As Criminal Trial Looms, Duncan Hunter Will Plead Guilty

Facing a potentially messy trial over alleged systematic campaign finance violations, Republican congressman Duncan Hunter is expected to plead guilty and possibly resign the San Diego seat he has held for 11 years.

Last year, Hunter was charged with 60 criminal counts accusing him and his wife, who was also his former campaign treasurer, of using more than $250,000 in campaign contributions for personal expenses — including groceries, dental bills, golf outings and weekend getaways with a woman other than his wife.

Hunter, a former Marine who initially dismissed the indictment as a political witch hunt, told KUSI: "It's important not to have a public trial for three reasons, and those reasons are my kids."

Hunter's ex-wife, Margaret, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in June, acknowledged using $600 to cover the cost of flying the family pet rabbit, Eggburt, across the country. That allegation careened across the Twittersphere when it was first revealed.

Hunter, whose 50th Congressional District is heavily Republican, squeaked by Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in the midterm election last year, even as he was under indictment.

"Duncan Hunter's legal liabilities were the only thing that created a political vulnerability for Republicans in this district," said UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. "Remember, this is a district that Donald Trump carried by 15 percentage points."

Hunter, already contending with at least two well-known Republican challengers, faced grim prospects for winning another term.

Conservative talk show host Carl DeMaio has $1.2 million in the bank for a campaign against Hunter, according to DeMaio's latest campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission. DeMaio, who previously ran for office in San Diego, will face former Republican congressman Darrell Issa, who decided not to run for reelection in a nearby congressional district two years ago.

Today DeMaio seemed eager to use that fact against Issa.

"I think the voters in the 50th want a fighter, not a quitter," DeMaio told KQED. "And Darrell Issa has shown that he's someone who runs from fights. He let the president down by quitting his reelection bid in 2018, along with 39 other Republicans ... who were cowardly and quit on the president. They cut and run."

Democrat Campa-Najjar is also running again and has more than $850,000 on hand, according to FEC filings. Issa has a personal fortune in addition to a list of campaign donors from his previous runs for office. Hunter by comparison had just $289,000 in his campaign account.

Reached by phone, Campa-Najjar professed regret at Hunter's demise, adding that it's time for the district to move forward.

"It's bittersweet," Campa-Najjar said. "No constituent wishes for their congressman to plead guilty and face jail time. "I respect his service as a Marine and the time he spent in Congress, especially before the swamp sunk its teeth into him."

UC San Diego's Kousser said Campa-Najjar "ran a very strong campaign in 2018 and has really coalesced Democratic support around him. I think we'll see him emerge from the top-two primary, but then face an uphill battle in November against whichever Republican candidate untarnished by the Duncan Hunter scandal emerges from the primary."

DeMaio dismissed Campa-Najjar as "a socialist" for his support of the Green New Deal plan for reducing carbon emissions to fight climate change.

"I’m not a coastal elite or a millionaire," Campa-Najjar countered. DeMaio "is just trying to use scare tactics to deflect from his own record. He calls himself a fighter, but I call him a loser," a reference to DeMaio's previous failed bids for elected office.

Depending on when Hunter resigns his seat, there will either be a special election to fill it before the March 3 primary, with a runoff likely in May, or the election would be consolidated with the March primary and November general election in 2020.