Photo credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull
By Arturo Castañares
Editor-at-Large
A perennial Democratic candidate who faced accusations of being a carpetbagger for jumping between different residences in previous campaigns is launching his fourth run for public office after losing three consecutive elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
Ammar Campa-Najjar, 36, announced last month that he plans to challenge Republican Congressman Darrell Issa next year after having lost to him in 2020.
Issa had retired from Congress in 2018 after serving nine terms, but then moved into the 48th District to run against Campa-Najjar, former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, and incumbent Congressman Duncan Hunter, who was under criminal indictment at the time. Issa defeated Campa-Najjar in the November 2020 General Election.
Campa-Najjar also ran unsuccessfully against Hunter in 2018 and lost his campaign for Mayor of Chula Vista in 2022 against then-Councilman John McCann.
His latest campaign comes after Governor Gavin Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature passed a plan to gerrymander the state’s congressional districts to make several of them more competitive for Democrats, including Issa’s 48th District.
The new maps would only become effective if California voters pass Proposition 50 on the November ballot in a move launched after Texas Republicans redrew their congressional maps in hopes of gaining more seats that could help their Party gain votes in Congress and in the Electoral College to win presidential elections.
The proposed district would add the Coachella Valley area to existing areas that includes most San Diego communities east of Interstate 15 from Mt. Helix to Murrieta, and from the Mexico border to the Imperial County line.
Although Campa-Najjar is currently registered to vote in the Kensington area of San Diego, he will be running in East County areas where he ran in his 2018 and 2020 campaigns.
Campa-Najjar is registered to vote and lives at the home of Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, who has been dating the perennial candidate since they first met while they were both first-time congressional candidates in 2018.
Campa-Najjar with Sara Jacobs
Although they both lost their respective races that year, Jacobs won her election the following cycle in 2020 after moving to a new district, and was later elected to another seat after the 2022 reapportionment. Jacobs was re-elected in 2024 and will be up for re-election next year.
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs
Jacobs, 36, is a granddaughter of billionaire QUALCOMM co-founder Irwin Jacobs.
Congressional candidates and elected members must be registered to vote in their home state, but not necessarily in their own district, although accusations of being a “carpetbagger” usually are made against candidates who don’t live within their district.
RESIDENCY ISSUES
Campa-Najjar may again face questions about his residency after he was accused of not living within the City of Chula Vista during his 2022 campaign for Mayor.
Before that election, Campa-Najjar’s opponent, Councilman John McCann, hired a former FBI agent and licensed private investigator to confirm where Campa-Najjar was living to determine whether he met the requirements of the City of Chula Vista that candidates be registered and live within the City.
McCann later released videos showing Campa-Najjar arriving at Jacobs’ San Diego condominium building at night and leaving in the morning on consecutive days during the campaign, in addition to pictures of packages delivered to Jacobs’ condo addressed to Campa-Najjar.
Package addressed to Campa-Najjar at Jacobs' condo
In one video, Campa-Najjar and Jacobs left her condo together as she was headed back to Washington, D.C., then he returned to stay the night alone in her condo.
Campa-Najjar drove a white Tesla sedan owned by and registered to Jacobs in all of the videos.
When confronted, Campa-Najjar insisted he was living in a family condo in Chula Vista where he had lived when he graduated from Eastlake High School in 2007.
The condo was previously owned by his grandmother but was then occupied by his uncle, aunt, and her adult daughter. During his race for Mayor, Campa-Najjar and six other family members were registered to vote at the three-bedroom condo in Eastlake.
Campa-Najjar released copies of his drivers' license and SDG&E showing the Chula Vista address, but he refused to prove that he actually lived there when La Prensa San Diego asked to visit the Chula Vista condo just one month before the election.
Campa-Najjar's drivers licenses with CV address
McCann defeated Campa-Najjar in the November 2022 Election.
During his previous congressional races in 2018 and 2020, however, Campa-Najjar called himself a “Jamuligan” because he claimed he had lived with his mom and her husband in the East Coast community of Jamul as a teenager.
Campa-Najjar used his mom’s home in Jamul as his voter registration address during his two previous congressional campaigns.
During his 2020 campaign, Campa-Najjar posted on social media a picture of himself standing in his mom’s backyard in Jamul, calling his opponents Issa and DeMaio “carpetbaggers” for not living within the district.
“Chillin at my pad. What a novel idea, a candidate running for congress who can actually vote for himself! Cc: Darrell Issa and Carl Demaio. #CarpetBaggers," Campa-Najjar wrote.
Campa-Najjar selfie in Jamul in 2019
Between his last failed congressional race and the Chula Vista mayoral campaign, Campa-Najjar also used his aunt’s address in Bonita to open a campaign for State Assembly, but he quickly abandoned that race before filing to run for Mayor.
After the Chula Vista mayoral campaign, Campa-Najjar registered at Jacobs’ new home in Kensington. She is also registered to vote at that address.
The home is within Jacobs’ 49th Congressional District but not within Issa’s 48th District, so Campa-Najjar would not be able to vote for himself from that address.
Another candidate who has announced to run against Issa is San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, who raised $100,000 in the first 24 hours after declaring her candidacy.
Von Wilpert, who is serving her second four-year term on the City Council, has stated she is a stronger candidate to face Issa because she is “the only Democrat in this race who’s won elections” and she flipped her Council district to become the first Democrat to represent the areas of Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, and Rancho Penasquitos.
CAREER
Campa-Najjar has listed several occupations and work experience in recent interviews, including being a former US Labor Department official, a US Naval officer, and, most recently, an educator.
During Barack Obama’s first term in office, Campa-Najjar was a White House intern sorting mail that would reach the President’s office, and later worked in the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
During his three campaigns, Campa-Najjar listed his ballot designation as "Small Business Owner," referring to his own consulting firm, ACN Strategies.
La Prensa San Diego has previously reported that Campa-Najjar's official filings during his congressional campaigns listed his income from ACN Strategies as low as $1,001 and $15,000 per year, but maintained liabilities of between $100,001 and $250,000.
When Campa-Najjar ran for Mayor in 2022, he disclosed his only income as being from ACN Strategies with an income range of between $10,001 to $100,000, but he did not disclose the names of any of its clients which paid him fees, so there is no record of who was providing financial support for him while he ran for office.
In late 2023, Campa-Najjar announced that he had received a direct commission into the US Navy Reserves and became an Ensign after completing his initial training. Campa-Najjar was assigned to a public relations position.
Last month, Campa-Najjar posted online that he would be “teaching” at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the oldest federally chartered university in the country.
In recent interviews, Campa-Najjar has repeatedly said he would be “teaching” at Georgetown, even saying he was called to lead the next generation at Georgetown.
Campa-Najjar posted an acceptance letter from March 2025 where he was admitted to the Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution program at Georgetown for Fall 2025.
Campa-Najjar's acceptance letter from Georgetown University
La Prensa San Diego asked Georgetown University for details on Campa-Najjar’s employment and responsibilities, but only received a vague response attributed to a “spokesperson.”
“We are grateful for the dedicated work of graduate student assistants in supporting our educational and research mission. Each academic department hires graduate students based on its specific needs and criteria, in accordance with the University’s applicable hiring practices.”
Campa-Najjar is not listed on any Georgetown University documents as an instructor, teacher, or professor.
A professor who teaches undergraduate political science classes confirmed Campa-Najjar is working with him.
“I can confirm that Ammar is working with me as an instructor for GOVT 1200,” Professor Hans Noel responded by email.
Georgetown's Faculty Handbook requires that than "Instructor" have at least "Candidacy for the Ph.D., M.F.A., J.D., M.D., or other recognized terminal degree."
Campa-Najjar earned a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Psychology from San Diego State University, but not have an advanced degree.
A recent article in the Georgetown student newspaper, The Hoya, titled “GU Graduate Student Runs for Congress” described Campa-Najjar as a “graduate student” and a “teaching assistant.”
“Until November, Campa-Najjar will remain at Georgetown, where he is also a teaching assistant for The U.S. Political System, an introductory class in the department of government that provides an overview of U.S. politics and governance,” the Hoya article stated. “He will take a leave of absence from his studies at Georgetown, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in conflict resolution, to begin his congressional campaign.
Last week, Campa-Najjar posted a selfie on social media of himself in an empty classroom with the caption, “Back in DC this morning to teach one of my Georgetown Government classes. These bright students give me hope,” Campa-Najjar wrote.
Campa-Najjar selfie from Georgetown University
Just months after the 2022 Chula Vista Mayor’s race, Campa-Najjar announced on social media that he would lead a program at San Diego State University as “Executive Director in Residence."
A flyer with a campaign picture of Campa-Najjar promoted a “Civic Engagement Initiative” aimed at “rising juniors who want to build experience tackling challenges that matter to San Diego."
SDSU flyer featuring Campa-Najjar before the initiative was cancelled
Emails and text messages revealed that Campa-Najjar had asked Chula Vista Councilman Jose Preciado for help in creating the position. Preciado served as Director of General Studies at SDSU and also taught classes in professional experience and community service at the time.
In text messages sent between Campa-Najjar and Preciado just three days after the November 2022 election, Campa-Najjar asked Preciado for help to become a "professor."
"I'd like to do a professor of practice ala Nathan Fletcher," Campa-Najjar wrote to Preciado on November 11, 2022, three days after losing his campaign for Mayor.
Campa-Najjar then attached a link to a San Diego Union-Tribune article from January 13, 2013, that covered the announcement that Nathan Fletcher had become a "professor of practice" after he lost his 2012 race for Mayor of San Diego.
Fletcher went on to be elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in 2018 but resigned in 2023 amid allegations of sexual harassment filed by a female transit agency employee.
After La Prensa San Diego submitted requests for records connected to the SDSU program, university officials said no executive director had yet been hired, and the entire initiative was later cancelled.
Campa-Najjar never held any position with SDSU or the initiative program.
La Prensa San Diego sent written questions to Campa-Najjar relating to his residency, work, studies, and position at Georgetown University, but he did not reply.
