It’s a contest of five in the race for California’s 49th congressional district, featuring a three-term incumbent Democrat and four Republican challengers.
Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, has represented the coastal district in San Diego and Orange counties since 2019.
Also jockeying for the seat are: Sheryl Adams, an automotive technology executive; Matt Gunderson, a small business owner; Kate Monroe, a businesswoman; and Margarita Wilksonson, a businesswoman.
And running for CA-49 isn’t the only similarity among the five contenders.
The candidates agree that more resources and funding should be allocated to the southern border. Since October, more than 961,000 people have been apprehended by U.S. immigration officials at the southern border, an issue permeating this election cycle.
Wilkinson, from Rancho Sante Fe, grew up near the U.S.-Mexico border. She said problems she saw on the local news then — gang violence, drugs and crime — still exist. Her solution is to give more funding, equipment and other resources to border patrol agents, an effort to “stop the flow of criminals and fentanyl” from crossing the border.
Levin, too, wants to see more resources for U.S. Customs and Border Protection so officials can secure the border and “ensure the orderly processing of asylum seekers,” he said. He touted his support for what was called the Dignity Act, legislation in Congress that provided for the hiring of additional border patrol personnel, funding for border infrastructure and resuming of barrier construction along the southern border as well as a pathway for permanent resident status to those who met certain eligibility requirements.
But Monroe, a Marine veteran, says…
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