Joe Biden to Campaign for Embattled Democrats in Southern California

President Joe Biden will arrive in Southern California on Thursday on a two-day swing to campaign for embattled Democrats in Southern California, where incumbents once thought to be safe are suddenly facing “toss-up” races against surging Republicans.

Biden will hold a “get out the vote” (GOTV) rally in Oceanside, California, for Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA), who represents a coastal district, the 49th, stretching from San Juan Capistrano in Orange County in the north to Del Mar in San Diego County in the south.

Levin won in 2018 in a district that was becoming increasingly liberal, as coastal elites moved to the left around the country. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who had barely won reelection in 2016, retired (and came back in 2020 in a more conservative inland district).

The former executive director of the Democratic Party in Orange County, Levin brought left-wing politics to the district. He aligned himself with the left of the party and with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who campaigned for him in the 2018 congressional race.

As Breitbart News reported:

Levin’s left-wing policies are little different from those of Sen. Sanders or “democratic socialist” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He says he “will strongly advocate for Medicare for All,” if elected. He rejects a border wall, and wants amnesty for the “undocumented.” He is pushing for gun control, and is apparently eager to do the teachers’ unions’ bidding, openly opposing what he calls the “desire to privatize public education” (though he himself attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles).

Now, after redistricting, Levin faces a more competitive district — and a more competitive year, in which voters, even in California, are rejecting “woke” policies and politicians, and in which support for Republican candidates is surging in the closing weeks.

Levin is being challenged by Republican Brian Maryott, who ran a distant second in the June “jungle” primary but who threatens to unseat the two-term incumbent. The Cook Political Report rates CA-49 a “toss-up,” along with CA-47 of Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA).

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.