David Harmer was the Republican nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from
California’s 11th Congressional District in 2010. His father, John Harmer,
served as Lieutenant Governor under Ronald Reagan.
Early in his career, David served as counsel to a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee. He took his expertise in constitutional law to Pacific Legal
Foundation, where he defended property rights and other freedoms. David was also
a Resident Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and his book on education reform was
published by the Cato Institute. The National Republican Congressional Committee
named David a ”Young Gun“ — the top status in their candidate
rating system.
Efforts:
- Raised $2,148,929 from 5,574 donors, ranking among the top 15 Republican challengers
nationwide.
- Earned A-list endorsements: Club for Growth; Rudy Giuliani; Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association; Mike Huckabee; National Federation of Independent Business; National
Tax-Limitation Committee; Mitt Romney; San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation; U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
- Moved the district from “Likely Democratic” to “Leans Democratic”
to “Toss-up” (Charlie Cook, Stu Rothenberg) to “Leans Republican”
(RealClearPolitics, Larry Sabato).
- Organized a massive ground operation, with 1,169 general-election volunteers making
324,000 telephone calls and knocking on over 85,000 doors.
Results:
- The morning after the election, David Harmer led by one one-hundredth of one percent:
23 votes out of 240,000 cast. At the time, it was the closest House race in the
nation.
- Not until three weeks after the election did the Associated Press call the race.
It was the second-to-last House race in the nation to be called.
- Not until four weeks after the election were all the votes finally counted: Incumbent
Democrat Jerry McNerney 115,361 (48%); Republican challenger David Harmer 112,703
(47%).
- No candidate of either party in any district in California came closer to defeating
an incumbent.