Ten months after Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R.-CA, was indicted on more than fifty counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and violation of campaign finance laws, things do not look good for the six-term lawmaker remaining in office through the year.
Speculation, in fact, has already started over which Republicans would seek his seat when and if Hunter, 42, is convicted and thus forced to resign from Congress.
Earlier this month, co-defendant and estranged wife Margaret pled guilty to her corruption charges and named her husband as a co-conspirator in their use of campaign funds for personal purposes.
Carl DeMaio, centrist Republican and former San Diego city councilman, has signaled he will run in the 50th District if Hunter steps down.
DeMaio, who is gay, has lost bids for mayor of San Diego in 2012 and in 2014 for the U.S. House seat in the neighboring 52nd District held by Democrat Scott Peters.
While DeMaio retains a strong following from his past races, several area conservatives who supported him in ’14 voiced disappointment that in losing the congressional race, DeMaio voiced the view that the Republican Party was “intolerant.”
Also floating his name as a candidate in a possible special election is State Sen. Brian Jones, a strong conservative from East San Diego County. As a state assemblyman and later senator, Jones has a strong right-of-center record supporting the Second Amendment, opposing illegal immigration, and pursuing reforms of public sector unions and their political activities.
There was recent mention of former Rep. Darrell Issa, who represented the neighboring district to Hunter’s from 2000-18, making a comeback in an open 50th District.
But sources close to Issa told Newsmax that the former congressman, a sworn enemy of former President Barack Obama for investigations into his administration while chairman of the House Oversight Committee, feels he doesn’t need to run in a district President Trump won handily. (The district has been in GOP hands since Hunter’s father Duncan, Sr. first won it in 1980 over Democratic Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin).
Democrats at the state and national level voice confidence in their 2018 nominee Ammar Campa-Najjar winning a special election. Hunter managed to stave off defeat at his hands with a career-low margin of 51.7 percent.
But whether he could manage the same percentage of votes against a Republican who is scandal-free in a historically Republican district is, at the very least, questionable.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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