Margarita Wilkinson has very little name recognition to southern California voters after a decades-long career as a manager and executive at Spanish language television stations in New Mexico and San Diego but she’s waging a surprisingly formidable campaign as a Republican challenger for the 49th congressional district, currently held by incumbent Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, now in his third term.

The 49th — a scenic and affluent stretch of coastal San Diego and Orange counties — has long been considered a swing district, and Rep. Darrell Issa represented the district for eight terms before redistricting changed the boundary lines and demographic makeup, making it more competitive. Issa departed for a neighboring district in 2021 and is still in office.

Still, Republicans view the 49th district as a potential pickup opportunity and Wilkinson, a Mexican emigré with TV bona fides, is self-funded, with an $825,000 personal loan used to jumpstart her campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and a net worth of at least $21 million, according to her recently-filed personal financial disclosure. (She’s also received contributions from her husband, Philip, and stepson, Nicholas; former Entravision executive Larry Safir, and other Entravision employees; and Republican strategist Jason Cabel Roe of Michigan, whom she is also paying for campaign work, along with Michigan billionaire transportation heir Matthew Moroun, and the Stop Collectivism or Totalitarianism Triumphs PAC.)

In the 2024 election cycle, the Stop Collectivism or Totalitarianism Triumphs PAC, a leadership political-action committee affiliated with former state Rep. Scott Baugh (R-Calif.), has contributed $10,000 to Wilkinson’s campaign. The PAC has contributed the same amount to Republican incumbents, U.S. Rep. Michelle Steele (R-Calif.) and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Montana).

But a little more than a decade ago, in 2011, Margarita Wilkinson was braving tough times: Her Albuquerque, New Mexico, home — a modern, custom-built 4-bedroom with a lap pool surrounded by glass windows and sitting on its own private street, Wilder Lane — was headed to foreclosure, following months of missed payments on a $160,000 home equity line of credit taken out in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Her first marriage, to a New Mexico architect named Scharles Wilder, was on the rocks, and she had taken a promotion that would force a move to San Diego for Entravision Communications, a Spanish-language network of TV stations where she started in 1991 as a translator after emigrating to the U.S. from Mexico City as a child. Their 2-year-old daughter was splitting time between New Mexico and California, and debts had piled up: $50,000 left on her Porsche lease; $60,000 in American Express credit debt; a $40,000 lien with Wachovia, her $750,000 mortgage. And, according to foreclosure and debt filings, Margarita Wilder had no reported assets. Legally, it all came to a head in 2011, when court-ordered processors meant to serve Cecilia, then 42, simply couldn’t find her — a so-called “skip trace” to locate her whereabouts had been unsuccessful for months. Eventually, the debts caught up and she was served with divorce papers.

Her salary was garnished for 5 ½ years, withholding nearly $1,600 from her twice-monthly paychecks, according to court documents.

Yet, a decade later, federal financial disclosure, property and other public documents show that Cecilia Margarita Wilder, neé Ponce, who now goes by Margarita Wilkinson, has benefited greatly from a marriage to her second husband — her former boss at Entravision, a widower named Philip Wilkinson who also happens to be fabulously wealthy.

The Wilkinson campaign didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story.

Philip’s first wife, Wendy Wilkinson, an equestrian aficionado who had helped her husband start his first TV station in the late 1980s, died in 2011 at the age of 54, after 26 years of marriage. She was survived by Philip and their three now-adult children. Months later, Philip announced his retirement from Entravision. Over the next three years, Philip would sell at least $60 million worth of Entravision stock, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. And Margarita, now 54, and Philip, now 67, now married, live in Rancho Sante Fe in a home valued between about $5 and $7 million, according to Zillow estimates. The couple also owns an $8 million waterfront home in Del Mar, north of San Diego.

Now, Margarita Wilkinson — who, in 2009, had, on paper, $900,000 in debts and no assets — is largely self-funding a congressional campaign in California’s 49th district as one of two Republican frontrunners, along with Orange County businessman Mike Gunderson, who lost a state Senate race in 2022.

Her ascent, despite being a political novice and never having held elected office, is a case study in what major political parties are looking for, above all else, in a hyper-politicized 2024 campaign season: Wealth and a blank political slate.

Wilkinson’s relative obscurity prior to running for office isn’t especially surprising for Christian Grose, professor of political science and public policy at the University of Southern California. It’s not uncommon for wealthy newcomers to enter into politics, though he added that those with little-to-no political history tend to underperform. Sizable wealth, even through marriage, could be a sign of strength to those living along California’s coastline.

Grose noted, however, that Wilkinson’s earlier financial troubles could become campaign fodder.

“I do think there’s a little bit of a correlation between your ability to manage finances to a minimum level and your ability to do well in other domains, like actually running a House office,” Grose said.

Despite their wealth, the Wilkinsons have not contributed much in terms of political donations. Over the past decade, Margarita Wilkinson has contributed less than $200, according to FEC records, all to WinRed, the Republican Party’s online fundraising platform. Philip Wilkinson has been a more active political donor, with a total of more than $38,000 in donations dating back to 1998 to both Republican and Democratic candidates, according to FEC records.

Wilkinson’s hand-written financial disclosure statement form, filed after a reporting deadline in December of last year, lists at least $21 million in assets, but with the information provided there are more questions than answers in terms of where the wealth came from originally, experts say.

An analysis of assets reported in Wilkinson’s personal financial disclosure filed with the Federal Elections Commission on Dec. 4, indicates she and her husband own stocks and other reported assets worth at least $31.1 million and as much as $85.7 million. Subtracting their reported liabilities, their net worth is at least $21.1 million and as much as $83.7 million.

Not included in the personal financial disclosure, California property records show that Philip Wilkinson owns at least three properties in the San Diego area, one of which is a rental property. The market value of those properties, which are not included on Margarita Wilkinson’s disclosure to the FEC, is between $14.2 million and $22.5 million, according to Zillow and Redfin.

Philip Wilkinson’s rental property in San Diego is valued between $1.82 and $2.17 million. There are at least four units on the property, and they rent for at least $2,500 per month, according to Zillow and Trulia.

If a property is held for investment or rental income, the asset must be disclosed, even if it’s held by a spouse, according to Campaign Legal Center’s Senior Legal Counsel Delaney Marsco.

It’s also not uncommon for first-time candidates to make mistakes on financial disclosure forms, Marsco noted, but “if you want to be a member of Congress, you have to start reading rules.”

Among the assets listed in Wilkinson’s financial disclosure is a “vessel” related to Prestige X70 LLC, a Denver-based company. According to the company’s website, Prestige X70 yachts combine the “comforts of a luxurious villa and the pleasures of life at sea,” and are valued between $3.26 million and $4.93 million.

The form lists multiple trusts that include stocks and bonds, not unusual in and of themselves, however there is no information about when Wilkinson acquired this wealth or if it was inherited as part of her marriage.

California is a community property state, meaning that wealth and assets acquired during marriage are equally owned by both partners. However, Greg Kling, associate professor of accounting at the University of Southern California, said that there are ways in which couples can keep their assets separate, such as prenuptial agreements.

Wilkinson’s filings make Kling wonder about who actually owns the trusts because there is no clear information about where the assets come from.

“This is a lot of assets to be singularly owned so that is the question that I have,” Kling said.

Sunlight Search, a nonpartisan research organization, contributed public records and analysis for this report.