# United States Representative, District 52 Compare records and positions simply between Jeff Belle or Juan Vargas for United States Representative, District 52 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-52 - 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: 99 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Jeff Belle** — Business Owner · Republican - **Juan Vargas** — Member of Congress · Democratic Representative Juan Vargas took 56.5% of the June 2 vote and Republican Jeff Belle took 33.2%. The district covers south San Diego County and the border communities. 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 one of the lowest bill counts in the delegation at 13 sponsored with none enacted, and his funding is 76% committee-based. His opponent raised about $25,000 and took a third of the vote. Weigh thirteen years of seniority against that legislative record. ## Juan Vargas Juan Vargas grew up on a chicken ranch in National City; his father came to the United States through the Bracero farm labor program in the 1940s (his House website). He earned a law degree from Harvard, where he was a classmate of Barack Obama, and worked as a Jesuit on child welfare and social justice issues in El Salvador before practicing law in San Diego (his House website). He served on the San Diego City Council starting in 1993, in the California State Assembly from 2000 to 2006, and in the State Senate from 2010 to 2012, before his election to Congress in 2012 (his House website). His office says he believes "immigrants strengthen our communities and our economies" and names wildfires, floods and cross-border sewage pollution in the Tijuana River Valley as threats to South San Diego (his House website). 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 promises continued work on climate action, stopping cross-border sewage pollution in the Tijuana River Valley, gun violence prevention and immigration reform (his House website). He also lists housing affordability, tax credits for community development, and civil rights including voting access, equal pay, reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ equality among his priorities (his House website). **Strengths:** More than a decade in Congress plus earlier service on the City Council, Assembly and State Senate, and a focus on Tijuana River sewage pollution. **Trade-offs:** Thirteen years of seniority also means a long incumbency, and his vote to keep Gaza war funding in place split San Diego's Democrats in Congress. **Keep in mind:** Weigh decades of experience in local, state and federal office against a contested Gaza funding vote that one San Diego Democratic colleague did not share. ## Jeff Belle Jeff Belle is the Republican candidate for this seat, listed on the ballot as business Owner. They have not served in elected office. No campaign website, interview or news coverage of their reasons for running could be located, and no vote, lawsuit or other public incident is on record. With no published platform to draw on, their promises cannot be listed here in their own words. That is a gap in what is public, not a comment on their candidacy. **Strengths:** Belle is giving this seat a contested general election rather than an uncontested one. **Trade-offs:** No record in office and no published platform leave little for a voter to judge beyond party and occupation. **Keep in mind:** No campaign website or news coverage of their candidacy could be located; that gap is what is public, not a comment on them. ## Record in office Jeff Belle has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Juan Vargas (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2013 and has sponsored 14 bills in the 119th Congress; none of their bills have become law so far. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Vargas — Committees: Financial Services Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Jeff Belle** — $25,498 raised (Individuals: $18,498) - **Juan Vargas** — $568,520 raised (Individuals: $136,003; PACs & committees: $431,200) 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. ## 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. [Rep. Juan Vargas — official House biography](https://vargas.house.gov/about/about-juan) 4. [Rep. Juan Vargas — official House issues page (priorities)](https://vargas.house.gov/issues) 5. [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/) 6. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 7. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 8. [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 52 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 52 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-52 (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.