San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert has taken the early lead among Democrats in one of the most-watched congressional contests in the country.
The race to unseat Rep. Darrell Issa in the 48th District heated up markedly after California’s passage of Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s answer to district gerrymandering in Texas.
Von Wilpert finished with 68.8% of the local vote in the party’s pre-endorsement returns, followed by Ammar Campa-Najjar with 14.3% and Brandon Riker with 10.4%.
The two-term councilmember came up just shy of the 70% threshold required to secure the nod.
The vote, though, could signal an end to Campa-Najjar’s tenure as a perennial party favorite in high-profile races, though he downplayed the results.
Campa-Najjar is 0-3 in those races, dating back to 2018, when he surged to take 97% of his party’s pre-endorsement vote on his way to a general election loss to former Rep. Duncan D. Hunter in the 50th District contest.
He fell to Issa again two years later, when, as the only Democrat in the race he easily secured the endorsement. But he tacked to the right in an effort to secure votes in the conservative 50th District, a decision on messaging that has drawn criticism in progressive circles.
He shifted to local politics in 2022, running for Chula Vista mayor. He failed to secure San Diego Democrats ‘endorsement in the primary, but the party threw its support behind him when he advanced to the general election. He lost to Republican John McCann that November.
The party’s endorsement won’t be finalized until the Democrats’ state convention, which begins Feb. 20 in the Bay Area, and could still go in another direction. Von Wilpert, Campa-Najjar, Riker and nine other Democrats are vying for the right to challenge Issa. Only one other candidate, Abel Chavez, received a pre-endorsement vote. Four voters chose the no endorsement/no preference option.
Campa-Najjar does not see the party endorsing anyone in the 48th District race, saying he believes delegates to the state convention will look at the field and decide they “like you all, let the voters decide.”
“I’m going to work very hard to earn the support of the party,” he said, while pointing to his fundraising, endorsements and voter outreach. “In the end, we have to be united to take on Darrell Issa.”
Von Wilpert described the pre-endorsement vote in her favor as a show of unity and momentum. “Democrats want a candidate with values that don’t waver from election to election, and a proven record of beating the Republicans who rubber stamp Trump’s agenda — and that’s exactly what I’m ready to do,” she said.
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