Four Candidates Vying For Duncan Hunter’s Vacated 50th District Seat

Speaker 1: 00:00 For the first time in four decades. Someone that isn't named Duncan Hunter will be representing the 50th congressional district. Hey PBS reporter Priya Sridhar takes a look at the local race that has a national spotlight. Speaker 2: 00:15 It's been a whirlwind in the 50th uh, district with 750,000 constituents that covers much of North and East San Diego County and has been one of California's most reliably red districts for decades. The seat has been held by the Hunter dynasty first by Dunkin Hunter senior, who served as a representative from 1981 to 2009 and then with his son, Dunkin Hunter jr, who was elected in 2009 and served as the representative for the 50th until he resigned earlier this month after pleading guilty to a campaign finance crime. Hunter denied any wrongdoing for more than a year after being charged in 2018 with 60 federal criminal counts for using $250,000 of campaign money on personal expenses. But he did a one 80 in early December and pleaded guilty. On one count, Hunter told local news station K, USI he wanted to spare his family a trial. Speaker 3: 01:14 I did make mistakes. Um, I did not properly monitor or, uh, account for my camp campaign money. Um, I justify that plea with the understanding that I am responsible for my campaign and what happens to my campaign money Speaker 2: 01:27 Hunter now faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he sentenced on March 17th. But where does that leave the 50th? Because of the timing of Hunter's resignation. California governor Gavin Newsome decided not to call a special election. That means voters like Joseph knob will have no representation in Congress until January of 2021 when the winner of this year's November election takes office. Speaker 4: 01:56 Well, I think our community should be represented at all times by a rep, by a Congressman. So if we don't have a Congressman for a year, I mean that's not really fair for the people around here who, who vote, Speaker 2: 02:09 but they will have a chance to vote in the March primary when three Republicans and one Democrat compete for this seat. One of the front runners is Democrat Amar camp and a jar of former Obama administration official who ran against Hunter in 2018 and lost by fewer than 9,000 votes. Speaker 3: 02:28 Nearly half the district voted for me to be a Congressman. This district, we've been running for three years and we've been talking to everybody, uh, Republican and Democrats, uh, independence, people who aren't ignorant but ignored by the democratic and Republican party Speaker 2: 02:43 on the Republican side. Former nine term Congressman Darrel Eissa, current state Senator Brian Jones and former radio host in San Diego city. Councilman Carl DeMaio are all contenders of the candidates only Jones and [inaudible] live the 50th district. Joan said the voters there should be familiar with his record. Speaker 5: 03:04 I think I've built a pretty good reputation in Sacramento, you know, working with my democratic colleagues to get stuff done. Uh, I've fought and defended for the principles that are important to this district all at the same time getting bills passed through Sacramento and signed by the governor. So I think that skillset will transfer well to Washington D C Speaker 2: 03:26 none of the three Republican candidates was able to gain the endorsement of the San Diego Republican party, which requires a two thirds majority of party committee members of the three running de Mio has been the most vocal opponent of Dunkin Hunter Speaker 5: 03:41 and I've shown time and time again, whether it's taking on the politicians with the, the pension, uh, reform initiative or fighting them on the gas tax. I'm willing to step forward and fight for the people when career politicians sit on the sidelines. Speaker 2: 03:57 Secretary [inaudible] and about a dozen of his supporters showed up to protest Daryl Eissa when he announced his candidacy in late September. Eissa was the only candidate who turned down our repeated requests for an on camera interview. But he did speak to the press when he threw his hat in the ring. I believe that I have the history, the skills, the seniority, and the capability to hit the ground running, not just for this district but for California. Do the primary is March 3rd the top two candidates will go on to the general election in November. Speaker 6: 04:32 Joining me is KPBS reporter, Prius Ryther and prio. Welcome. Thanks. Has there been any polling done in the 50th any way to tell which candidate might be ahead? Yeah, so there is actually just a new poll that came out about a week ago that was done between channel 10 and the union Tribune. And this was the first poll that's come out since Dunkin Hunter has actually resigned and stepped down and is not in the race anymore. And it shows that a Mar camp in a jar is actually winning with 26% of the votes in the district. And then behind him, virtually tied for second place is Darryl Eissa with 21% of the votes and Carl DeMaio with 20% of the votes. And then we have a state Senator, Brian Jones in third place, I guess you could say with 12% of the votes. So what's interesting here is that we're seeing a Mar camp in a is support compared to a similar poll that was done in October, declined from about 31%, which is the amount of voters who said that were pulled, uh, supported him back then. So it's unclear because there are a few, uh, democratic candidates who have entered the race if they perhaps, uh, took away some of the support from Amar or if perhaps Dunkin Hunter leaving the race is one of the reasons that Amar his support has also decreased. Carl DiMillo's numbers have virtually stayed the same from October until now. And we're seeing Darrel numbers increase. He was the last person to throw his hat in the ring in this race. Um, and we're also seeing Brian Jones numbers increase as well. Speaker 1: 06:06 What's the main issue in the 50th? Is it whether or not you support president Trump? Speaker 6: 06:11 Definitely a big one. Um, on the Republican side, we're seeing border security as a huge one. Um, gun control still remains to be huge there. What's really fascinating about, uh, the 50th is that there is a large chunk of people who actually identify themselves as independents, about 30%. And so that's, I'm really going to be the key factor when it comes to this race. And that's really the group that Amar camp in is Shar. The Democrat in the race is trying to appeal to. So he's, you know, really advertising himself as a moderate Democrat. And he said repeatedly, you know, that he would, he doesn't really support Nancy Pelosi. Um, he talks about having a strong border. He talks about guns, how he owns guns. So he's really trying to appeal to those undecided people in the, in the middle who don't know which way to go. Speaker 1: 07:00 And on the Republican side, it seems like the candidates are sort of splitting the vote and that has resulted apparently in a controversy over political ads on the Republican side. Can you tell us about that? Speaker 6: 07:12 Yeah. So the latest kind of scandal and the 50th are so many of them are a new ad that Daryl Eissa has put out that has headlines from various national news publications that reference Carl DiMillo's sexuality. So what's interesting about this when I've spoken to some political analysts is that he's not coming right out and talking about Carl de Mio sexuality. Instead, he's using headlines that reference his sexuality. And so the chairman of the San Diego County Republicans, Tony [inaudible] has come out and said that he believes that these advertisements are extremely inappropriate. And we saw back in October when the committee members of the San Diego County Republican party came together to try to figure out who they wanted to endorse in this race. They weren't able to actually come to a conclusion or a majority to endorse anyone. But, um, there was a lot of squabbling between all the Republican candidates back then. Speaker 6: 08:10 And Tony [inaudible] was constantly interrupting them and saying, you know, please, nothing slanderous. Uh, no attacking each other. And now we've seen this ad come out. And so, um, I did get a chance to reach out to Daryl ISIS camp today and they said that they stand by the ad. Um, and that, you know, if there are any questions about those headlines that you should reach directly out to the news publications and ask them why they chose to put those headlines. Carl [inaudible] camp did talk to me today and also said that this is desperate. Darrell ice trying to distract voters from the 50th about the main issues. Speaker 1: 08:45 What about the Dunkin Hunter factor in this race, senior and junior? Has anybody been endorsed as anybody relying on the, the Goodwills to speak of the Hunter name through the years in the 50th to try to get it right? Speaker 6: 09:00 Yeah. Duncan Hunter, that name, it's a dynasty in the 50th. It was fascinating. I got a chance to ask Brian Jones if he would've even wanted a Dunkin Hunter seniors endorsement and he kind of paused and was a little bit confused about how that would be received by voters. Dunkin Hunter senior has come out and said that he is endorsing Daryl Eissa. The two of them have been extremely close over the years and Daryl Eissa has been um, a little bit kind of all over the place about how he references his relationship with the hunters. We've seen him in advertisements walking along the border with a Duncan Hunter sr, but he doesn't come out that much and talk about their relationships. I guess time will tell if that's going to be a factor in the voters decision making at all. Speaker 1: 09:45 And you found a little bit of Hunter fatigue or at least annoyance in your conversations with some voters in the 50th Speaker 6: 09:52 yeah, I've spent a lot of time in the 50th and I think a lot of people were just waiting for all of this to come to a conclusion. And so in some ways they're relieved that finally Duncan Hunter has resigned and he's no longer in this race. But I think a lot of people are extremely frustrated by the timing of his resignation. Had he resigned back in December, the state law would have mandated that governor Newsome would have had to hold a special election. But now, you know, governor Newsome has said that given the timing, it just doesn't make sense to hold a special election. And so now the people in the 50th will be without representation in Washington until January of next year when this, uh, election comes to a conclusion. Speaker 1: 10:34 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter Prius there. Thank you so much. Thanks.