{"id":211803,"date":"2026-03-09T16:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211803\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T16:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:57:09","slug":"perennial-candidate-ammar-campa-najjar-believes-he-can-finally-win-an-election-with-new-bid-for-ca-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211803\/","title":{"rendered":"Perennial candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar believes he can finally win an election, with new bid for CA-48"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ammar<\/a>Ammar Campa-Najjar, seen here in 2020 during a political forum . (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Ammar Campa-Najjar has lost every election he\u2019s run in.<\/p>\n

Many California Democrats who\u2019ve backed Campa-Najjar in the past don\u2019t want to see him run again. In 2018 and 2020, he easily won the California Democratic Party\u2019s official endorsement, but this year, he did not. And yet, Campa-Najjar<\/a> thinks 2026 is his best shot at winning.<\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar first ran for Congress in 2018 against Rep. Duncan Hunter, who had been indicted for misusing campaign funds, losing by\u00a03.4 percentage points<\/a>. He lost in 2020 to Rep. Darrell Issa by\u00a08 percentage points.<\/a>\u00a0He lost the Chula Vista mayoral race to John McCann in 2022 by\u00a04.2 percentage points<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0California\u2019s newly redrawn congressional map<\/a>, Issa\u2019s district became more Democratic, inspiring Campa-Najjar to run against him again. <\/p>\n

Last week, Issa\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0he would retire from Congress<\/a>, endorsing Republican Jim Desmond on his way out. In response, Campa-Najjar said in a news release: \u201cWhile I\u2019m glad Darrell Issa will no longer represent CA-48, we cannot exchange one MAGA rubber stamp for another this November.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis country\u2019s going in a different direction, and so I felt very compelled by the moment,\u201d Campa-Najjar told NOTUS last month. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to try to prove what I believe about this country, this is my last chance to try to stand in the breach and do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about his run. Campa-Najjar has several endorsements from members of Congress, including his girlfriend, Rep. Sara Jacobs, and he\u2019s the top fundraiser in the race. But state and local Democrats are not lining up behind him in quite the same way.<\/p>\n

In late February, thousands of members of the California Democratic Party gathered in San Francisco for the state party\u2019s annual convention. Their main purpose: to organize ahead of the midterms after voters in the state overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50<\/a>, solidifying Democrats\u2019 advantage in congressional races, and to endorse Democratic candidates. In\u00a02018<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02020<\/a>, Campa-Najjar easily landed the party\u2019s endorsement.<\/p>\n

This year, the California Democratic Party\u00a0did not endorse anyone in the primary<\/a>, which will take place in June. Of the 33 delegates who voted in California\u2019s new 48th district,\u00a0only about 18%<\/a>\u00a0voted to endorse Campa-Najjar, compared to 55% for San Diego City Councilwoman Marni Von Wilpert, who had just shy of the 60% threshold needed to obtain the full party\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n

The results were not surprising. Campa-Najjar has faced\u00a0accusations of opportunism<\/a>\u00a0and changing his positions based on political headwinds. In mid-January, he attended the party\u2019s pre-endorsement conference with the hopes of convincing local Democrats to support him. But ahead of that meeting, five California Democrats sent a letter to state delegates urging them not to support Campa-Najjar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Prop 50 now law, Democrats finally have a chance to win California\u2019s 48th Congressional District and take back the House from Trump. But that depends on nominating a credible, electable candidate Democrats can unify behind. Ammar Campa-Najjar is not that candidate,\u201d the Democrats wrote in the letter,\u00a0which was obtained by NOTUS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmmar\u2019s repeated defeats have compounded a troubling pattern: a lack of clear principles Democrats can unite behind and a tendency to tell different groups whatever they want to hear,\u201d the letter continued. \u201cThese positions will define Ammar again in 2026 \u2014 undermining his credibility with all voters, let alone Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter\u2019s authors pointed to his past positions on guns. Campa-Najjar\u00a0said in 2020<\/a>\u00a0that he was opposed to banning assault rifles: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in banning so-called \u2018assault weapons.\u2019 First of all, that\u2019s a term that was coined by liberals who know nothing about guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe that we should have an assault weapons ban. I just don\u2019t think it would work and it would just give criminals an advantage over the rest of us law-abiding people,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s where I break ranks with my own party.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a candidate forum this past September, for which NOTUS obtained audio, Campa-Najjar said, \u201cI firmly believe\u201d in\u00a0California\u2019s current assault weapons ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn a military base, I can\u2019t bring a personal firearm on a military base, so why can we be allowed to take military firearms into civilian hands?\u201d he said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be able to do that. The military has stricter gun rules than our country does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democrats who signed the letter also took issue with past comments he made to\u00a0Defend East County<\/a>, a\u00a0far-right group in Southern California<\/a>\u00a0that has since disbanded. There, he said that Amy Coney Barrett, at the time a nominee to the Supreme Court, \u201cwas very qualified\u201d and that he would \u201cprobably\u201d have voted to confirm her had he been in the Senate. Barrett\u2019s confirmation as a justice ultimately gave the court the conservative supermajority that overturned Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

At the pre-endorsement conference, Campa-Najjar\u00a0said that\u00a0<\/a>\u201cas your next congressman if I\u2019m honored to be that person \u2026 it looks like introducing an amendment to codify Roe v. Wade to protect a woman\u2019s freedom and right to choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the damage was done. At the conference, he\u00a0obtained the support of only<\/a>\u00a014.29% of the 77 delegates who voted. Von Wilpert won a whopping 68.83%.<\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar downplayed those results. In a lengthy interview with NOTUS in early February, the Democratic candidate called the state party\u2019s endorsement \u201ca nice to have, but not a need to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to get won by the party\u2019s brand blessing,\u201d he told NOTUS. \u201cThe party\u2019s brand, with all due respect, is not what\u2019s going to get us to the promised land in any of these districts. It\u2019s still a party that\u2019s trying to figure us out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He touted the\u00a0growing number of endorsements<\/a>\u00a0he\u2019s received from members of Congress. So far, he\u2019s gained the support of 20 House Democrats, including Jacobs, and two congressional PACs, the campaign arms of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. One Democratic strategist involved in California races, but not in the CA-48 primary, told NOTUS it was unusual to see that many endorsements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just surprised so many politicians are taking sides in that race. \u2026 That\u2019s an interesting element,\u201d said the strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe members of Congress who know what it takes, they want me to be here and be their colleague,\u201d Campa-Najjar told NOTUS. The delegates in the pre-endorsement conference, he said, are \u201ca group of activists, 80 of them\u201d that do not \u201cspeak on behalf of 800,000\u201d people.<\/p>\n

He says now that he regrets what he sees as a hard pivot to the right in 2020, after running as a more traditional Democrat in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat outreach, in that moment, became an overreaching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went too far,\u201d Campa-Najjar continued. \u201cWhat I realized is that if you stoop to their level, they don\u2019t respect you, and you lose your own respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/a>Fans of Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar show signs of support despite his loss to Rep. Duncan Hunter in the 50th Congressional District in 2018. (File photo by Ken Stone\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

After losing the Chula Vista mayoral race, Campa-Najjar said he was \u201cdone with politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was done. I was done and not, like, depressed. I\u2019m like, \u2018Maybe I could help Sara, give her advice. I have a lot of friends who are members. I don\u2019t have to be the one getting the shrapnel,\u2019 \u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

He joined the U.S. Navy in August 2023 through its direct commission program \u2014 he got in the third time he applied \u2014 and trained in the Philippines in 2024, which he called \u201cthe thing I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d He was set to\u00a0start a master\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0program in conflict resolution at Georgetown University this past fall, but then California state officials\u00a0began efforts<\/a>\u00a0to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts.<\/p>\n

In early August, Campa-Najjar attended an event held by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Torrey Pines as a guest of Jacobs. (The DCCC has not taken a position in his primary.) There, Campa-Najjar recalled, Rep. Mike Levin urged him to run for Congress in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018You need to run again,\u2019 \u201d Campa-Najjar said. He then talked to Rep. Scott Peters, who, he said, also encouraged him to run, \u201cand even Sara was like, \u2018If you\u2019re going to do it, you need to announce now.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar insisted he was \u201csuper, super not planning\u201d to run again, explaining that he had become a Navy officer and was planning to start his graduate studies at Georgetown last fall: \u201cIf there\u2019s any indication I was not planning this s\u2014 at all, it\u2019s all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what world is this district that I ran in, almost won, now suddenly become a winnable district?\u201d he continued, saying he could never have foreseen California\u2019s mid-decade redistricting.<\/p>\n

Levin, who has endorsed Campa-Najjar, told NOTUS that he has as good a shot as ever to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did tell him that I thought he had worked really hard in his first couple of congressional races, and he had outperformed the top of the ticket in both of those races.\u201d (In 2020, Campa-Najjar got\u00a046%<\/a>\u00a0of the vote in California\u2019s 50th district, compared to the\u00a045%<\/a>\u00a0received by President Joe Biden.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo long as he outperforms again, he\u2019ll win,\u201d Levin added.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks later, Campa-Najjar announced his run for California\u2019s new 48th Congressional District, which was set to become bluer if Proposition 50 passed in the November elections.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0news release<\/a>\u00a0announcing his candidacy touted his \u201cstrong early support\u201d from House Democrats, including Reps. Veronica Escobar, Derek Tran, Steven Horsford and Dave Min.<\/p>\n

However, after voters overwhelmingly\u00a0approved Prop. 50<\/a>, Min quietly withdrew his endorsement.<\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar \u201cjumped right before Prop 50, and I told him, \u2018I\u2019m happy to endorse you for this district, but if it changes and Prop 50 goes through, then I\u2019m going to have to pull out.\u2019 He knew that going in,\u201d Min told NOTUS. He said that he has \u201cfriends\u201d in the race, naming Von Wilpert and businessman Brandon Riker, \u201cso at this point, I\u2019m staying out.\u201d <\/p>\n

California has non-partisan, or jungle primaries, meaning the top two vote-getters are on the ballot in November. Between Issa getting out of the race and redistricting, it\u2019s possible two Democrats could face off against each other in the fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen redistricting looked like it might happen, I was like, I\u2019ll need to take a beat to figure out, you know, which candidates are going to run, who\u2019s serious, and all that. I\u2019m still evaluating,\u201d Min added. Campa-Najjar\u2019s campaign said in a statement that Min\u2019s un-endorsement was \u201cnot a surprise and there are no hard feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several House Democrats, including some who endorsed Campa-Najjar, told NOTUS that Jacobs has not explicitly urged her colleagues to endorse her boyfriend. However, some said that when a colleague\u2019s loved one is running for office, it puts members in a tough spot \u2014 and that\u2019s happening with Campa-Najjar.<\/p>\n

One House Democrat, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, compared the situation to Rep. Pramila Jayapal\u2019s sister, Susheela Jayapal, running for Congress in 2024: \u201cIt\u2019s just awkward as f\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say you want to endorse someone else on the race. OK, well, now you also have to think about your colleague, right?\u201d another House Democrat said.<\/p>\n

Lauren McIlvaine, a spokesperson for Jacobs, told NOTUS in a statement: \u201cThis is a unique but not unprecedented situation and Rep. Jacobs has gone out of her way to make her colleagues feel comfortable. She hasn\u2019t asked her colleagues for endorsements; in fact, she explicitly told them not to endorse because of her, so there\u2019s no ambiguity, pressure, or sense of obligation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the congresswoman\u2019s close friends have endorsed others in the race, which hasn\u2019t affected their personal or professional relationships at all. Last year, she told her colleagues at the weekly California Democratic Congressional Delegation lunch that she should not be a factor in their CA-48 endorsement calculations. She\u2019s had similar conversations with other Members one-on-one,\u201d McIlvaine added.<\/p>\n

After NOTUS asked Jacobs\u2019 team for comment, other congressional offices reached out to offer statements. Rep. Mike Thompson, who has not endorsed anyone in the CA-48 race, said in a statement that Jacobs \u201cnever pressured me nor do I know of any other colleagues being pressured on endorsement decisions. She even went so far as to stand up at one of our meetings to urge us clearly and in no uncertain terms to make our decisions without any consideration of her at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jacobs and her family have significantly boosted Campa-Najjar\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0campaign finance records<\/a>, the Jacobs family has donated at least $66,500 to his campaign as of September 2025, making up about 8% of Campa-Najjar\u2019s\u00a0total reported contributions<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 though his campaign said that since December, contributions have reached $1 million. <\/p>\n

The Jacobs family has donated more to this campaign than they have in the past: They donated over $30,000 to his 2018 campaign and over $40,000 to his 2020 run, according to a NOTUS analysis of campaign finance records. (The 2018 and 2020 cycle donations were dated before Campa-Najjar and Jacobs\u2019 relationship was\u00a0first publicly reported<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

McIlvaine said Jacobs \u201cand her family have long been generous to Democrats across the country, particularly those running in San Diego. Her family has a similar giving history with the other San Diego Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar leads his Democratic primary opponents in endorsements from federal lawmakers. Seven House Democrats and one congressional PAC \u2014 the campaign arm of the Congressional Equality Caucus \u2014 have officially endorsed\u00a0Von Wilpert<\/a>; and one House Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, and one senator, Sen. Peter Welch, are backing\u00a0Riker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Von Wilpert, who has emerged as Campa-Najjar\u2019s top Democratic opponent, has over a dozen current local and state elected officials and 10 former officials endorsing her in the race. By comparison, Campa-Najjar has two local elected officials backing him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing the Democratic momentum coming in for me and the people who know this district best, know the candidates are supporting me,\u201d Von Wilpert told NOTUS. \u201cWe are building momentum, and there\u2019s a reason: I\u2019ve won competitive elections and I\u2019ve governed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andi McNew, Campa-Najjar\u2019s campaign manager, said in a statement that \u201cAmmar has earned the support of 11+ California House Democrats, unions, VoteVets, CHC BOLD PAC and others on the merits of this campaign and his demonstrated ability to win this district. We\u2019re proud of that coalition and focused on growing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Campa-Najjar, this race is a way to return to who he was as a young, first-time candidate eight years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel aligned with myself \u2026 and now I\u2019m kind of bringing it back.\u201d He said that his campaign team includes a lot of the 2018 crew, which he called \u201csuccessful.\u201d His first race, after all, was the one he got closest to winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to have a campaign that you\u2019d be proud of, and I think if we replicate that, we\u2019ll win this race,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s like doing the best I can to meet this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, before announcing he was not seeking reelection, Issa said that he enjoyed watching from the sidelines as the race continued to take shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to watch,\u201d Issa told NOTUS, \u201cincluding one of the candidates that ran as almost a Republican in 2020 now going back to his roots of being an extreme left-winger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campa-Najjar, Issa said, has the benefit that he does not have a voting record. \u201cMy record is what I\u2019ve done and what I\u2019ve championed and the bills that I\u2019ve authored. When you don\u2019t, I guess you can move back and forth and try not to be pinned down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmmar is an interesting character,\u201d Issa added.<\/p>\n

This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS <\/a>\u2014 a publication from the nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute \u2014 and NEWSWELL<\/a>, home of Times of San Diego<\/a>, Santa Barbara News-Press<\/a> and Stocktonia<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ammar Campa-Najjar, seen here in 2020 during a political forum . (File photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[77246,43601,1752,7668,8406,13,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-211803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-48th-congressional-district","tag-ammar-campa-najjar","tag-congress","tag-darrell-issa","tag-notus","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}