Editing Darrell Issa (section)

===1998 U.S. Senate election===
{{See also|1998 United States Senate election in California}}
Issa's first campaign for elected office was in 1998, when he sought the Republican nomination for [[United States Senate]] to face incumbent [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Barbara Boxer]]. He spent $10 million of his own money in the primary, running against [[California State Treasurer]] [[Matt Fong]], Congressman [[Frank Riggs]], and three others. Fong's campaign raised $3 million from contributions and complained that Issa's wealth made for an uneven playing field (Issa received only $400,000 in contributions from others). An Issa spokesman countered that the money was needed to compensate for Fong's statewide name recognition.<ref>Wildermuth, John (May 20, 1998). [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/05/20/MN25428.DTL "Issa Raising More Money by Using His Own/Millionaire's funds create coffer bigger than Matt Fong's"]. ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''.</ref> Issa lost to Fong, 45% to 40%; Riggs got 10% of the vote. A San Francisco exit poll suggested large numbers of Asian Americans, who typically vote in the Democratic primary, had crossed party lines to strategically vote for Fong.<ref>Williams, Lance; Coile, Zachary (June 3, 1998). [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/06/03/NEWS135.dtl "Asian Demos help set up showdown with Barbara Boxer"], ''[[SF Chronicle]]''; accessed November 11, 2016.</ref>