Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin to Seek 36th District Congressional Seat

Press Release

Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin announced today he will be a candidate for the 36th Congressional District seat.

"Our nation and California face a debilitating economic crisis that has created huge challenges for us all as Americans," Gin said. "We need new leadership in Washington. Leadership that is less about party labels like Democrat or Republican but puts fixing America and rebuilding our national pride above all else."

Gin is the two-term Mayor of Redondo Beach who was re-elected to a second term in the district's second largest city without opposition. An engineer, Gin, a Chinese-American, was born in the South Bay, and has worked as field deputy to Supervisor Don Knabe.

As Mayor, Gin delivered Redondo Beach taxpayers with a balanced budget or budget surplus every year since he first was elected to the council in 1995.

"I've helped manage Redondo Beach the way I believe our country should be managed. 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."

He called on voters to elect a representative to Congress based not on party affiliation but on who they are and how they will represent the interests of the District in Washington, D.C.

"I think my background reflects the diversity of the South Bay and 36th District better than any of the candidates who have already announced," Gin said.

"As an engineer who worked in the aerospace industry, a Chinese-American, pro-choice Republican and an elected official who was born in the district, I represent the depth and diversity that is the 36th District."

Gin has been endorsed by Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto and Councilmembers Bill Sutherland and Tom Brewer; Hermosa Beach Mayor Pete Tucker; Redondo Beach Councilmembers Pat Aust and Matt Kilroy; former Redondo Beach Councilmember Chris Cagle, Palos Verdes Estates Mayor Pro Tem John Rea and Councilmember George Bird; Rolling Hills Councilmembers Tom Heinsheimer and Godfrey Pernell; Rancho Palos Verdes Councilman Brian Campbell; West Basin Municipal Water District Director Carol Kwan; Wilmington community activist Shirley Atencio, Harbor City Community Leader Joeann Valle, San Pedro Community Leader Rev. Art Bartlett and other community leaders from throughout the district.

Assessing his chances of winning a seat that is viewed as a safe haven for a Democrat because of registration, Gin pointed out that with two major Democratic candidates in the race and a large number of decline-to-state voters in the district, that someone like him who can appeal to numerous demographic and geographic voting groups, plus Republicans, has a very real shot of pulling what would be an upset victory.

The 36th District Congressional District includes the cities and communities of Venice, Mar Vista, portions of Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Lennox, portions of Inglewood and Hawthorne, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, Wilmington and San Pedro.

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