Doug Applegate announces he’s running in 2018, sets up for a rematch against Darrell Issa

San Diego — 

On Monday, Doug Applegate’s effort to unseat Rep. Darrell Issa fell short by a few thousand votes. On Tuesday, the challenger announced he would run again for the House of Representatives in midterm elections in two years.

“As a Marine Colonel, I know that the hardest fights often take a couple of battles — and I look forward to continuing our fight in the days, weeks, and months ahead,” Applegate said in a statement. “That’s why I’m announcing my intention to run for Congress in 2018.”

As of Tuesday afternoon Issa, a Vista Republican, had a 2,346-vote lead over Applegate in his campaign for a ninth term in the House with fewer than 1,000 mail-in and provisional ballots left to count. Applegate had 49.6 percent of the electorate to Issa’s 50.4 percent, the incumbent’s smallest win since his first election to the House in 2000 when 60.5 percent of voters supported him.

Over the last 16 years, the Republican Party’s presence in Issa’s district has dwindled while the percentage of Democrats and voters with no party affiliation has grown. When Issa was first elected 52.4 percent of registered voters were members of the GOP, and 27.2 percent were Democrats, and another 15.4 percent were not members of a party.

Ahead of this year’s general election 39.5 percent were Republicans, 31.2 percent were Democrats, and 24.8 percent didn’t belong to a party.

While Applegate did not specifically mention running again against Issa, no others have publicly expressed interest in the seat, and Issa has given no hint of leaving the district.

Besides setting up for a re-match, Applegate’s early entrance into the midterm elections tells others who saw Issa’s small victory margin that there’s already a strong challenger in the field.

It also may change how Issa spends the next two years; Republicans, including ones who supported Issa, credited Applegate for running a competitive race that forced Issa to spend more time tending to the 49th Congressional District., which includes portions of north San Diego County and southern Orange County.

Issa’s campaign said it wasn’t unusual that Applegate would run again.

“It’s hardly a surprise and not something we’re worried about,” campaign spokesman Calvin Moore said. “Voters already rejected Applegate once and the millions of dollars of outside special interests spent attacking Congressman Issa — and they’ll do it again.”

Applegate, a Marine infantryman who later became a trial lawyer, was a rising star in the Democratic party after he finished with 45.5 percent of the votes in the June primary, which put him within striking distance of Issa, who received 50.8 percent. Far-left candidate Ryan Wingo received 3.7 percent.

His strong showing brought support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a super PAC that supports progressives, and an endorsement from President Barack Obama.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

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