The congressman from the 52nd District is Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican who was elected to the seat that his father held for 28 years. The senior Duncan Hunter, the longtime chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, gave up the seat to compete for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. Read More

The congressman from the 52nd District is Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican who was elected to the seat that his father held for 28 years. The senior Duncan Hunter, the longtime chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, gave up the seat to compete for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008.

The younger Hunter grew up in El Cajon and got a degree in business administration from San Diego State University, after having started a Web design company with a friend during his sophomore year. He worked in the computer industry for several years during the technology boom of the late 1990s. He says that the September 11 terrorist attacks prompted him to rethink his career plans. The next day, Hunter quit his job and enlisted in the Marine Corps. After completing officer training, Hunter was commissioned as a lieutenant. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003, served in Baghdad after the fall of the city, and in 2004 fought in the battle of Falluja. In 2006, he was promoted to captain and placed on reserve status. Though he earlier had shown little interest in following his father into politics, he said his experiences on the battlefield led him to reconsider public service. But shortly after announcing his candidacy in March 2007 for his father’s House seat, Hunter was again called to active duty, this time in Afghanistan. Hunter was prohibited from any campaign activities, including fundraising and planning, and held only one event before leaving. In his absence, the management of his nascent campaign fell to his wife, Margaret Hunter. She took over all appearances and campaign duties in addition to caring for their three young children. When Hunter called home from Afghanistan, it was still illegal for him even to inquire how the campaign was going, and he remained largely in the dark about its status until his duty ended in December 2007. He returned home to resume campaigning full-time.

In the June primary, Hunter faced two competitors, Santee Councilman Brian Jones and San Diego Board of Education President Bob Watkins. Although both were well known locally and campaigned actively, Hunter and his family surrogates effectively ran on the basis of his military credentials. Hunter also benefited from his father’s political and congressional connections, raising nearly three times as much as his Republican challengers. Hunter cruised to victory in the June primary with 72% percent of the vote. In the general election, Hunter faced another military veteran, retired Navy SEAL Commander Mike Lumpkin, a former Republican turned Democrat. He agreed with Hunter on many issues, including gun rights and the need for a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. But national Democrats paid little attention to the contest, and Hunter prevailed, 56%-39%. He had less trouble in 2010, winning re-election with 64%.

Hunter shares not only his father’s name but also many of his political beliefs. Both were 31 years old when they were elected to Congress. He followed in his father’s footsteps with a seat on the Armed Services Committee, and cites national security as his top priority. “I can tell you what the guys on the ground, the men and women out there fighting, actually need,” Hunter said. “We have a whole lot of brass out there at the Pentagon and in the DOD (Department of Defense) who haven’t left their offices in six or seven years.” In one of his first legislative efforts, Hunter in 2009 introduced a bill to bar the transfer of terrorism suspects from the military prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to San Diego County. He said that the Obama administration’s proposal would make the region a bigger target for terrorists crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He later introduced a bill to ensure military recruiters have proper access to student information and called for an independent review panel to potentially speed up awarding Congressional Medals of Honor to deserving Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans. He strongly opposed repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting openly gay military personnel, telling National Public Radio that the bond between soldiers “is broken if you open up the military to transgenders, to hermaphrodites, to gays and lesbians.”

Hunter’s other interests include tougher immigration laws and finding ways to halt the outflow of jobs overseas. He drew attention in May 2010 when he declared at a tea party rally that he supported deporting the children of illegal immigrants, even if they are citizens by virtue of being born on U.S. soil. His spokesman later modified the remarks, saying Hunter believes that U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants should stay with their parents unless they have a legal guardian.