Your guide to California’s Congressional District 49 race: Orange and San Diego counties

Democratic incumbent Rep. Mike Levin is facing off with several Republican challengers to represent California’s 49th Congressional District.

Key issues in this coastal district, which encompasses portions of Orange and San Diego counties, include the environment, immigration, tourism and veterans’ needs. Democrats have a slight voter registration advantage in the district.

• Mike Levin, Democrat, incumbent.

Levin worked as an environmental attorney in the clean-energy field before he was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018. His legislative actions in Congress have included supporting zero-emission vehicles, removing spent nuclear fuel from sites near large populations including San Onofre and protecting water quality. He said his top priorities include fighting climate change, supporting veterans, ending veteran homelessness and protecting democracy, according to his campaign website.

• Matt Gunderson, Republican, retired small-business owner.

Gunderson owned three car dealerships in Orange County before he retired. He ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2022. He’s served as chairman of the Mission Hospital Foundation Board and was a member of the Saddleback College Foundation Board. His campaign has largely focused on affordability for the middle class.

• Sheryl Adams, Republican, automotive technology executive.

Adams, a first-time candidate, has worked as an executive at Ford Motor Co., GE Capital, General Motors and Hyundai. She wrote on her campaign website that she led the development of GM’s OnStar system. Her legislative priorities include closing the U.S.-Mexico border, increasing funding for law enforcement and supporting policies that increase renewable energy and domestic oil production.

• Margarita Wilkinson, Republican, businesswoman.

Wilkinson, who was born in Mexico and grew up along the border in El Paso, is a first-time candidate. She’s worked at Univision and is currently the senior vice president of Santa Monica-based Entravision Communications. In October 2023, the End Citizens United political action committee filed a complaint against Wilkinson with the Justice Department, alleging the candidate failed to file a personal finance disclosure form. Her legislative priorities include securing the border, strengthening the economy and reducing crime.

• Kate Monroe, Republican, veterans advocate and businesswoman.

Monroe is a former Marine signals analyst who founded VetComm, which helps veterans obtain disability benefits. She’s worked in sales roles at ROI Ventures and in the hospitality industry at WorldMark San Diego and Wyndham. She is also the executive director of House the Heroes, which offers low-cost private housing for homeless and disabled veterans. Her legislative priorities include boosting security along the border, supporting veterans, ensuring education is “free of indoctrination and sexualization” and fighting “woke policies,” according to her campaign website.

This coastal district stretches from Laguna Beach in Orange County to Del Mar in San Diego County. It encompasses Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and the closed San Onofre nuclear station, so climate and veteran affairs are key issues for the district.

Levin has written or supported bills that sought to transition the country to zero-emission vehicles, ban new offshore drilling and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In December, Levin introduced the Resilient Coasts and Estuaries Act, which would allocate federal funds to programs that protect coastal habitats. He’s also supported efforts to remove spent nuclear fuel stored at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and introduced a bill last year to increase oversight of the decommissioned facility.

Gunderson told the San Diego Union-Tribune during his 2022 state Senate run that “the legislature should move immediately to do more to prevent wildfires, protect our beaches and waterways from exposure to oil or other toxic substances, stabilize the bluffs along the coast, and make sure disadvantaged communities get the same level of environmental protection our wealthy communities have.” He also told the newspaper that mandating all-electric vehicles by 2035 “is a total farce unless we can produce enough green energy to power this shift away from fossil fuels.”

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Adams supports what she describes as an “America first” sustainable energy policy that focuses on renewable energy, domestic oil production and the use of fossil fuels, according to her campaign website.

Wilkinson wrote on Facebook in September 2023 that dealing with the sewage flowing into the Pacific Ocean from the Tijuana River watershed along the U.S.-Mexico border would be one of her top priorities in Congress.

Monroe told The Times she is “not a person who is going to say there is no such thing as climate change,” but believes there are more pressing issues that should be tackled. She said addressing homelessness and drug use was more important and “actually affects people’s day-to-day health.” She said global climate change is “much more difficult” since the “problem is so massive,” adding: “We should start where we live and start cleaning up what we love.”

Levin told The Times he supports measures to reduce the cost of healthcare and energy to improve affordability for middle- and low-income Californians. He voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices. He also supports policies to “end our reliance on expensive, foreign-produced fossil fuels, while incentivizing domestic clean energy,” he said.

Affordability in California has been a focus of Gunderson’s campaign. He supports an amendment to the Constitution that would require Congress to balance its budget each year and limit spending. He told the Orange County Register in an interview last year that California is “an incredibly onerous place to start a business and create jobs. There are other areas of the country that are beckoning our people, and we should not live in a state where our children and our grandchildren are forced to leave because they can’t afford to be here.”

Adams said she opposes new taxes, particularly on the middle class, and will oppose any increases to the federal gas tax. She also told The Times that small businesses should have fewer regulations. “Congress must cut wasteful spending to lower inflation, which has caused skyrocketing cost of living. Everyday essentials such as food, utilities and housing have become unaffordable,” she said.

On her campaign website Wilkinson described the economy as “flailing” and blamed rising costs for families and small businesses on government overspending and too much regulation. Her goals are to “lower taxes, get spending under control so we can end inflation, and create an economy that allows us to thrive, innovate, and not live paycheck-to-paycheck,” she wrote.

Monroe wrote in a news release last year that she would not vote to increase taxes in Congress. She also called on the government to “cut frivolous spending” to shrink the budget and deficit.