SAN DIEGO — Just days away from Election Day, President Joe Biden is set to visit San Diego to campaign for House Democrats.
Democrats are hoping the presidential visit will boost voter turnout in the tight Congressional race for California's 49th District between Incumbent Rep. Mike Levin and Brian Maryott.
Details surrounding Biden's visit to San Diego are developing, but Levin's campaign and the White House confirmed Biden would deliver remarks at a Get Out The Vote event at MiraCosta College Thursday in Oceanside.
The Levin campaign said Biden will highlight what they believe is at stake this election.
The event opens to the public at 4:30 p.m. and begins at 6:30 p.m., according to the Levin campaign.
RNC Spokesperson Hallie Balch gave CBS 8 the following statement about Biden's visit to San Diego. "Republicans gladly welcome Joe Biden to San Diego for his campaign stop with Mike Levin, which will be a boon for the GOP and remind voters to choose Brian Maryott on November 8th.The Biden-Levin agenda has been a complete failure for California families and Biden’s visit with Levin keeps the record of failure fresh in Californians' minds.”
California: A GOP Battleground
One of the biggest battlegrounds in the fight to control the U.S. House is heavily Democratic California. Despite the state's reputation as a liberal monolith, there are scattered pockets of conservative strength, the Associated Press reported.
With household budgets strained by inflation and President Joe Biden's national popularity lukewarm, state Republicans are hoping to pick up as many as five House seats. At the same time, Democrats are looking to claw back four seats they lost in 2020, in Orange County and the Central Valley, and perhaps gain more. There are 221 Democrats, 212 Republicans and two vacancies in the House.
Republicans see a pickup opportunity in the 49th District, which runs through Orange and San Diego counties and only has a slight Democratic registration edge.
Democratic Rep. Mike Levin is seeking another term after first capturing the seat in 2018, and he's facing businessman and former San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott, who was defeated by Levin in 2020.
Levin has focused heavily on veterans affairs, as well as climate change and the environment, in the coastal district that straddles Camp Pendleton. Maryott says he will resist “fringe socialist interests” and argues its time for a change with families and businesses “feeling the squeeze of inflation, higher interest rates, higher gas and energy prices.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
WATCH RELATED: 2022 California Election | Why midterms usually punish the party in power (Oct. 2022).
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