alternatehistory.com

"Reagan was the first daughter of a president to run for political office,[6] but both of her attempts at election ended in defeat. She ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate from California in 1982 – Pete Wilson was the eventual winner – and in 1992 for California's 36th congressional district.[7]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Reagan

In retrospect, the 1982 Senate race was hopeless. She got only five percent of the vote in the GOP primary, behind Pete Wilson, Pete McCloskey, Barry Goldwater, Jr. and even Bob Dornan. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=37145

1992 was another matter, however. The California 36th Congressional District, which hugged the Pacific Coast from Venice Beach to San Pedro and the Port of Los Angeles (see the attached map) was an open seat that year. It contained heavily Democratic areas but also some very wealthy and very Republican suburbs like Palos Verdes. It went for Clinton that year but hardly overwhelmingly--41.3 percent to 35.5 percent for Bush and 23.2 percent for "others", almost entirely Perot. http://www.polidata.us/pub/reports/069292a.pdf Clearly a congressional candidate from either major party had a chance of winning.

In the Republican primary that year, Maureen Reagan narrowly lost to conservative Los Angeles city council member Joan Milke Flores, 34.15% to 30.68%. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=363661 Flores went on to lose to Jane Harman, 48.41 to 42.23. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=27870 Now 1992 was a bad year for Republicans in California, and it is by no means certain that Maureen Reagan would have been able to defeat Harman (who of course did not lack money, being married to the co-founder of Harman Kardon...) But it is certainly possible. Maureen was generally conservative but pro-choice on abortion, which could get her a lot of socially liberal, economically conservative independents (many of whom voted for Perot). Certainly Harman stressed the abortion issue against Flores. And conservatives who were a bit uncomfortable with Maureen on social issues might still vote for her because after all she was the Republican candidate and a Reagan...)

If Maureen Reagan wins, could she get elected to higher office? The US Senate in 1994 wold be an interesting possibility, but it is going to be hard to overcome Michael Huffington's money in the GOP primary. Maybe she has a chance for the nomination in 1998? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_California,_1998

Any thoughts? Of couse one could say that her career would be brief in any event, because tragically she died of cancer in 2001, three years before her father's death. But is it possible that a different career path in the 1990's might butterfly the cancer away? Specifically, what she died of was melanoma, and maybe she is less likely to get it if she spends more time in Washington, DC and less "in that warm California sun."
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