Democratic Nominee Won’t Contest Dornan

Breaking her silence on Tuesday’s election results, Democratic congressional nominee Barbara Jackson said Friday she will not campaign against Rep. Robert K. Dornan and she does not consider herself a candidate in the race.

Just days after she entered the race in March, Jackson announced that she was withdrawing from the contest and would not campaign against her opponent in the Democratic primary, Art Hoffmann, a supporter of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche.

But Jackson was still the winner in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and her name will now appear on the ballot in November as the Democratic challenger to Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

In her statement Friday evening she reaffirmed her previous decision to withdraw from the campaign.

“I will meet the legal obligations set forth for nominees but I do not consider myself a candidate and will not conduct any kind of campaign activities,” she said.

She said the legal obligations include the filing of periodic financial disclosure statements. And she said she will obey an oath taken when she filed for the office requiring that she accept the nomination if she wins the race.

Jackson was recruited by Democratic leaders to run against Dornan when Ron Kovic, the Vietnam veteran whose life story is the subject of the movie “Born on the Fourth of July” decided not to run.

Dornan said he was “pleased” about running uncontested.

Nonetheless he said: “I’m still going to raise money and campaign. I’m ready for an October surprise. I don’t trust Planned Parenthood.”

Dornan added that if Jackson truly isn’t interested in campaigning she would “go to court and take her name off the ballot.”

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this story.