California Redistricting Might Help Octogenarian Wife-Beating Slumlord Democrat Have Shot At Congress

With California’s upcoming midterm elections using newly gerrymandered maps , an 87-year-old Democrat slumlord and spousal abuse convict is entering the race for a formerly Republican-leaning Southern California district.

Following voters’ passage of Proposition 50, five Republican congressional seats are now in play for Democrats as the gerrymandered maps redraw boundaries across the state. Southern California’s 48th Congressional District, represented currently by Republican state Rep. Darrell Issa, was redrawn to include more urban and suburban Democratic voters, turning it into a toss-up or even leaning-left territory.

As Democrats eye the new district, Mike Schaefer has thrown his hat in the ring. However, his background is tangled with drama — both political and personal. (RELATED: Democrat Fundraising Begins Less Than 24 Hours After GOP Lawmaker’s Funeral)

Schaefer started as a Republican before flipping to Democrat around 2004. He’s run for office roughly 33 times over more than 50 years, usually losing badly. One Schaefer’s rare and early wins was his election as the youngest San Diego City Council member ever at age 27 in 1965, serving two terms.

After that, most of his campaigns were long shots across California, Nevada, Maryland, and Arizona — flops like 0.98% for San Diego mayor in 1971 or 2.5% in a Nevada congressional primary in 2016.

Then came the shock: at 80, he won a seat on the California State Board of Equalization in 2018, beating a Republican state senator in a late upset. Not only did Schaefer get re-elected in 2022 for the position, he even received an endorsement from his party. During his re-election campaign, Schaefer coined himself “The Equalizer.”

Now termed out of his position, the octogenarian filed for CA-48 on Tuesday, from a Las Vegas address. Schaefer is no stranger to scandal.

In 2001, he was disbarred in both California and Nevada for serious ethics violations. The Nevada Supreme Court cited issues like directly contacting represented parties without permission, submitting false affidavits, trying to influence witness testimony and showing blatant disregard for court orders and others’ rights. He was not reinstated despite multiple appeals, including as recently as 2014.

In the 1980s, Schaefer was slammed as a “millionaire slumlord.” A 1986 jury in Los Angeles Superior Court awarded his former tenants $1.83 million (a record at the time) after finding he let a 64-unit mid-Wilshire building become overrun with rats, cockroaches, sewage backups that caved in ceilings and floors, and street gangs. Schaefer owned the property for just eight months in 1981 but blamed gangs for blocking improvements.

He faced similar problems at his other properties. In San Diego, he dealt with fire-code violations and threats of jail time in 1979 over unsafe conditions. In Arizona, he was involved in a 1982 rent dispute case, and he owned rundown apartments in Baltimore that drew complaints over alleged neglect and poor maintenance.

In 1993, he was convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse. The incident led to a conviction, and he later served jail time for violating probation terms tied to the case.

By 2013, actor Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond fame secured a restraining order against Schaefer in Las Vegas Justice Court. Garrett accused Schaefer of stalking and harassment after a dispute over a complimentary show ticket at the MGM Grand.

Schaefer allegedly kept pushing unwanted promotion offers and wouldn’t stop. The permanent order forced Schaefer to stay 100 feet away from Garrett, banned him from the MGM Grand entirely, and required court permission for any future lawsuits against Garrett or his staff, citing Schaefer’s history of violence and erratic behavior.

Despite voters approving Prop 50, Republicans quickly filed suit against the new maps, alleging they were drawn in one area to favor Hispanic voters, violating federal voting rights law. However, despite the state GOP’s arguments, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled on Feb. 4 that the maps would be upheld.

Schaefer joins a handful of other Democrats hoping to win over CA-48, with Issa running for re-election in November.

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