Former Rep. Duncan Hunter was sentenced on Tuesday morning to 11 months in prison for violating campaign finance law.
Judge Thomas Whelan handed down the sentence in San Diego, capping a court case that saw prosecutors accuse Hunter of spending campaign funds on a wide array of personal matters. Hunter, a Republican, pleaded guilty in December and resigned his seat shortly after.
With coronavirus-related distancing measures reverberating through California’s court system, Whelan ordered that Hunter will not be required to surrender until late May.
Hunter’s departure has opened up one of California’s few remaining solidly conservative seats. Voters will choose in November between filling the seat with former GOP Rep. Darrell Issa or Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar.
While Campa-Najjar came within striking distance of unseating Hunter in 2018, that may have been more a function of the legal clouds surrounding the embattled incumbent. Issa is viewed as the frontrunner to succeed Hunter given the district’s solidly conservative tilt.