 Later, Van Deerlin became news director of XETV, then the ABC affiliate in San Diego, and later moved to NBC affiliate KFSD-AM-FM-TV.After he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1958, he became newscaster and news director for XETV in Tijuana-San Diego.Van Deerlin was elected to Congress in 1962 from the newly created 37th District, becoming the first Democrat to represent a San Diego-based district in Congress since Clinton D. McKinnon left office in 1953.