California — 48th District

Ammar Campa-Najjar, 37, a Democrat and Navy reserve officer, is running for Congress representing inland North County cities, the San Diego County backcountry and parts of Riverside County in California’s 48th Congressional District.

Campa-Najjar, a La Mesa native, lives in San Diego.

The San Diego Union-Tribune emailed a series of questions to Campa-Najjar and other candidates to help inform voters about their positions, priorities and plans if elected.

Campa-Najjar said he used AI tools to edit his responses for grammar, spelling and length.

1) Why are you running, and what makes you the best candidate? (150 words max)

Giving back to my country and community has been my life’s mission, as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer, educator, union member and Obama administration official representing working families like mine.

I’m the proud son of a Palestinian immigrant and working-class Latina single mom. I know how it feels to struggle with the high cost of living and uncertainty our communities are facing today.

In Congress, I’ll bring years of experience across civilian and military service. I worked in the Obama White House, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and as an educator at Georgetown. Today, I serve as a Navy Reserve officer, committed to preventing forever wars.

My priorities are lowering costs, raising wages and taking on corruption. That means making everything from groceries to healthcare affordable, immigration reform, protecting reproductive freedom and LGBTQ+ rights and holding Trump and ICE accountable.

2) What are the top 3 issues facing this district? (150 words max)

Cost of living: The price of daily necessities like groceries, housing, energy and healthcare is increasing beyond reach for residents of CA-48. This is exacerbated by stagnant wages, jobs shipped overseas and tax breaks for billionaires and corporations.

Defending democracy: From Trump’s unauthorized war abroad to ICE’s war against residents across American cities, this administration poses the most serious threat to democracy in our lifetimes. America is in a constitutional crisis. I’ll vote to restore war powers to Congress and end forever wars.

The threat of ICE: As the son of a Palestinian immigrant with Latino family on both sides of the border, this issue is personal. ICE’s brutal tactics and lawlessness in our district threaten the safety and dignity of citizens and legal immigrants. On day one, I’ll move to dismantle and overhaul ICE and push for a new agency that executes the duty of managing immigration safely and humanely.

3) What are the first 3 things you would do in your first/next term in Congress? (150 words max)

First, I will introduce constitutional amendments to codify Roe v. Wade to protect a woman’s right to choose and overturn Citizens United to get big money out of politics. That’s how we take on corporate monopolies, Big Pharma, the gun lobby, insurance and utility companies and give power back to the people.

Second, I will introduce legislation to dismantle and replace ICE with a new agency, housed within the Department of Justice, that will ethically and legally do its job — with due process protections, impartial accountability and an explicit mandate to treat human beings with dignity.

Third, I will fight to bring down costs for CA-48 families by cracking down on insurance and utility price-gouging to lower the cost of healthcare, energy and other monthly bills. I’ll also work to cap prescription drug prices, oppose Trump’s costly tariffs and wars and invest federal dollars to provide housing and rental assistance for working families.

4) If your party wins control of Congress, what should be its first priority? If your party loses control of Congress, what should be its first priority? (100 words max)

If Democrats win the majority, our first priority must be an aggressive economic relief package: restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies, advancing universal healthcare and asking billionaires and corporations to pay their fair share so we can lower costs, raise wages and deliver universal childcare. We must also codify Roe v. Wade on day one.

If we’re in the minority, I’m willing to reach across the aisle to cap drug costs, ban private equity from buying homes and release the Epstein files. But Democrats’ priority must be oversight and a counter-agenda: Citizens United repeal, codifying abortion, ICE overhaul and cost-of-living relief.

5) President Trump has made cracking down on immigration a cornerstone of his administration, ordering widespread arrests and detentions of immigrants nationwide and directing military resources to a new military zone along the U.S.-Mexico border. What impact have these had on this district? What are your goals on immigrants, immigration and the border, and how would you pursue them if elected? What is your message to constituents who are immigrants? (150 words max)

Replacing ICE: Unlike my opponents, I support dismantling and replacing ICE with a new agency built on a clear mandate: enforce immigration law humanely, with full due process, and zero tolerance for abuse. The current agency is structurally broken, and patch jobs won’t fix it.

Concrete actions: I’ll push to end military deployment for civilian immigration enforcement, appoint more immigration judges, invest in smart border solutions at ports of entry, create an independent oversight board with subpoena power over immigration enforcement operations and pursue a real pathway to citizenship for the thousands of Dreamers and longtime residents who enrich our district’s economy and diverse community.

To my immigrant constituents: Thank you for loving our country, even when it may not always reciprocate that love. You are the healthcare workers, educators, farmers and fellow servicemembers who serve our community. I will fight to dismantle what’s broken and build something worthy.

6) It’s been nearly two months since the United States began a war with Iran. Do you believe Americans are better or worse off for it? What should Congress’s role be? Would you vote to let the president continue the war beyond the 60 days after which congressional authorization is required? (150 words max)

As a Navy Reserve officer, this war is personal. If it continues, my shipmates and I could be deployed, and we’re prepared to defend the homeland if it reaches our gates. I think about the military families across CA-48 who lived this story before in Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot afford another forever war.

Our region bears the weight of these decisions long after the headlines move on. That’s why I refuse to hand any president a blank check for war and why I wouldn’t vote to authorize this one without clearly defined objectives, lines of effort, a concrete exit strategy and timeline and real congressional oversight.

I’d also push for a multinational diplomatic off-ramp and a full public accounting of the intelligence behind the strikes, launched without congressional approval.

As the only service member representing San Diego, I would demand accountability before sending our men and women into harm’s way.

7) Recent jumps in the cost of fuel, food and other goods — combined with federal cuts to safety-net programs, new limits on certain federal loans and more — are squeezing residents already struggling with San Diego County’s high costs of living. What relief would you seek to offer, and how? (150 words max)

Immediate priorities: Beyond cracking down on price-gouging, I’ll vote to undo the Big Ugly Bill and end Trump’s war that’s raising the cost of gas and utilities for residents struggling. Instead of bombing schools and hospitals abroad, we should be housing them at home.

Housing: Congress needs to make it easier to build and buy homes. I’ll vote for permitting reforms and Sen. Raphael Warnock’s $25,000 assistance program for first-time homebuyers and renters.

Codifying Roe: I’ll vote to codify Roe v. Wade by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act. Reproductive healthcare is economic justice. That’s why I’ll work to lower our obscenely high maternal mortality rate, so women can make the choice themselves.

Healthcare and child care: I’ll fight to cap prescription drug and child care costs, expand the Child Tax Credit, restore Pell Grant purchasing power and pass a windfall profits tax on corporations that used tariff cover to raise prices.

8) Like much of California, this district has been affected by the effects of climate change. How should Congress mitigate those impacts, and what would you do to pursue such efforts? (100 words max)

Investments in a clean environment and economy: I’ll fight to restore clean energy investments gutted from the Inflation Reduction Act, fully fund wildfire mitigation and end fossil fuel subsidies. I’ll push for federal investment in water recycling and desalination critical to San Diego and Riverside County and protect California’s clean air standards from federal preemption.

Environmental justice: I’ll prioritize frontline communities, which are disproportionately lower-income and communities of color, for first-priority investment. Climate action is economic development. The clean energy economy creates jobs, lowers costs and builds regional resilience. I’ll fight to make CA-48 a hub of it.

9) Polling underscores that one chief concern of California voters in the 2026 midterm elections is the issue of threats to democracy. What do you believe are the greatest threats to American democracy? How would you, and how should Congress, protect against these? (100 words max)

Structural reforms: I’ll pursue a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, strengthen inspector general independence, pass the DISCLOSE Act and reform the War Powers Act.

Voting and bodily autonomy: I support codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law, because the right to control your own body is inseparable from democratic self-determination. We also need automatic voter registration and protection of election administration from partisan interference.

Checks and balances: I’ll protect judicial independence and establish consequences for executive defiance of congressional subpoenas. You cannot fix what’s broken with a Congress that has been purchased and a judiciary that has been politicized.

10) Do you support a ban or restriction on congressional lawmakers and their families buying or selling individual stocks? Why or why not? And what would you propose to ensure lawmakers aren’t using their positions to engage in insider trading? (100 words max)

Yes. Members of Congress should not profit from legislation they write, yet too many trade on inside knowledge from the committees writing the rules. It’s legalized corruption, and it has to end.

Ending legalized corruption also means overturning Citizens United, which I’ll introduce as a constitutional amendment on day one. Stock trading bans are insufficient if members can still be bought through super PAC spending.

I support a complete ban on individual stock trading for members of Congress and their families, real-time financial disclosure and barring members from serving on committees with jurisdiction over industries they hold financial interests in.

11) By design Congress is supposed to serve as a check on the executive branch through budgetary, legislative and oversight powers. Do you believe that Congress has fulfilled that obligation in recent years? Why or why not? Should Congress do more to hold the president accountable? Explain. (150 words max)

No, Congress has not fulfilled its obligation to serve as an independent check, and if elected I will take action to hold the president accountable:

The No Kings Act: I’ll co-sponsor and fight to pass the No Kings Act, which reasserts Congress’s constitutional authority by making clear that no president is above the law and that executive immunity has limits. That bill is a direct response to a Supreme Court that handed the executive branch a dangerous blank check and a Congress too timid to push back.

Strengthening oversight: I’d push for restored inspector general independence, mandatory disclosure of executive communications related to military deployments and foreign policy and a reformed subpoena enforcement mechanism that doesn’t require years of litigation to compel compliance.

Structural fixes: I support a standing congressional oversight office with independent investigative authority and stripping committee chairs of the ability to unilaterally block oversight hearings.

12) A recent San Diego Union-Tribune poll found voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the job Congress is doing, by higher margins than they disapprove of the job Trump is doing. Why do you think this is? How can Congress win back voters’ hope and trust, and what would you personally do to achieve this? (150 words max)

I’m proud to have the support of members of Congress who fight every day to oppose Trump and uplift working people. It’s their colleagues who give Congress a bad wrap. That’s why many see an institution that fundraises more than it legislates, turning policymakers into profitmakers who sell their votes to the highest bidder.

That’s why I’m committed to showing up, holding monthly town halls, publishing clear voting records, refusing corporate PAC money and pursuing legislation people actually feel.

Until we get dark money out of politics, we’re treating the symptom while the disease metastasizes. Trust has to be earned through a Congress that is visibly, demonstrably not for sale and fighting for the people who sent them.

As a voter, I’ve been let down by politicians — that’s why I’m running against them. We don’t have to settle anymore. If you’ll be my voice this election, I’ll be yours in Congress.