Democrat under fire over campaign memo implying LGBTQ+ candidates aren’t electable in key California race

A Democratic congressional candidate in Southern California is facing backlash from LGBTQ+ leaders and party officials after circulating a campaign memo that critics say implies LGBTQ+ candidates are unelectable, while campaigning against a fellow Democrat who is queer.

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The controversy centers on a seven-page document circulated by the campaign of Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat and Navy veteran who has previously run for Congress and for mayor and is now seeking the party’s nomination in the newly drawn 48th Congressional District. He’s facing Marni von Wilpert, a bisexual San Diego City Councilmember, in the primary.

The Advocate obtained the memo. In a section focused on Palm Springs, recently added to the district, the memo describes the city as “a critical constituency made up of reliable Democratic voters,” but argues that “neither Will Rollins, Christy Holstege, nor Lisa Middleton won their elections to higher office due to their inability to reach voters beyond Palm Springs.” It then adds: “Marni von Wilpert, as her record will show, is a candidate in the same vein, who will fail to win over Latinos and veterans, who are the true swing voters in this district.”

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LGBTQ+ leaders say the phrasing reads less like a neutral assessment than a familiar argument in which identity is recast as liability. Palm Springs is one of California’s most visible LGBTQ+ political communities, and the three candidates named are all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Rollins is an out gay former federal prosecutor who ran for Congress; Holstege is an out lesbian former mayor of Palm Springs who ran for the state assembly; and Middleton, who is transgender, is also a former Palm Springs mayor who ran for state Senate.

In an interview with The Advocate on Tuesday, von Wilpert said the memo was “heartbreaking” to read, particularly because it grouped together candidates she has supported, including Middleton and Rollins, and suggested they, and she, could not win because they are LGBTQ+.

She said that at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack nationally, “the last thing we need in a Democratic primary is this kind of divisive rhetoric that questions whether LGBTQ+ candidates are worthy and can win or connect with broad communities.” She said the argument reminded her of attacks she faced in her 2020 city council race, when a Republican opponent questioned her qualifications, including that she hadn’t given birth, and argued that voters are “sick and tired of seeing divisive, hateful rhetoric like this.

The Advocate contacted Campa-Najjar’s campaign for comment, but the campaign did not respond.

Ryan Darsey, president of San Diego Democrats for Equality, said that what makes the memo troubling is not just one line but the pattern it establishes. The document, he said, “lists multiple LGBTQ candidates and claims they failed because they couldn’t reach voters beyond Palm Springs. Then it says Marni is in the same vein.” The implication, he added, “is not subtle. The only common thread among those candidates is that they are all LGBTQ.” Darsey called the language “offensive” and said that if Democrats start treating LGBTQ+ identity as a weakness, “we haven’t learned anything,” arguing that leadership should mean “uplifting our whole coalition, not narrowing it.”

He said he would expect that kind of framing in a Republican primary, “maybe in Alabama,” but not in a Democratic congressional race in California.

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Rep. Mark Takano of California, the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and one of the first out gay members of Congress, echoed that view in a statement included in a von Wilpert campaign press release.

“When I ran for Congress, I heard the same anti-LGBTQ attacks — and I proved them wrong,” Takano, who chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, said. “Our party wins when we build real coalitions rooted in respect and shared values, not when we echo the kind of divisive rhetoric that voters have grown tired of hearing. Democrats won’t defeat Republicans by sounding like them.”

Middleton also criticized the memo’s framing in a statement included in the release.

“This is the time for unifying the Democratic Party and our country,” she said. “You cannot unify our party or our country by disqualifying any American from candidacy for public office.”

The dispute is unfolding in a newly drawn district spanning parts of San Diego and Riverside counties that Democrats view as a must-win in a closely divided House.

Asked about Campa-Najjar’s past campaigns, von Wilpert said Campa-Najjar has “lost every campaign he’s ever run” and argued that the memo’s language sends “a signal to a group of people that is offensive and homophobic,” adding that “words have power and they have an impact.”