-certified vote counts without adjudication in the courts and using a disinformation campaign of lies and conspiracy theories was a months-long, multifarious attempted coup.
Issa was among the Republican legislators who participated in the attempted coup. On January 6, 2021 in the hours after the violent insurrection at the Capitol, Issa voted to reject the state-certified election results of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania (states narrowly won by Democrats), which could have changed the outcome of the election. These legislators pumped the lies and preposterous legal arguments about the election that motivated the January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol. The January 6, 2021 violent insurrection at the Capitol, led on the front lines by militant white supremacy groups, attempted to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from taking office by disrupting Congress’s count of electors.
![Photo of Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA48]](/static/legislator-photos/400196-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Issa.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Issa is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Issa has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 27, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Darrell Issa sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Issa was the primary sponsor of 17 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 7705 (117th): Supreme Court Police Parity Act of 2022
- H.R. 3996 (115th): Protecting Access to the Courts for Taxpayers Act
- H.R. 3324 (115th): KIWI Act
- H.R. 136 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1103 USPS Building 1103 in Camp Pendleton, California, as the “Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor …
- H.R. 4193 (113th): Smart Savings Act
- H.R. 4194 (113th): Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014
- H.R. 4192 (113th): To amend the Act entitled “An Act to regulate the height of buildings in the District of Columbia” to clarify the rules of the District of Columbia …
Does 17 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Issa sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Commerce (21%) Law (18%) Armed Forces and National Security (14%) Native Americans (11%) Health (11%) International Affairs (11%) Labor and Employment (7%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Issa recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 1753: To ensure that certain members of the Armed Forces who served in female …
- H.R. 1707: To amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for an exception from …
- H.R. 1631: To amend title 17, United States Code, to reaffirm the importance of, and …
- H.R. 1505: No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act
- H.R. 925: Protect Camp Lejeune VETS Act
- H.R. 836: To redesignate Gravelly Point Park, located along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in …
- H.R. 791: American Music Fairness Act of 2023
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2001 to Mar 2023, Issa missed 476 of 13,471 roll call votes, which is 3.5%. This is worse than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
