- Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar will face each other in November to represent California's 50th Congressional District.
- The race will be called as soon as there are sufficient data to make a conclusion.
- See the live coverage and full results from all US House elections.
- The 50th District is located in southern California and is home to the northeastern and central regions of San Diego County as well as a portion of Riverside County.
- The House seat is currently vacant after Rep. Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty to conspiracy misuse of campaign funds and resigned.
Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar face off this to represent California's 50th Congressional District.
The previous representative, Republican Duncan Hunter, represented the district for nearly four terms in Congress but resigned in January after federal prosecutors charged him and his wife Margaret with over 60 counts of embezzling campaign funds, wire fraud, falsification of campaign finance records, and conspiracy.
After his indictment, Duncan lost his committee assignments and submitted letters of resignation to both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Gavin Newson. However, Hunter resigned too late for Newsom to call a special election, leaving the seat vacant. In March, Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in federal prison.
California currently has a "top-two primary" system, meaning that the top two winners of the primary election go on the final ballot, regardless of their political party.
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The candidates
Issa is a former US House representative who once represented the 48th and 49th Districts, which both include portions of Orange County and are now represented by Democrats.
He is the co-founder and former CEO of Directed Electronics, one of the US's largest automobile security companies. With an estimated net worth of $250 million, Issa was the richest member of Congress during his tenure. His 2020 campaign platform emphasizes building on a wall on the southern border, opposing illegal immigration and sanctuary cities, and creating fairer trade policies.
In late 2018, several months after announcing he was not seeking reelection, Issa was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the director of the United States Trade and Development Agency. In California's "top-two primary" in March, Issa placed second behind Campa-Najjar.
Campa-Najjar was the deputy regional field director for President Barack Obama's reelection campaign and served a role in the Executive Office of the President.
He later became the communications and marketing director for the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and led the Office of Public Affairs for the Employment and Training Administration in the US Department of Labor.
In 2018, Campa-Najjar ran against Rep. Hunter and narrowly lost by a margin of 3.4 percentage points. His 2020 campaign platform focuses on helping Southern California recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding access to affordable healthcare, and increasing economic opportunity and supporting small businesses in the district.
The district
California's 50th Congressional District is located in the state's southern region and is home to the northeastern and central regions of San Diego County as well as a portion of Riverside County.
The district has traditionally been solidly Republican. In 2016, the district voted for President Trump over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 15 points, according to the Daily Kos.
The money race
According to the Center for Responsive Politics and Federal Election Commission filings, Issa has raised $7 million and also donated and lent about $7.6 million of his own funds to his campaign, spent $11.5 million, and has around $847,000 in cash on hand. Campa-Najjar has raised $5.3 million, spent around $4.7 million, and has around $587,000 in cash on hand.
What experts say
The race between Issa and Campa-Najjar is rated as "leans Republican" by the Cook Political Report and "likely Republican" by Inside Elections and Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for