Congressional District 49 incumbent Rep. Mike Levin faces a new challenger this November, Orange County car dealership owner Matt Gunderson. Levin, a Democrat living in San Juan Capistrano, twice defeated a different Republican businessman, former San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott, by 6.2 percent in 2020 and 5.2 percent in 2022. This year could be another close race for the two-year term. The district straddles coastal North County and southern Orange County. Gunderson lost a state Senate seat in 2022 by a slim 4.4 percent to Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, in another district that shares parts of San Diego and Orange counties. He said the top issues in the 49th District this year are controlling the border, reducing inflation and more support for law enforcement. “In my first term in Congress, I will work towards securing our border, stop out-of-control federal spending and pass term limits,” Gunderson told The San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year. Levin said he sees the top three issues as the cost of living, climate change, and border security. During his four years in Congress, Levin has pushed for the relocation of the spent fuel rods stored atop a beach bluff at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. He helped obtain $93 million for a program to find communities interested in the economic benefits of taking the spent fuel. He’s also supported sand replenishment projects, helping to get millions of dollars in federal funding to restore eroded beaches in Encinitas, Solana Beach and San Clemente. And he’s advocated efforts to protect the troubled coastal rail corridor that connects San Diego with the rest of the United States. Reproductive rights have become a big issue across the nation, with strong divisions among many red and blue candidates. Gunderson sidestepped a San Diego Union-Tribune question earlier this year on the subject, saying the Supreme Court has assigned that decision to the states, and that Californians approved Proposition 1 in 2022 amending the state constitution to protect reproductive freedoms. Later he released a statement saying, “I am a pro-choice Republican who believes abortions should be safe, legal and rare. I also understand the importance of contraception and support the ability of women to obtain it. I do not support restrictions to contraception.” Levin has said he believes strongly in abortion rights and that women should be free to control their own health care. “The government should not dictate what a woman can or cannot do with her own body,” Levin said. “I fully support enshrining Roe v. Wade into federal law, and I have cosponsored and voted for legislation that would do just this.” Levin also has said he supports a ban on assault weapons, while Gunderson said California needs to enforce the laws already in place. Together, the two candidates have spent more than $3.5 million from Jan. 1, 2023, through June 30 on the 2024 campaign, according to the most recent online information posted by the Federal Election Commission. Levin has reported spending about $2 million, while Gunderson has spent $1.5 million. The number of Democratic voters has grown faster than Republican voters in the district for more than 40 years. Democrats cast more than 3 million votes, or about 36 percent of the district’s total, for incumbent President Jimmy Carter in 1980, according to the website Data USA. Republicans had 4.4 million votes, or 53 percent for the former California Gov. Ronald Reagan. In the 2020 presidential election, the district’s Democrats produced more than 11 million votes, or 63.5 percent of the total, for then former Vice President Joe Biden. The district had 6 million votes, or 34 percent, for then President Donald Trump.