San Juan Mayor Brian Maryott Has Eye On 49th District Seat

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott has expressed his intentions to unseat first-term Rep. Mike Levin, D-Oceanside, next year and return the 49th Congressional District to Republican control.

"For too long now, we have been watching our politicians and our parties try to go it alone," he said on his Facebook page. "...More and more it seems people are taking sides. Enough already. We already have unity in our primary goals; we need some sense of reasonable decorum as we strive to achieve them. Let’s all sit down and get to work on what ails us. We are far and away the most successful, admired, and giving country in the world, and that’s a pretty good starting point..."

Levin won over former state Board of Equalization member Diane Harkey in the November mid-term election, flipping her seat democrate, which Republican Darrell Issa held since 2002.

Cook Political Report's Partisan Voting Index currently rates the California's 49th as a swing district, with the GOP eking out a 3 percent advantage in voter registration.

Levin ran an unabashedly left campaign against Harkey to win the seat and has since endorsed priorities for the party's progressive caucus like expanding Medicare and passing a so-called Green New Deal with the goal of mitigating the effects of climate change.

Maryott called Levin's platform "too extreme" for the district that includes parts of southern Orange County and northern San Diego County, including Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad and Encinitas, along with Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.

"His reckless Green New Deal would cost our country millions of jobs, tens of trillions of dollars in new national debt and inflict major financial damage on San Diego and Orange County families," Maryott said. "Levin's extreme irresponsibility on this and other issues show him to be out of touch with the vast majority of families in the 49th Congressional district."

Maryott framed himself as a fiscal conservative seeking to represent the district with policy ideas he said are common sense, like improving border safety, fostering stable economic growth and slashing government spending. He also pledged to avoid kowtowing to special interests and "fringe socialist interests."

Adam Berkowitz, the manager for Levin's re-election campaign, dismissed Maryott as "another Trump acolyte resorting to name calling and personal attack rather than respectful debate."

"Our district deserves better," he said. Maryott is a Massachusetts native who was elected to San Juan City Council in Dec. 2016. His term expires in Dec. of 2020.

Only one Republican, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, currently represents any section of San Diego County in Congress.

For more information, visit: maryottforcongress.com

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig, contributed to this report.