Darrell Issa, who built a reputation in Congress as an imposing conservative attack dog, has got a brand new bag.

With Democrats closing in on his seat last fall, Issa mailed a campaign ad praising President Barack Obama for signing a victims rights bill Issa supported — the same Obama he unrelentingly criticized while serving as the high-profile chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

The pro-life congressman, who squeaked out reelection to a ninth term by 0.7 percentage points, told constituents at a town hall March 11 that he opposed fellow Republicans’ call to defund Planned Parenthood.

Despite a lifetime legislative score of just 4 percent from the League of Conservation Voters, Issa also told the crowd that he also opposed any reduction in funding to the Environmental Protection Agency. Two days later, the same politician who’s said there’s no consensus on climate change joined the House Climate Solutions Caucus.

He’s expressed reservations with the GOP’s proposed replacement to Obamacare and has taken other steps to distance himself from President Donald Trump, even though he endorsed Trump last year and introduced him at a San Diego rally.

“He is certainly changing his message to appeal to moderates and even left-leaning Democrats,” said Graeme Boushey, a UC Irvine political scientist. “I think he’s making a calculated political decision and maybe a correct one. He was disliked by the same voters he’s trying to win over now. It’s a hard pivot to make and sell to voters, but it’s very practical.”

Issa‘s district, which straddles the Orange-San Diego county line, is a traditionally Republican stronghold that’s trending blue. The GOP’s voter-registration advantage of 14 percentage points in 2012 was cut in half by November’s election, and the district favored Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, 51 percent to 43 percent, according to a Daily Kos analysis. A quarter of the district’s voters are independents.

The congressional district is one of just 23 nationwide where voters who favored Clinton are represented by members of the GOP.

The party that wins the presidency usually loses seats in the next congressional election, and the New York Times is among those who’ve said Issa may be the most vulnerable House member. Two Democrats have already hired campaign staff for a 2018 challenge of Issa and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has paid for a full-time organizer in the district.

Issa has maintained that he’s not changed his political outlook, pointing out his criticisms of the administration during George W. Bush’s presidency and his opposition to the TARP bailout of Wall Street.

Issa spokesman Calvin Moore reiterated that rebuttal last week, although he acknowledged that Issa’s image has changed in the eyes of many.

“I think people are just paying attention more closely and understanding what an independent voice he’s been,” Moore said. “His job is to listen to the needs of his district and respond to that. That’s what he’s been doing since he was first elected to office.”

Others say they see a difference in Issa’s public statements but wonder how sincere he is.

“The question is whether he will back up these suggestions with actual votes or legislative proposals,” said John Compton, a Chapman University political scientist and former congressional aide. “And on that point, I think the jury’s still out.”

‘A bit of Hamlet’

Democrats going after Issa, well aware of Clinton’s clear victory in the district, are tenacious in efforts to paint Issa as a Trump lackey.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wasted no time in alerting the media when Issa opposed a resolution calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to turn over to Congress documents related to investigations in ties between Trump and Russia.

The resolution was voted against by the Judiciary Committee 18-15 in a party line vote on Feb. 28.

“Congressman Issa is one of President Trump’s biggest cheerleaders, so there was never any question that he would vote to shield the Trump Administration’s potential ties to Russia when he had the chance,” blasted DCCC spokesman Tyler Law in a press release.

But Issa may have gotten even more attention two days later when he became one of the first congressional Republicans to call for an independent investigation of Trump links to Russia, and in calling for Sessions to recuse himself from any such investigation.

“We need a clear-eyed view of what the Russians actually did so that all Americans can have faith in our institutions,” he said. “The Putin government is a bad actor whose actions should be carefully scrutinized — and regardless of what side of the aisle you sit on — we have a vested interest in fully understanding exactly what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”

At one point, Issa also called for a special prosecutor, although he later appeared to walk back that statement.

Issa’s town hall endorsement of existing funding levels for the Environmental Protection Agency also marked a clear break from Trump, whose March 16 budget proposal called for a 31-percent cut to the office.

In defending the EPA, Issa was responding to a question from Democratic environmental attorney Mike Levin, who joined the congressional race earlier this month. Levin later dismissed the suggestion that Issa is changing his core conservative ideology.

“It’s too little, too late,” Levin said. “People can see through people who say one thing and do another.”

Doug Applegate – the Democratic attorney, retired Marine colonel and first-time candidate who came out of obscurity to nearly upset Issa last year – said he’s not sure what Issa really believes.

“He reminds me a little of Hamlet,” said Applegate, who is again challenging Issa. “The man has no moral compass. What principle has he ever held firm?”

Applegate says the prominence of the Camp Pendleton Marine base in the district is one of his advantages over Levin, while Levin has said Applegate is vulnerable to further attacks from Issa. Last year, Issa ads highlighted aspects of a difficult divorce Applegate went through years ago. Another clear difference between the two is Applegate’s support of Bernie Sanders in last year’s primary, while Levin backed Clinton.

Delicate dance

Issa’s campaign polling shows that his support of Trump is negative strike most commonly cited by voters in his district.

The early December survey found that 14 percent of voters cited his backing of Trump and another 14 percent pointed to him being dishonest or corrupt as Issa’s biggest shortcomings. Asked for his most positive trait, 18 percent said he was effective or he was doing a good job.

The poll became public when it was submitted by Issa in an unsuccessful lawsuit alleging that Applegate attack ads libeled the incumbent. Issa claimed one TV ad inaccurately gave the impression that the congressman had used his position to benefit himself financially, and the other misled voters about his voting record to compensate victims and first responders in the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

Asked which attack ads against Issa they remembered most, 27 percent of voters named the one highlighting Issa’s support of Trump. Just 8 percent cited the self-enrichment attack and 2 percent named the 9/11 issue.

“In 2018, if it becomes a referendum on the Trump agenda, Issa is going to need to distance himself,” said UC Irvine’s Boushey.

Boushey also detailed the delicate political dance involved for the incumbent. While he needs to connect with those who voted for Clinton, he can’t afford to lose much – or any – of the 43 percent who cast ballots for Trump.

“Conservative voters aren’t going to vote for a Democrat,” he said. “But they might stay home and not vote at all.”

Contact the writer: mwisckol@scng.com