2026 Election

‘My Last Chance’: Perennial Candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar Believes He Can Finally Win an Election

The California Democrat has strong support in Washington, including from his partner, Rep. Sara Jacobs. But local Democrats have accused him of having “a lack of clear principles.”

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Democratic congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

By Oriana González

March 9, 2026 05:15 a.m.

Ammar Campa-Najjar has lost every single election he’s run in.

Many California Democrats who’ve backed Campa-Najjar in the past don’t want to see him run again. In 2018 and 2020, he easily won the California Democratic Party’s official endorsement, but this year, he did not. And yet, Campa-Najjar thinks 2026 is his best shot at winning.

Campa-Najjar first ran for Congress in 2018 against Rep. Duncan Hunter, who had been indicted for misusing campaign funds, losing by 3.4 percentage points. He lost in 2020 to Rep. Darrell Issa by 8 percentage points. He lost the Chula Vista mayoral race to John McCann in 2022 by 4.2 percentage points.