Campa-Najjar challenges Rep. Issa again for CA congressional seat
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- Ammar Campa-Najjar, who unsuccessfully ran against incumbent Rep. Darrell Issa in 2020, announced he has officially filed to challenge him again -- this time, in California's proposed 48th district.
- Campa-Najjar sat down with FOX 5/KUSI on Monday, Aug. 25, to speak about why he wants to run again for Congress. Watch his full interview in the video player above.
The rematch would come amid a newly redrawn congressional district map in which Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed the inclusion of voters from the Coachella Valley to east San Diego County.
The new 48th district would also add the cities of San Marcos and Escondido, two purple battleground states which Campa-Najjar previously carried.
"This campaign is about making sure that all families, from San Diego to Riverside, have a representative who works for them," Campa-Najjar said. "That's why I've officially filed to run in CA-48."
Campa-Najjar previously ran against former Rep. Duncan Hunter in 2018 in California's 50th district before challenging Issa in 2020. He was also a Chula Vista mayoral candidate who ran against John McCann in 2022. However, he lost in all of those races.
The 36-year-old Democrat and U.S. Navy Reserve officer was born and raised in San Diego County. As the son of a Palestinian father and a Mexican-American mother, his background was the subject of controversial claims made by Hunter's campaign in 2018, including advertisements calling him a "security risk."
Campa-Najjar got his start in politics working for former President Barack Obama's reelection campaign and later in the U.S. Labor Department.
FOX 5/KUSI has also reached out to Rep. Issa for an interview.
