California's 50th congressional district

Infobox U.S. congressional district
state = California
district number = 50

---

representative = Brian Bilbray
party = Republican
english area = 365
metric area =
percent urban = 97.8
percent rural = 2.2
population = 639,087
population year = 2000
median income = 59,813
percent white = 65.8
percent black = 1.8
percent asian = 10.3
percent native american = 0.3
percent hispanic = 18.8
percent other race = 0.2
percent blue collar =
percent white collar =
percent gray collar =
cpvi = R+5

California's 50th congressional district represents a part of north coastal San Diego County. Its seat in the United States House of Representatives has been represented by Republican Brian Bilbray since the special election of June 13, 2006.

History

44th District

In the 1980s, ushr|California|44|California's 44th District was one of four that divided San Diego, California. The district had been held for eight years by Democrat Jim Bates and was considered the most Democratic district in the San Diego area. However, Bates became bogged down in a scandal involving charges of sexual harassment. Randy "Duke" Cunningham won the Republican nomination and hammered Bates about the scandal. Cunningham won by just a point, meaning that the San Diego area was represented entirely by Republicans for only the second time since the city was split into three districts after the 1960 census. After winning, Cunningham changed his official residence from his Del Mar home to a condo in Mission Valley, San Diego, as he was required to reside in his district.

41st District

In the 1980s, ushr|California|41|California's 41st District was another of four that divided San Diego, California. The North San Diego County district had been held for twelve years by Republican Bill Lowery and was considered the most Republican district in the San Diego area. The District was renumbered as ushr|California|51|California's 51st District after the 1990 census. In 1992 Cunningham campaigned against Lowery in Lowery's district in the Republican primary. The new 51st District was much more conservative than Cunningham's more urban, old 41st District further south. Lowery, who was tainted by the House check kiting scandal, lost the primary to Cunningham, who billed himself as honest, with his campaign theme of "A Congressman We Can Be Proud Of". Cunningham changed his official residence back to his Del Mar home in the old 41st/new 51st District after winning.

2000s

In the 2000 census, the 51st District was renumbered the ushr|California|50|50th District. The district was gerrymandered to exclude the relatively liberal areas of La Jolla, Bird Rock, downtown La Jolla, and UCSD. Those areas were moved to the more liberal ushr|California|53|53rd District, and the more conservative community of Clairemont Mesa was added to the new 50th District.

Voting

List of Representatives

Election results

1992

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Filner
votes = 77,293
percentage = 56.6Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Tony Valencia
votes = 39,531
percentage = 28.9Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Barbara Hutchinson
votes = 15,489
percentage = 11.3Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Peace and Freedom Party (United States)
candidate = Roger Bruce Batchelder
votes = 4,250
percentage = 3.1Election box candidate no party in partisan race no change
candidate = Pickard (write-in)
votes = 63
percentage = 0.1Election box total no change
votes = 136,626
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box gain with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)
loser = Republican Party (United States)

1994

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Filner (incumbent)
votes = 59,214
percentage = 58.90Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Mary Alice Acevedo
votes = 36,955
percentage = 32.50Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Richardo Duenez
votes = 3,326
percentage = 3.18Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Peace and Freedom Party (United States)
candidate = Guillermo Ramirez
votes = 3,002
percentage = 2.87Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Green Party (United States)
candidate = Kip Krueger
votes = 1,954
percentage = 1.87Election box total no change
votes = 118,340
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)

1996

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Filner (incumbent)
votes = 73,200
percentage = 58.9Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Jim Baize
votes = 38,351
percentage = 32.5Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Reform Party (United States)
candidate = Dan Clark
votes = 3,253
percentage = 2.7Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Natural Law Party (United States)
candidate = Earl Shepard
votes = 6,573
percentage = 1.8Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Philip Zoebisch
votes = 1,398
percentage = 1.1Election box total no change
votes = 118,340
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)

1998

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Filner (incumbent)
votes = 77,354
percentage = 99.18Election box candidate no party in partisan race no change
candidate = Jon Parungoa (write-in)
votes = 596
percentage = 0.77Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Petra E. Barajas (write-in)
votes = 41
percentage = 0.05Election box total no change
votes = 77,991
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)

2000

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Filner (incumbent)
votes = 95,191
percentage = 68.3Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Bob Divine
votes = 38,526
percentage = 27.7Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = David A. Willoughby
votes = 3,472
percentage = 2.4Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Natural Law Party (United States)
candidate = LeAnn S. Kendall
votes = 2,283
percentage = 1.6Election box total no change
votes = 139,472
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)

2002

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Duke Cunningham (inc.)
votes = 111,095
percentage = 64.4Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Del G. Stewart
votes = 55,855
percentage = 32.3Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Richard M. Fontanesi
votes = 5,751
percentage = 3.3Election box total no change
votes = 172,701
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Republican Party (United States)

2004

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Duke Cunningham (inc.)
votes = 169,025
percentage = 58.5Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Francine Busby
votes = 105,590
percentage = 36.5Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Green Party (United States)
candidate = Gary M. Waayers
votes = 6,504
percentage = 2.2Election box candidate with party link no change
party = American Independent Party
candidate = Diane Templin
votes = 4,723
percentage = 1.6Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Brandon C. Osborne
votes = 3,486
percentage = 1.2Election box total no change
votes = 289,328
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Republican Party (United States)

2006 (Special)

Representative Cunningham resigned on November 28, 2005 as a result of a bribery scandal. An open special election was held on April 11, 2006. The top vote getter was Democrat Francine Busby, who won 44 of the vote. The second place finisher was Republican Brian Bilbray, who won 15% of the vote. Paul King was the top Libertarian party vote getter, with 0.6 of the vote. Since no candidate received a simple majority, the top vote-getters in each party competed in a runoff or special general election on June 6, 2006 (the same day as the statewide California primary). Bilbray was sworn in on June 13, based on unofficial counts, two weeks before the election was certified. As a consequence of this action, a court challenge to the election results filed by voters was denied on jurisdictional grounds. [cite news | title = Judge throws out 50th District election lawsuit | url = http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/08/30/news/top_stories/7_05_458_29_06.txt | date = 2006-08-29 | publisher = North County Times | accessdate = 2006-10-03] This decision is being appealed.

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Brian Bilbray
votes = 64,554
percentage = 49.5Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Francine Busby
votes = 59,021
percentage = 45.3Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = William Griffith
votes = 4,846
percentage = 3.7Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Paul King
votes = 1,995
percentage = 1.5Election box total no change
votes = 134,302
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Republican Party (United States)

2006

Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Brian Bilbray (incumbent)
votes = 118,018
percentage = 53.2Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Francine Busby
votes = 96,612
percentage = 43.5Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Libertarian Party (United States)
candidate = Paul King
votes = 4,119
percentage = 1.8Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Peace and Freedom Party (United States)
candidate = Miriam E. Clark
votes = 3,353
percentage = 1.5Election box total no change
votes = 222,102
percentage = 100.0Election box turnout no change
percentage =Election box hold with party link without swing
winner = Republican Party (United States)

References in popular culture

On November 29 2005, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" declared on his show that the 50th Congressional District was "dead" to him after its insufficient support for his "friend" Duke Cunningham. Colbert placed the district on the show's ever-changing "Dead to Me" board, saying that he now considered the number of congressional districts in the United States to be 434. The number became 433 when he retired the 22nd District of Texas and sent it up to the rafters. However, on June 8, 2006, the eve of Tom Delay's leaving Congress, Colbert returned the district to the board with a satirical "tribute" to DeLay, followed by a fake interview segment made from spliced-together clips of three interviews DeLay had done in the past. Colbert put the district back into retirement at the end of the segment.On March 1, 2006, he "downgraded" the 50th District's status from "dead to me" to "never existed to me." [List of The Colbert Report episodes, episodes 122 and 226]

References

External links

*GovTrack.us: [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=CA&district=50 California's 50th congressional district]
* [http://ca.rand.org/stats/politics/sov/elect.defs.html RAND California Election Returns: District Definitions]
* [http://www.calvoter.org/voter/maps/congress/CD50.pdf California Voter Foundation map - CD50]