# United States Representative, District 49 Compare records and positions simply between Armen Kurdian or Mike Levin for United States Representative, District 49 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-49 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Armen Kurdian** — Retired Navy Captain · Republican - **Mike Levin** — U.S. Representative, 49th District · Democratic Representative Mike Levin took 55.9% of the June 2 vote and Republican Armen Kurdian took 26.1% to claim the second slot. The district covers coastal north San Diego County and part of south Orange County. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, so a longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. The incumbent has 5 career laws — among the stronger records in the delegation — and raised $3.16 million with 81% of it from named individuals. His challenger raised under $59,000. The practical question is what this district gets from a seat held comfortably, in a district that has been competitive in past cycles. ## Mike Levin Mike Levin, a Stanford- and Duke-educated lawyer, has represented California's 49th District, covering coastal North County San Diego and South Orange County, since 2019 (his House website). Before Congress he was an environmental attorney and co-founded Sustain OC, a group promoting sustainable energy and transportation. In the House he has focused on veterans' issues, chairing the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity for four years. He authored the bill that became the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020, which expanded veterans' benefits during the pandemic (his House website). His campaign says he is "committed to delivering results" for the district and putting "people ahead of politics" (campaign site). In August 2026 he voted against an amendment to cut U.S. funding tied to Israel's war in Gaza; Rep. Sara Jacobs was the only San Diego Democrat to vote the other way, and the amendment failed (Voice of San Diego). He has held 138 town halls with constituents, by his campaign's count (campaign site). He promises continued work on clean energy and the clean-energy transition, water quality, coastal erosion and beach restoration, and infrastructure and public safety, along with managing nuclear waste storage at the San Onofre plant (campaign site). **Strengths:** Four terms in the district, a chairmanship on veterans issues, and a specific enacted veterans-benefits bill he authored. **Trade-offs:** His vote to keep Gaza war funding in place split San Diego's Democratic delegation, with one member voting the opposite way. **Keep in mind:** Weigh a long incumbency and a specific enacted veterans bill against a contested vote on Israel funding that not all Democrats in the delegation shared. ## Armen Kurdian Armen Kurdian, a retired U.S. Navy captain, spent 25 years in the service and has worked as a Navy systems engineer since retiring; he has also appeared as a national security and foreign policy commentator on Fox News, discussing topics including Iran, Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war (Fox News). He lost a bid for Vista City Council by a narrow margin in 2022 and was elected to the Republican Party's local Central Committee in 2024 (Voice of San Diego). He says he has "solved complex problems for our Navy and our Nation" and is ready "to bring that same discipline, experience, and results-driven approach to solving the problems facing California" (campaign site). He entered the 49th District race at the candidate filing deadline in March 2026, switching from a run for the 38th State Senate District after Republican Jim Desmond left the congressional race for a different seat; Kurdian said the move "was not in the works for months or even weeks," but that "as a good soldier, I go to defend my country where I am most needed" (Voice of San Diego). His campaign lists lowering the cost of living, cutting what he calls wasteful government spending, reducing California's energy bills, and attracting jobs and reducing regulation for small businesses as his priorities (campaign site). **Strengths:** A 25-year Navy career and national-security commentary on Fox News give him a documented record outside politics. **Trade-offs:** No record in elected office, and a late entry into this specific race after another candidate stepped aside. **Keep in mind:** He lost his only previous run for office, a 2022 Vista City Council race, by a small margin. Weigh outside experience against no legislative record. ## Record in office Armen Kurdian has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Mike Levin (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2019 and has sponsored 25 bills in the 119th Congress; 5 of their career bills have become law. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Levin — Committees: Appropriations Levin — HR 5985 (2024): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 517 Seagaze Drive in Oceanside, California, as the "Charlesetta Reece Allen Post Office Building". Levin — HR 7939 (2023): Veterans Auto and Education Improvement Act of 2022 Levin — HR 3665 (2022): To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Diego, California, as the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and to support the designation of a component of such medical center in honor of Kathleen Bruyere. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Armen Kurdian** — $58,784 raised (Individuals: $42,017; PACs & committees: $1,000; Self-funding: $13,613) - **Mike Levin** — $3,164,023 raised (Individuals: $2,555,547; PACs & committees: $391,098; Party: $1,687) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Armen Kurdian for Congress and Mike Levin for Congress may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Mike Levin for Congress — campaign site (biography, priorities, town halls)](https://www.mikelevin.org/) 4. [Rep. Mike Levin — official House biography (career, committee work)](https://levin.house.gov/about) 5. [Armen Kurdian for Congress — campaign site (biography, why he's running, priorities)](https://kurdianforcongress.com/) 6. [Voice of San Diego — North County Report: Congressional Musical Chairs (Kurdian's entry into the CA-49 race)](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2026/03/11/north-county-report-congressional-musical-chairs/) 7. [Voice of San Diego — reporting on the San Diego House delegation's vote on Israel/Gaza war funding](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2026/08/04/one-san-diego-congressional-rep-voted-against-funding-israeli-war/) 8. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 9. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 10. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 49 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 49 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-49 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.