A federal grand jury indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife in August on charges of using hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hunter's congressional campaign account to pay for personal expenses, including family vacations, school tuition and theater tickets. | Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images Elections Poll: Hunter leads reelection race despite indictment

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who was indicted in August for allegedly misusing campaign funds, holds a lead over his Democratic opponent in a new Monmouth University poll released Thursday.

Hunter has 49 percent support to Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar’s 41 percent among all potential voters, including voters who have participated in elections since 2010 or have newly registered to vote. Another 10 percent of voters are still undecided. Under a pair of likely voter models, Hunter’s lead grew. A historical midterm model shows Hunter with 53 percent of the vote to Campa-Najjar’s 38 percent. Another model that projects for a potential surge in turnout, Hunter still leads by 51 percent to 40 percent.


A federal grand jury indicted Hunter and his wife in August on charges of using hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hunter's congressional campaign account to pay for personal expenses, including family vacations, school tuition and theater tickets.

But the indictment has not turned the voters of California's 50th Congressional District — a Republican-heavy slice of San Diego County — against Hunter, at least not yet, according to the poll. One in ten respondents who think Hunter is “probably guilty of the charges” are still willing to support his reelection bid. Just under 40 percent of voters believe Hunter is either definitely or probably guilty of these charges.

Hunter is also better-known than his Democratic challenger. A third of voters view Hunter unfavorably, while 35 percent view him positively. Another third of voters held no opinion on the congressman. A quarter of voters have favorable views of Campa-Najjar, a former Obama administration staffer, while 60 percent have no opinion on him.

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For nearly a half-century, the area has been represented by either Hunter or his father, also named Duncan Hunter.

The younger Hunter, who was first elected in 2008, has easily won reelection for the seat since then, and the district backed President Donald Trump by 15 points in 2016. More than half of voters told Monmouth University that they approve of Trump’s job performance, while 42 percent disapprove. Those who strongly approve of the president outnumber those who strongly disapprove of the president.

Hunter holds a lead over Campa-Najjar among white voters with college degrees, 50 percent to 42 percent — a bloc of voters that have largely trended toward Democrats this cycle. Campa-Najjar leads among minority voters.

The Monmouth University Poll interviewed 401 likely voters from Sept. 22 to Sept. 26. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.