2 indicted Congress members win re-election to House seats

WASHINGTON – The justice system may not have spoken yet but the voters did Tuesday, re-electing two House Republicans – Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York – despite the fact that both face criminal charges.

Hunter defeated Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar despite facing a 60count indictment charging he and his wife, Margaret, with using his campaign account as a personal slush fund to finance an extravagant lifestyle.

The Hunters were indicted in August. Duncan Hunter claimed then that the charges were politically motivated and he compared himself to President Donald Trump as another Republican being mistreated.

Collins was indicted in August on charges of insider trading. While serving on the board of directors of a drug company, he is accused of tipping off others that a key drug the company was developing had failed in testing. Collins, the first sitting member of Congress to be indicted since 2005, defeated Democrat Nate McMurray.