Politics

Democrats Vie To Take On Republican Congressman Issa

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published October 17, 2017 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 6 years ago.

House Oversight Committee Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Dec. 9, 2014.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, has more cash on hand than any of his Democratic challengers in the 49th congressional district race.

But the three Democrats running to unseat him are in a fierce battle to raise their campaign war chests.

Issa has raised more than $430,000 since June. His three democratic challengers together have raised more than twice that.

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Retired Marine Corps Col. Doug Applegate, who narrowly lost to Issa last November, raised the least: just under $150,000. He has spent about the same amount, so the cash on hand in his campaign war chest has remained steady at $262,000.

Mike Levin, an environmental attorney who lives in San Juan Capistrano, has raised $300,000 — twice as much as Applegate.

Levin raised more in individual contributions than his two democratic rivals, and he has the most cash on hand — $530,000. But he also has the most debt — just over $90,000.

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Paul Kerr, a Rancho Santa Fe real estate investor, jumped into the race most recently in July. He‘s declared $504,000 in total receipts, but more than half of that — $275,000 — he contributed to his own campaign.

The 49th District congressional seat is one of the top targets for Democrats next year.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.