Marni von Wilpert
Candidate for U.S. Representative, Congressional District 48
Marni von Wilpert is a Democratic candidate for California's 48th Congressional District. She is running in the November 3, 2026 general election. She faces Republican Jim Desmond. She advanced from the June 2026 primary. She currently serves on the San Diego City Council, representing District 5. She has held that seat since December 2020. She was reelected unopposed in March 2024. Von Wilpert holds a B.A. in peace and conflict studies from UC Berkeley. She holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. Her career includes service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana. She also worked with the Mississippi Center for Justice. She clerked for federal judge James E. Graves Jr. She worked as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board. She did staff work for the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor. She served as Associate Labor Counsel at the Economic Policy Institute. She then served as a Deputy City Attorney for San Diego from 2018 to 2020. She is running in the redrawn CA-48 seat. She finished second in the June 2026 primary with 20.8% of the vote (39,327 votes). Born December 27, 1982. Home: San Diego, Scripps Ranch, California. Occupation: San Diego City Councilmember, District 5; attorney by training, former NLRB attorney and Deputy City Attorney. Prior office: current San Diego City Council, District 5, since December 2020. No prior federal office. This is her first run for U.S. House.
On the issues
- Economy & Jobs
Supports strengthening labor rights (including passage of the PRO Act), combating wage theft, and opposes tariffs she says raise costs for working families.
Source → - Taxes & Cost of Living
Campaigns on lowering costs for families, opposing tariffs, fighting corporate price-gouging, and cites her role banning digital-only grocery coupons; no specific federal tax-rate or spending/debt proposal found.
Source → - Health & Health Care
Supports protecting and expanding the ACA, restoring enhanced ACA tax credits, adding a public option, expanding Medicare drug-price negotiation, and capping out-of-pocket costs.
Source → - Immigration & Border
Focuses on legal challenges to ICE enforcement practices, describing a priority of holding ICE accountable in court, rather than a detailed border-security or path-to-citizenship plan.
Source → - Reproductive & Social Issues
Supports protecting abortion rights and has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Equality California/LGBTQ+ Victory Fund for LGBTQ rights positions.
Source → - Education & Schools
General support for prioritizing domestic education investment over increased military spending, without detailed higher-ed, student debt, or pre-K proposals.
Source → - Public Safety & Policing
Supports banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, universal background checks, red flag laws, manufacturer accountability, and banning untraceable 'ghost guns.'
Source → - Environment, Energy & Climate
Opposes what her campaign characterizes as 'Trump's environmental destruction' and highlights her record prosecuting corporate polluters, without a detailed federal climate/energy platform.
Source → - Foreign Policy & Defense
States opposition to prolonged U.S. military engagements abroad ('Trump's forever wars'); no specific veterans-affairs or defense-budget position found.
Source → - Government, Elections & Democracy
General campaign theme of opposing political corruption and 'defending democracy,' without a detailed campaign-finance or ethics-reform proposal identified.
Source → - Technology & Privacy
Supports regulatory clarity for emerging technologies, citing support for the CLARITY Act and GENIUS Act (digital-asset/stablecoin regulation frameworks); no specific data-privacy, AI, or antitrust position found.
Source →
Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.