Editing Darrell Issa (section)

===2003 California gubernatorial recall election===
Issa came to national prominence in 2003 when he contributed more than $1.6 million to help fund a signature-gathering drive for the petition to [[2003 California recall|recall]] California Governor [[Gray Davis]]. At the time he made the contribution, it was widely believed that Issa intended to run to replace Davis. But after fellow Republican [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] entered the race two days before the filing deadline, Issa announced that he would not run.<ref>{{cite news |title=Darrell Issa pulls out of Calif. recall election|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|agency=Associated Press|date=August 7, 2003 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-08-07-issa-recall_x.htm|access-date=April 19, 2010}}</ref> He later said his mission had been accomplished with Davis's recall and that he wanted to continue to represent his district in Congress and work toward Middle East peace.<ref name=Williams/> At one point in the campaign he suggested people{{clarify|date=November 2013}} <!-- Republicans only?? -->should vote against recalling Davis unless one of the two leading Republican contenders dropped out, concerned that Schwarzenegger and fellow Republican [[Tom McClintock]] would split votes, resulting in Democratic lieutenant governor [[Cruz Bustamante]]'s election.<ref>Wildermuth, John (September 23, 2003). [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/09/23/ISSA.TMP "Issa, who started recall, now tells voters to reject it / Risk of GOP vote being split prompts call to retain Davis"] at sfgate.com.</ref> Issa endorsed Schwarzenegger, who won the governorship when Davis was recalled.