Campa-Najjar, Issa To Runoff In Temecula's 50th District Race

TEMECULA, CA — Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar topped the field of candidates in the traditionally conservative 50th Congressional District that was recently thrown into turmoil with the resignation of Rep. Duncan Hunter. He will compete against former Republican Rep. Darrell Issa in a November runoff, according to final unofficial results from Tuesday's primary election.

Nine candidates competed for the seat. Campa-Najjar came in first with 34.4% of the vote and Issa placed second with 24.9%. Republican Carl DeMaio took third place with 21% of the vote. No other candidate in the race mounted a serious challenge, including Republican state Sen. Brian Jones, who ran a distant fourth.

The spotlight has been on the race since Hunter resigned from office in January. The Republican is set to be sentenced this month and is facing a maximum of five years in prison after he and his wife were indicted in 2018 on five dozen criminal counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy and falsification of records.

The 50th District encompasses most of east San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County.

A Republican had held the seat since 1981. The seat was represented by Hunter's father, Duncan L. Hunter, from 1981-2009.

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City News Service contributed to this report.