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By Paul Levikow
March 7, 2026 (San Diego) – Saying “we have to win or we will die trying,” Democratic community organizer Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla yesterday announced her candidacy for Congress in California District 52, challenging incumbent Rep. Juan Vargas. Under Prop 50 redistrict, the new district spans the entire southern portion of San Diego County, from Chula Vista east to Jacumba.
Motiwalla made the announcement Thursday at a gathering of dozens of supporters in City Heights that was also live streamed.
“We need CLIMATE ACTION! PEACE ACTION! and a FAIR ECONOMY. For decades, our leaders have been taking us in the wrong direction,” the Zoom invitation said. “There's still time for change. Americans deserve quality health care, great education opportunities, a safe home and the freedom to pursue happiness. Public funds are NOT for billionaires colonizing the planet. Public funds are for our wellbeing!”
Motiwalla said the timing of announcing the launch of her candidacy on the eve of the filing deadline was part of her strategy. She had just arrived at the event after pulling candidacy papers from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters that were due March 6.
“You want your opponent to maybe be caught off guard sometimes. We’ve seen multiple times in races across the country where a progressive challenger is getting ready to challenge someone and jumps into a race and then, suddenly, low and behold, there’s another challenger that jumps in, often propped up by external money that came from nowhere,” Motiwalla said. “I was waiting until the last minute to make sure that I could slip in without the general public knowing I was about to so they don’t load more candidates into the race.”
Motiwalla, who said she had just met another candidate in the race and indicated there may be a third challenger in the mix,cautioned her supporters to not mention Vargas’s name during the campaign.
"He’s ‘the incumbent,’ he’s ‘that guy,’ he’s ‘the disappointment,’ he’s whatever we want to call him. But every time we say his name we give him free advertising. And a lot of people who’ve never heard his name, they don’t know his name, they’ve never voted for him,” she said. “In fact, now that the district goes all the way out to the desert, there’s a whole variety of folks that have never heard from him or never voted for him.”
Under Proposition 50 that was passed by voters in November, District 52 boundaries have been redrawn to include several East County and border communities including La Presa, Jamul, Dulzura, Campo, Boulevard, Potrero, Lake Morena Village, Jacumba, and Tecate Peak.
Six-term Rep. Juan Vargas, D-CA, is a former member of the San Diego City Council, California Assembly, and State Senate. He was re-elected to his current term with more than 66% of the vote against a Republican challenger in 2024. Vargas appeared at a recent weekly Ice Out of San Diego rally in front of the San Diego Federal Building downtown where he was heckled by protestors who did not agree with his support of Israel and what they called the “genocide of Palestinians.”
Motiwalla said of having another challenger or two to the campaign, “I think it’s going to make it a more colorful race for sure.”
“I imagine he (Vargas) will ignore me and not engage. I would be pleasantly surprised if he decided to debate me,” Motiwalla told East County Magazine. “He was one of four Democrats who voted to give Trump a green light on war with Iran, against the voters’ wishes. He is making decision that are making us less safe.”
Motiwalla estimated it would take $1 million to unseat Vargas and was expecting to begin accepting campaign contributions in early March.
George Gastil, former three-term Lemon Grove city council member, was one of several supporters who spoke at the campaign kick-off event via Zoom.
“It’s such an honor to know Frances. I’m so glad you’re running and I’m so glad you’re taking on the cause of peace climate change and a fair economy,” he said. “I’ll be with you along with so many other people in the San Diego area.”
“Our survival depends on each of us doing everything we can,” Motiwalla said. “My campaign is going to be about action. The way we are going to beat the big money interests is by talking to voters.”
Motiwalla invited her supporters to join her every Sunday from 1:30 to 4 p.m., when the community goes and meets at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, “which is a concentration camp that is in our backyard.”
“Thousands of people are being detained and held there for countless months and we’ve got to do something about it,” she said. “By being there every week, we are drawing attention to that.”
Motiwalla, the daughter of a Peruvian mother and Pakistani father, grew up in Chicago. She earned a political science degree at Wheaton College, a private, Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, graduating in 2000.
In 2020, Motiwalla ran unsuccessfully for Congress in District 34 in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego and joining the board at Activist San Diego. She’s spent most of her adult life organizing with Peace Action for a peaceful, sustainable US foreign policy, and continues to do so as Activist San Diego’s liaison with Grassroots Global Justice. She resides in City Heights within the 52nd Congressional District. Motiwalla is the founder and chief executive organizer of the San Diego-based Winning and Winning Strategies consulting company.
Vargas’ office did not respond to East County Magazine’s request for comment.
Editor’s Note: Activist San Diego is the parent organization of KNSJ, the radio station that carries East County Magazine’s radio show. As nonpartisan media, ECM does not endorse any political candidates.
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