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Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar came within 3.4 percentage points of unseating former Rep. Duncan Hunter in 2018, despite receiving minimal help from national House Democrats.

This time around, as he squares off with former Rep. Darrell Issa in the same 50th Congressional District, hell get much more support.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee the campaign arm of House Democrats announced Wednesday that it was adding Campa-Najjar to its Red to Blue program, which focuses on candidates and races where Democratic strategists believe the party has the best opportunity to flip Republican seats.

The program provides candidates access to additional fundraising, training and strategy.

For example on Wednesday, The Hill reported that the DCCC made a $960,000 ad buy in the Philadelphia broadcast market, where two of their Red to Blue candidates are trying to flip seats.

Campa-Najjar, the 31-year-old East County native, and New York congressional candidate Nancy Goroff were the two candidates added to the program Wednesday, joining 31 other Democratic contenders.

This designation raises the profile of a community that has long been forgotten by Washington and for that Im grateful, Campa-Najjar said by text. Together Americans from all political stripes must meet this moment to ensure our government works for working people and not the special interests that have divided us for far too long.

The buy-in from the DCCC, which sat out the the 50th District race in 2018, comes as polls have tightened and suggests that national Democrats now believe they have real chance of flipping the longtime red district, which includes East and North Inland San Diego County, as well a small southern portion of Riverside County.

The 50th District seat now sits vacant because Hunter, an Alpine Republican, resigned in January after being convicted of a felony related to misusing campaign funds.

With his departure, a highly competitive primary emerged in which Campa-Najjar and Issa edged out conservative radio host Carl DeMaio for the two tops spots. Now polling suggests the competitive primary was not an aberration.

Earlier this month Politico reported that a poll conducted by J. Wallin Opinion Research on behalf of the conservative-leaning Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County showed Campa-Najjar with 42 percent support and Issa with 39 percent.

According to Politico, the poll of 400 likely voters was conducted from May 29 to June 2, and had a 4.9 percentage point margin of error, leaving the candidates in a statistical tie.

The Deputy Sheriffs Association has endorsed Issa in the race.

Another poll conducted July 22-26 for the Campa-Najjar campaign by Strategies 360 had the Democrat trailing Issa, with 43 percent compared to the Republicans 47 percent. About 10 percent of voters were undecided in the poll, which also had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Issas campaign did not respond to a Union-Tribune inquiry about the DCCCs increased role.

However, the former congressman, who served in the House for nearly two decades, previously said he was not worried about the polling. He noted the Wallin poll did not include the entirety of the congressional district and specifically pointed to the absence of the districts portion of Riverside County, home to 19,238 registered Republicans and 14,171 registered Democrats.

Polling isnt how you do things, Issa said. Im not going to change stances based on polling.

Election Day is Nov. 3.

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Democrats national campaign arm throws weight behind Ammar Campa-Najjar in race for the 50th District - The San Diego Union-Tribune