Levin Declared Winner in Race to Retain 49th District Congressional Seat

Rep. Mike Levin on Tuesday won reelection to the House in the 49th District, according to the Associated Press.

Levin, a Democrat, initially flipped the seat, including parts of North County and Orange County, in the 2018 midterms.

This year, he defeated Republican Matt Gunderson, who owns a car dealership. The Associated Press declared Levin the winner at 7:06 p.m. PST.

Levin released a statement claiming victory. He called the contest “a hard fought, competitive race.”

“Among the top reasons for this win is my record of passing 30 bipartisan laws and bringing back more than $1 billion in funding for projects that are improving our quality of life,” he said. “I stand by my record and look forward to building on that progress.”

Democrat Joe Biden comfortably carried the district in 2020. This year, Kamala Harris won both San Diego and Orange counties, but narrowly in the latter.

In the latest count from the Secretary of State’s office, after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Levin led 52% to Gunderson’s 48%, a difference of 14,199 votes.

In the earliest returns on election night, Levin trailed Gunderson by a razor-thin margin, then leapt ahead. But his lead steadily dropped.

Voters in San Diego County lined up for the incumbent; Levin took 56.33% of the vote. But in Orange County they opted for Gunderson, who won that portion of the district with 55.68% of ballots cast.

With control of the House on the line, Republicans are within two wins of retaining the gavel, with the tally at 216-206 in favor of the GOP as counting continued in a sliver of races across the country, many of them in California.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.