UPDATE: 8:29 a.m. March 4, 2020:
With only two candidates running in the 49th Congressional District, both incumbent Mike Levin and challenger Brian Maryott will move on to the general election.
Levin, a Democrat, was ahead of Republican Maryott by a bit more than 5 percentage points. That flipped from early returns Tuesday night when Maryott was leading 50.1% to 49.9%, suggesting a tight battle for the seat in November.
The 49th District is split between San Diego and Orange counties.
Original story
The 49th Congressional District seat flipped from Republican to Democrat in 2018. There are only two candidates in the March primary, who will go head to head in November.
Democratic incumbent Mike Levin will go up against Republican candidate Brian Maryott, in a district that still has a slight majority of Republican voters. The question is whether the seat will flip again.
Some have accused Levin of being more on the left than a moderate. But Levin said he is worked on several bipartisan bills. Some of his key issues are veterans rights and removing nuclear waste from San Onofre.
"It wasn’t just me flipping the seat. It was a whole host of volunteers. I’ve done everything possible and will continue to do everything to represent the interests and values of North County San Diego and south Orange County," Levin said.
Maryott said his views are substantially different from those of Levin.
"The differences between Mike and I are not finer points. They are very distinct in terms of how we view the major issues of the day," Maryott said.
Maryott supports private health care and working with businesses on fighting climate change.
Both candidates will get through the primary since they’re the only ones on the ballot, so they’ll head to the general election in November.
