Mike Levin

This assured that the district would be represented by someone from the Orange County portion of the district, though the 49th is a San Diego district by weight of population.

Levin is from San Juan Capistrano, while Harkey is from nearby Dana Point.

Barack Obama endorsed Levin as well as other candidates.

Michael Ted Levin (born October 20, 1978) is an American politician and attorney serving as the U.S. representative for California's 49th congressional district since 2019.

A member of the Democratic Party, he represents most of northern coastal San Diego County, as well as part of southern Orange County.

Levin was born in Inglewood, California, and raised in Lake Forest, California, in South Orange County.

His mother is Mexican-American and his father is Jewish.

Levin was raised in both the Jewish and Catholic faiths.

He attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles before attending Stanford University.

At Stanford, Levin served as president of the student body.

He attended law school at Duke University School of Law before returning to Orange County.

Levin co-founded CleanTech OC, a clean energy trade association in Orange County, and was profiled in an OC Metro "40 Under 40" piece for his work at FlexEnergy, a company that developed a technology to capture and use methane from landfills and wastewater treatment facilities.

The district had historically been one of Southern California's more Republican districts, but redistricting after the 2010 census cut out most of its heavily Republican inland portion, making it significantly more competitive.

Levin voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

This results in a Biden Plus/Minus score of +7.1 indicating more support for Biden's priorities than would be expected given the makeup of his district.

For the 118th Congress:

Levin has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America and an F rating from the Susan B. Anthony List for his voting record on abortion-related issues.

He has emphasized his support for "a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion".

Levin has prioritized addressing climate change, which has garnered attention from national media outlets covering energy and environmental issues.

During the 2022 elections, these outlets considered his reelection bid a high-profile race.

Levin voted for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the largest climate policy ever passed by Congress.

Levin has expressed support for the Green New Deal, a comprehensive plan to address climate change.

Levin supported the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Levin supported the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a bill to address the country's infrastructure needs through investments in rebuilding and modernization.

He was the director of government affairs at FuelCell Energy from 2014 to 2017.

He also served as vice president of Better Energy Systems, a consumer-facing cleantech startup based in Berkeley, California, and on the board of directors of the Center for Sustainable Energy, an environmental organization based in San Diego.

In this capacity, Levin opposed the redevelopment of Encina Power Station, arguing that "the proposed Carlsbad plant contradicts the priorities that California has established to reduce pollution across our state as it will use combustion to generate power."

Levin served as the executive director of the Democratic Party of Orange County.

He later served on the National Finance Committee for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for President.

Issa had nearly been defeated in 2016 as Hillary Clinton carried the district.

On March 8, 2017, Levin announced his candidacy for United States Congress in California's 49th congressional district to replace incumbent representative Darrell Issa.

At a town hall event that Issa held on March 11, 2017, Levin publicly confronted Issa and mentioned a book he had sent Issa in 2016, Climate Change for Beginners.

Levin charged that Issa's solution to climate problems "is to build more natural gas plants and to keep the nuclear energy plants online for longer.... I think that's an unfathomable proposal for a progressive and environmentally-friendly place like San Diego."

On January 10, 2018, Issa announced his retirement.

Levin campaigned with a platform focused on energy and environmental issues.

Due to the competitive character of the race as well as the absence of an incumbent, there were 16 candidates on the ballot in the primary.

The large number of candidates in the nonpartisan blanket primary led to fears that Democrats would be locked out of the general election.

In the June 5 primary, Levin came in second to Republican State Board of Equalization chair Diane Harkey and advanced to the general election.

In the 2020 general election, Levin defeated Republican Brian Maryott with 53.1% of the vote.

In the 2022 general election, Levin again defeated Republican Brian Maryott, this time with 52.6% of the vote.