Democrat Secor Chosen as Challenger to Rep. Hunter in November Runoff

Updated at 8:55 a.m June 6, 2012

Rep. Duncan D. Hunter scored an easy victory in the 50^th Congressional District primary against four poorly financed challengers, paving the way for a November runoff.

With 100 percent of precincts counted, the son of longtime House member Duncan L. Hunter was leads Democrat David Secor 67.2 percent to 17.2 percent. Trailing were Democrat Connie Frankowiak (7.5 percent), Libertarian Michael Benoit (5.4 percent) and Republican Terri Linnell (2.8 percent).

The two-term Republican congressman, 35, is a former Marine and the lone congressman with recent combat experience.

Hunter would have to win 12 more elections to match the record of his father in the East County and North County district, which became even more heavily Republican this year with the loss of La Mesa in redistricting.

In November, when he emerged as a challenger, Secor (pronounced SEA-core) noted the hunger strike in 2010 by Democratic candidate Ray Lutz, undertaken to push Hunter into more debates.

A resident of Crest, Secor vowed: “I am going to make news,” but is still deciding exactly how.

He said the reason Hunter resisted debating Lutz “was because [Lutz] didn’t make Hunter bleed. I’m going to make Hunter bleed, so that he will be forced to deal with me.”

His only debate with Hunter has been via questionnaires, including one

Secor, who is in his mid-60s, retired after 19 years as a clerk in San Diego Superior Court but also has worked as a truck driver and warehouseman.

“I’ve been in housekeeping in a department store, I’ve been in maintenance. I’ve taught school. I graduated from San Diego State in ’72,” he said in a where he described himself once as a “functional alcoholic.”

He said he conquered his addiction in 1990 when he joined Alcoholics Anonymous.