Redondo Beach Mayor Throws Hat in for 36th Congressional Seat

Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin announced on Wednesday he is running for Jane Harman’s 36 Congressional seat. Gin and Redondo Beach City Attorney Mike Webb are the only two Republicans who have so far announced their intention to succeed Harman, who resigned this week to lead a Washington D.C. think tank.

Gin, who is openly gay, hopes to combine his pro-choice, moderate social image along with fiscal responsibility to capitalize on moderate voters.

Gin is serving his second term as mayor of Redondo Beach. Gin, a Chinese-American aerospace engineer, was born in the South Bay and works as a field deputy for L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe.

“I’ve helped manage Redondo Beach the way I believe our country should be managed,” Gin’s press release said. “I remain a tight-fisted fiscal administrator who believes in controlling spending and reducing our deficit in conjunction with creating good jobs in a new economy. This lies at the very center of what our national resurgence requires.”

The 36th District runs from Venice and Mar Vista down to the South Bay. Gin described the 36th District as a traditional safe haven for Democratic candidates, although he believes he can pull off an upset victory by appealing to a large demographic of voters as well as what are called decline-to-state voters, or those who do not register with one of the qualified parties.

On the Democratic side, L.A. Councilwoman Janice Hahn of San Pedro and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey are running along with union-backed candidate Marcy Winograd.