49th Congressional District
Republican Diane Harkey: 45.1%
Democrat Mike Levin: 54.9%
100% of precincts reporting
UPDATED: 11:21 a.m., Nov. 12, 2018
UPDATE: 10:44 p.m., Nov. 6, 2018
In a speech at the Democratic election headquarters, Mike Levin expressed his thanks to supporters for their involvement in the campaign.
"As a point of personal privilege, I just want to thank everyone for everything they’ve done," he said. "I have been doing campaigns for many, many years — 40 years I’ve been doing campaigns and I’ve never been involved in a race that I’ve been more proud of than this one. And it’s all because of the tremendous activism, and involvement, and caring, and compassion that all of you have exhibited and I thank you very much."
UPDATE: 9:32 p.m., Nov. 6, 2018
As results streamed in Tuesday night for the 49th Congressional District race, early numbers showed Democratic candidate Mike Levin leading by 7 points. Republican candidate Diane Harkey said “the national party chose not to get involved so we are on our own here. They did other states besides California, and that's very disappointing to me because this is a key district for them.”
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The race for the 49th Congressional District is between Republican Diane Harkey and Democrat Mike Levin. They are vying to replace Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who decided to step down in January after holding the seat for 18 years.
The 49th is one of two dozen races nationwide, and half a dozen races in California that are being closely watched, as the result could flip the House of Representatives from Republican to Democratic control.
The 49th stretches from Del Mar to Dana Point and includes the Camp Pendleton Marine base. It includes San Diego’s North County communities from the northern edge of La Jolla through parts of Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Oceanside and Vista. It stretches into Orange County, covering the communities of Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
Voter registration
Registration in the district has changed in recent years, with fewer Republicans and more Democrats and decline-to-state voters. Out of 381,000 registered voters, 35.7 percent are registered Republicans, 30.98 percent are registered Democrats and 27.75 percent (105,000 voters) are decline-to-state voters.
Voter registration in San Diego County in the 49th Congressional District changed this year from being predominantly Republican to being majority Democrat, but Republican registered voters significantly outnumber Democrats in the Orange County portion of the district.
In the 2016 Presidential election, the 49th Congressional District voters supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by seven points.
Campaigning in the 49th began with weekly demonstrations outside Rep. Issa’s office that continued for more than a year. The Flip the 49th campaign initiated a paradigm for Democratic campaigns around the country, bringing different stakeholders together to volunteer and focus on change.
Campaign fundraising
Harkey’s campaign raised $1.3 million this year.
Levin‘s campaign raised $4.9 million since March 2017
Harkey graduated from UC Irvine and pursued a career was in banking and finance. She was elected to Dana Point City Council in 2004 and served as mayor in 2007. She served as a California State Assemblywoman for two terms from 2008 to 2014, representing the 73rd State Assembly District. In 2014 she was elected to the State Board of Equalization.
She is endorsed by President Trump and supports him in substance if not in style. She has campaigned on promoting North County’s high-tech and biotech companies, tightening up border security and keeping taxes low.
Harkey lives in Dana Point. She has a daughter and is legally separated from her husband, who was convicted of elder financial abuse.
Levin is an environmental attorney, educated at Stanford and Duke universities. He founded a clean energy trade association in Orange County and served on the board of the San Diego-based Center for Sustainable Energy. He was the executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County.
Former President Barack Obama campaigned for Levin, who supports preserving the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Levin has campaigned on working to promote more sustainable energy, treating immigrants with dignity and respect, and passing common-sense gun safety laws.
Levin’s grandparents immigrated from Mexico. He lives in San Juan Capistrano with his wife and two young children
