CA-49 is a district that includes the northern part of San Diego County and the southern part of Orange County. It stretches from the UC San Diego campus, through Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Camp Pendleton and up through San Clemente to Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Ladera Ranch. It's a traditionally Republican district, although Obama narrowly beat McCain 50-49%. Romney won it 4 years after, 52-46% and last year the voters were repulsed by Trump and gave Hillary the win, 50.7% to 43.2%. Over a quarter of the residents are Hispanic and over 10% are other minority groups.Darrell Issa is the Republican incumbent and he has been winning by large margins, normally around 60%. In 2014, for example, he beat Democrat Dave Peiser 98,161 (60%) to 64,981 (40%). There was a very different result last year. The DCCC wrote off CA-49 long ago and has basically ignored the district. Late in the campaign they realized that a retired Marine colonel, Doug Applegate, was very polling strongly and building a formidable grassroots operation. So, for the first time ever, the DCCC jumped in against Issa. Had they done it a month earlier-- and spent the money they put in more effectively-- Applegate would have won. Instead, it was one of the closest results in the country-- and the last race to be called, not in November or December or even January, but in February! The final score was 155,888 (50.3%) to 154,267 (49.7%). Issa spent $6,275,754 to Applegate's $2,041,091. Early this morning, Doug told us that "The GOP leadership and Darrell Issa stands idly by while this White House destroys democracy. Upon my honor, that is a hill I will fight, defend and die on. We must continue to 'hold these truths to be self-evident.' The signers of the Declaration of Independence expected no less of themselves especially on the 4th of July."Applegate's grassroots operation is stronger than ever and he's running strongly. A major Pelosi crony, multimillionaire donor Ira Lechner, got it into his mind to run one of his friends, an Orange County Clinton bundler named Levin, and Pelosi promised to help push Applegate out of the race. She quickly discovered that Marine colonels don't get "pushed" by political hacks and their rich donors and she appears to have backed off, although Levin is still trying to get some traction in the district.Unlike most DCCC-backed candidates, Applegate has an issues page on his official campaign website, something the DCCC advises its sad puppet candidates not to do. Doug has been vigorously endorsed by VoteVets and by Blue America. He is very much in synch with the progressive, grassroots-oriented heart of the Democratic Party. He's a strong, independent-minded with a powerful sense of service and of values. For example, he's eager to get to DC and sign on as a co-sponsor to John Conyers' Medicare-For-All legislation "Other industrialized countries of the world have proven single player healthcare systems far more efficient and far more effective," he told us. "Now an American generation faces a future with a shorter life expectancy than their parents and at twice the cost of other industrialized countries. We must fight to put people ahead of insurance and healthcare profits. To that end, I would proudly stand with Congressman Conyers' bill HR 676." If you agree, if you feel inspired by his Independence Day video up top and and if you would like to help him fight off the onslaught from Levin and Issa, please click on the ActBlue thermometer on the right and give what you can.
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