The newly competitive race for the 48th Congressional District has already reshuffled at least one downballot race, too.
The effort to redraw California’s congressional maps could give Republican Rep. Darrell Issa a tougher defense of his seat, as new candidates — including San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and third-time congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar — join the race in a district Democrats aim to make more competitive.
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The inland 48th Congressional District, which stretches from Temecula through some San Diego County suburbs and the backcountry, is one of the key districts the state’s Democrats hope to flip with redistricting. But the gerrymandering fight for control of Congress is upending not only those races but downballot contests, too.
In November, voters will decide whether to let the state legislature temporarily override California’s independent redistricting commission and replace its congressional maps with Democratic-drawn ones.
If they approve the measure, the redrawn 48th would no longer include Poway, Santee or Ramona, would pick up San Marcos and Vista and would reach deeper into Riverside County, dropping Murrieta but picking up Palm Springs and environs. With those new boundaries, Democrats would be handed a 4-percentage-point registration advantage over Republicans. The maps would be in place through the 2030 election.
Until redistricting, von Wilpert had been running for state Senate. Now, her entrance into the congressional race in turn has led at least three local Democrats — former San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, San Diego Unified school board trustee Sabrina Bazzo and East County water official Suzanne Till — to jump into that race.
If the new maps pass, Issa and a field crowded with Democrats would vie in an open June primary for one of two spots in the general election. Two Riverside County Democrats have also filed statements of intent to run, immigration lawyer Curtis Morrison and activist Brian Nash, and Nuview Union School Board member Abel Chavez and entrepreneur Brandon Riker have vowed to join the Democratic field if redistricting passes.
Issa has represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than two decades, making a name for himself as a relentless critic of President Barack Obama and, as chair of the House Oversight Committee, leading investigations into his administration, particularly on the 2012 attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, Libya.
His tenure hasn’t been uninterrupted — in 2018, facing a tougher race amid an expected “blue wave,” he declined to seek reelection before regaining his seat in 2020.
Last week, Issa’s spokesperson Jonathan Wilcox called the Democratic redistricting effort a “trashing of the state constitution that seeks to disenfranchise millions of voters.” Issa himself did not respond to requests for comment from The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“I’m not clinging to this job,” the congressman told the news organization NOTUS recently. “I can do other things, and it won’t bother me.”
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