Raul Ruiz: A doctor in the House for the Democrats’ woes

Freshman Congressman Raul Ruiz may be the only politician in America who can say that by saving lives he has rescued his political career at a time when he was feared to be the most vulnerable House Democrat in California.

In July, D., Ruiz, an emergency room physician, helped save the life of a columnist for the conservative web site Breitbart News who had suffered a seizure on a flight en route to Phoenix.

SEE ALSO: Dr. Raul Ruiz: Together as a community, we’re stronger

Then in October, Ruiz resuscitated a passenger who had collapsed on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Dallas.

“I put on my doctor hat,” said Ruiz, who was educated at Harvard Medical School and UCLA. “We go on immediate patient-first mode.”

There’s a Doctor in the House

The favorable publicity from the two incidents made Ruiz a hero again in his the 36th Congressional District, which includes the Coachella Valley – and drew comparisons to New Jersey politician Cory Booker who is known for shoveling constituents’ snowy driveways and even rescuing them from burning buildings.

“He’s the Cory Booker of California,” says California Democratic consultant Michael Trujillo. “He’s running around saving everyone. So that has saturated within his district in terms of the media.”

So much so that it has raised questions about whether Ruiz, with a strong re-election victory, might not catapult himself into the conversation for the Democrats’ 2016 national ticket.

Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Texas), who was also on the flight to Dallas, even tweeted:

“Hope @CongressmanRuiz is on all my flights home! An emergency room dr by training, was impressive to see him in action. He saves lives!”

A presidential ticket for Ruiz?

Talk of Ruiz on a presidential ticket, though, would be only academic. Although raised in Coachella, California, he was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, a fact that would make him ineligible to be president.

Still, this spike in his popularity comes at an important time for Ruiz, 42, who Democrats feared could be lost in the expected Republican mid-term elections onslaught, especially since the GOP had targeted him.

Latino turnout in his district is expected to be down, as it usually is in mid-term elections, and it’s not as heavy in the 36^th District as in other parts of California represented by Hispanics.

Latinos in Ruiz’s district represent 46.5 percent of its residents, but only 30.6 percent of them are eligible voters.

In 2012, Ruiz scored a come-from-behind upset of 14-year Republican incumbent Mary Bono, the widow of the late entertainer and Congressman Sonny Bono, who had represented the district.

In that election, only 20.9 percent of residents who voted were Hispanic.

Ruiz, in fact, won because of President Barack Obama’s re-election victory coattail?carrying a district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 2,700 voters.

But Obama’s unpopularity has shown itself to be surprisingly deep in conservative parts of California, even among Latinos unhappy with his foot-dragging on immigration reform.

“A lot will depend on which side is more demoralized and apathetic,” says Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College,

Republicans, though, hadn’t counted on Ruiz using his emergency room experience for political gain nor on the inability of his challenger — Asssemblyman Brian Nestande – to raise enough money on his own to take down an incumbent.