19 Facts About Juan Vargas

Juan Carlos Vargas was born on March 7,1961 and is an American businessman and politician who has been a US representative for California since 2013.

Juan Vargas's district includes the southernmost portions of San Diego County.

Juan Vargas was born on a chicken ranch in National City, California, where he grew up very poor.

Juan Vargas is the third of ten children of Tomas and Celina Vargas, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the late 1940s as part of the Bracero program.

In 1992, Juan Vargas ran in the newly created 50th congressional district, based in San Diego.

Juan Vargas served on the San Diego City Council from 1993 to 2000.

Juan Vargas said he agreed with Filner on "99 percent" of issues.

In 2000, Juan Vargas ran in California's 79th State Assembly district.

Juan Vargas authored AB 188, legislation that bans smoking in children's playgrounds.

In 2006, Juan Vargas challenged Filner a third time, this time in California's 51st congressional district.

Juan Vargas accused Filner of being a part of the culture of corruption of Washington, pointing out that Filner had paid his wife more than $500,000 in campaign funds for consulting services performed from their condominium in Washington.

Filner argued that Juan Vargas had controversial payments to his brother-in-law, who was a lobbyist for realtors.

Juan Vargas left that job at the end of 2009 to run as a Democratic candidate for the California State Senate.

In 2010, Juan Vargas narrowly won a seat in the California's 40th State Senate district, defeating Assemblywoman Mary Salas by 22 votes after recounts in San Diego and Riverside counties.

Juan Vargas resigned from the Senate effective January 2,2013, to take his seat in Congress.

In 2012, when Filner announced he would retire from Congress to run for mayor of San Diego, Juan Vargas endorsed him despite their history of bitter rivalry.

Juan Vargas then ran for Filner's seat in the 51st district.

In 2019, Juan Vargas spent $124,200 of campaign money on photography, printing, postage, mailing and shipping of holiday cards that he sent to constituents.

In 2022, Juan Vargas was one of 16 Democrats to vote against the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2022, an antitrust package that would crack down on corporations for anti-competitive behavior.