Rep. Scott Peters won reelection to California's 50th Congressional District on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Republican challenger Steve Cohen by a wide margin.

Peters, a La Jolla resident who has served in Congress since 2013, received 117,694 votes, or 61.02%, compared with Cohen's 75,182 votes, or 38.98%, according to returns reported by The Coronado News. The Associated Press called the race for Peters. The results remain unofficial, with San Diego County scheduled to certify election results by Dec. 3.

Democrats now hold all five of San Diego County's congressional seats for the first time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

As we reported on von Wilpert's win Nov. 4, San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert's victory in the 48th District flipped the last Republican-held seat. Reps. Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin and Juan Vargas also won reelection on Nov. 3, according to Times of San Diego.

That shift took 14 years. Republicans held three of the county's five congressional seats at the start of Barack Obama's second term, Times of San Diego reported. Peters himself started the trend in 2012 when he defeated incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray. That race took over a week to call, and Peters won by fewer than 7,000 votes.

The district has since shifted from a competitive battleground to a safe Democratic seat. Peters has not faced a serious challenge in years, according to Times of San Diego.

"My voters have always been people who are pretty smart, they just want problems solved and don't want to worry about government …" Peters said on election night, according to Times of San Diego.

Peters' priorities for the new term

In an interview with The Coronado News, Peters said lowering living costs and addressing health care affordability would be among his priorities. He also pointed to continued efforts to address the Tijuana sewage crisis, which has affected South Bay communities.

Peters told Patch he would work to tackle the region's housing crisis and advance legislation to combat climate change and expedite clean energy projects.

Among other priorities, Peters named banning members of Congress from trading stocks and reversing Republican-led tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the Union-Tribune reported. Peters views reversing those tax cuts as key to restoring funding for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

"You can't ask more of the middle class and regular Americans in terms of taxing them," Peters told the Union-Tribune, adding that the government needs to be "taxing capital like we tax labor."

What the all-Democratic delegation plans

The delegation enters office with a Democratic House majority. Democratic leaders in Washington have been preparing an ambitious 100-day agenda aimed at making life more affordable, the Union-Tribune reported.

Peters also addressed the conflict in Iran in his interview with the Union-Tribune. Democratic leaders have said they intend to use budget powers to try to force an end to the conflict and are considering a war powers resolution.

"He needs money to prosecute the war," Peters told the Union-Tribune. "I think we have a lot of leverage to end this."

Carl Luna, a University of San Diego political science professor, told Times of San Diego the 2026 results came down to widespread disapproval of President Donald Trump.

Statewide certification of election results is set for Dec. 11.