A Young Candidate

Ricky Gill has an exploratory committee for California's 11th congressional district. Incumbent Democrat Jerry McNerney won reelection by a very slim margin in 2010. But redistricting could change its contours, either helping or hurting a Republican challenger.

The Lodi News-Sentinel reports:

Ricky Gill, whose achievements vary from serving as student representative on the California Board of Education to working for the Sacramento Kings and Oakland Athletics, is seriously considering a run at Congress.

Gill, who turns 24 in May, has formed an exploratory committee to consider representing San Joaquin County in what is now the 11th Congressional District.

The California Redistricting Commission is spending the year creating new political boundaries in state and federal districts for the 2012 election, so the big question will be whether Rep. Jerry McNerney's home in Pleasanton will continue to be in the same district as the Lodi-Stockton area. However the districts line up, Gill said he would like to represent San Joaquin County.

Gill is a Republican, but he emphasized the need for civility and respect across party lines.

"When it doesn't become a tit-for-tat game, dialogue gets better," Gill said. "We have to transcend labels. We need to be singing from the same sheet of music."

Gill also believes it's time for some new blood, even if he's only 23.