Maybe the fourth time will be different

The truth may not always hurt but it can sting.

The “only Democrat running for must-win CA-48 who has won an election, flipped a seat from red to blue…”, read the candidate announcement.

The only Democrat to win an election. Ouchie.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it but that bit about winning an election felt like a cushioned swipe at Ammar Campa-Najjar.
Campa-Najjar is the one-time candidate for Chula Vista mayor who lost to John McCann, and the one-time candidate for Congress who lost to Duncan Hunter (the one pardoned by President Donald Trump, not the senior Hunter), as well as the candidate for Congress who ran against Darrell Issa (who won the seat left open by the Hunter pardoned by Trump for illegally spending taxpayer money) who had previously retired from Congress representing a different district.

The 30-something perennial candidate who graduated from the Sweetwater Union High School District but reportedly referred to himself as an East County boy when he ran for a seat representing East County has not had much luck winning against Republicans.

That’s what fellow Democrat and current San Diego City Council member Marni von Wilpert’s campaign might have been alluding to when it announced this week that she was running for Congressional District 48 against Issa, should voters choose to redraw Congressional district lines in November.

It was just within the last week or so that Campa-Najjar had announced he was running for the new district if it comes to fruition. He was the lone high-ish profile name on the Democrat side planning for the role. But not any more.

So now Campa-Najjar must contend not only with another body in the blue spotlight but with von Wilpert, who is currently holding an elected office and who successfully defeated a Republican-turned Independent.

Voters in Chula Vista and National City won’t have any direct say in a race that still exists only in Wishfulthinkingville. The proposed district would still focus to the north and east of South County.

But it will be of passing interest to anyone who may find themselves wondering what ever became of the guy who ran to represent East County twice but then wanted to be Chula Vista’s mayor. And lost all three times.