Republican Rep. Duncan D. Hunter will win re-election to a sixth term in California’s 50th District, despite being indicted in August on charges of misusing campaign funds, NBC News projects.
The embattled incumbent was accused of “race-baiting” his challenger, Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Latino Arab-American.
Hunter was indicted along with his wife by a federal grand jury for allegedly misusing over $250,000 in campaign funds. He had been running neck and neck in polls with Campa-Najjar, who Hunter’s campaign claimed was a security risk due to his Palestinian grandfather’s connection to the 1972 Munich massacre of members of Israel’s Olympics team.
Campa-Najjar raised $1.4 million in the third quarter while the incumbent collected less than $133,000. The district, which President Donald Trump carried by 15 points in the 2016 election, includes portions of San Diego and Riverside counties.
NBC News has projected that the Democrats will take back the House.
