Three Democrats, Juan Vargas in the 52nd district, Sara Jacobs in the 51st, Scott Peters in the 50th district, are all considered safe bets to win reelection in the fall. The Republican incumbent in the 48th district, Darrell Issa, is also expected to win another term.
The incumbent in the 49th district, Democrat Mike Levin, was expected to be in the closest race. Levin drew four challengers: Republicans Margarita Wilkinson, Matt Gunderson, Kate Monroe and Sheryl Adams.
Levin had an easy lead in early returns Tuesday night with Gunderson coming in second. Wilkinson came in third and Monroe was a distant fourth, but she was still enthusiastic about her plans if elected.
"The border needs to be closed. We have a massive homeless problem," she said. "All throughout California, certainly here buttoned in by downtown San Diego and north in Oceanside, we have thousands of homeless people. I have a very good solution to stop all the drugs, lawlessness that we have going on in our state."
Why it matters
The region’s congressional delegation has had a unified voice on issues like cross-border sewage. All members of the delegation are lobbying for more support for efforts to stem the flow of sewage-tainted water coming into the United States and fouling the ocean.
However, the delegation typically splits along party lines on other partisan political issues. The four democrats back the minority party in the House of Representatives. And the lone Republican backs the majority party’s priorities.
By the numbers
Republicans hold 219 seats in the House while Democrats have 213 seats, giving the GOP a slim majority. The majority party would be unable to pass a measure if three of their members do not support it.
Levin was given the slight advantage because there are 157,000 registered Republicans and 172,000 registered Democrats in the 49th district which covers part of coastal San Diego and Orange Counties.
Levin won the seat for the first time in 2018. He was reelected twice, in 2020 and 2022, and is running for a fourth term.
All members of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election every two years.
Looking ahead
The top two vote-getters in the March primary move on to a runoff election in November’s general election.
