San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert kicked off her general election campaign for California's 48th Congressional District on Thursday with a press conference at the San Diego County Democratic Party headquarters in Kearny Mesa.
Von Wilpert will be running against County Supervisor Jim Desmond after the two received the most votes in the June primary. Desmond had 41.4% of the votes counted as of 4 p.m. Thursday, and von Wilpert had 19.5%.
“I have pledged the entire time I’ve been on this campaign trail to be the fighter we need in Congress to stand up to Donald Trump and end the chaos and corruption that’s affecting everyone’s lives,” von Wilpert said.
She’s aiming to portray Desmond as a Trump-aligned extremist in the general election, but that could prove difficult to pull off. Desmond has the President’s endorsement, but he also has a long history in local politics.
Now that he's advanced to the general, he's positioning himself as a moderate focused on affordability and immigration.
“I'm gonna do the same thing no matter who I'm running against is bring resources from Washington, D.C. back here to Southern California to fix some of our issues, you know, the American dream of affording a house, immigration, we still need an immigration system that works,” Desmond said on Tuesday at the Republican Party election night event in downtown San Diego. “We need mental health facilities and personnel, and we need to lower the cost of energy. If we do that, we'll lower the cost of everything.”
Von Wilpert has also been added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s 2026 Red to Blue program that provides Democratic candidates in competitive races that could flip a Republican-held seat with fundraising and organizational support.
“Marni is exactly the kind of fighter needed to beat MAGA extremist Jim Desmond, who has done nothing but dismiss rising costs and embrace the worst of Donald Trump and Republicans’ agenda that is increasingly out of step with CA-48 voters,” the program website says.
The 48th District is one of five Republican-held congressional seats targeted by Proposition 50 last year. As a result, there are now more registered Democrats in the district than registered Republicans.
The 48th is currently represented by Republican Darrell Issa, who is retiring rather than run for reelection in the newly drawn district. He endorsed Desmond as well.
