Bono Mack Draws Dem Challenger in California
Months after her district favored President Obama for president, Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack appears to have drawn an experienced Democratic challenger for her 2010 re-election bid: Democrat Steve Pougnet , mayor of Palm Springs.
Pougnet recently filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and established a campaign committee to run against the six-term incumbent.
Bono Mack’s southern California 45th District, which encompasses the cities of Palm Springs and Moreno Valley, has past exhibited a Republican lean, supporting Bono Mack for re-election and President Bush with 56 percent of the vote in 2004. But in 2008, while Bono Mack won re-election over Democratic educator Julie Bornstein with 58 percent, district voters favored Barack Obama 52 percent to 47 percent, according to a CQ vote analysis. Bono Mack is one of 34 “Obama Republicans” who won re-election in 2008 in districts carried by Obama.
