Former councilmember and runner-up in last year's mayoral race Carl DeMaio is courting the female vote in his run for the 52nd Congressional seat.

Tomorrow, DeMaio is hosting a "Champagne with the Campaign" event on Saturday afternoon from 11am to 1pm at his Rancho Bernardo home.

This from the release:

This Congressional race is not only important to San Diego, but will be one of the most-watched Congressional races in the country.

A businessman turned government watchdog, Carl DeMaio wrote the plan that helped turn around the City of San Diego and authored the Pension Reform Initiative that is now a national model. More than offering great ideas, Carl has got his ideas implemented by standing on principle and bringing together diverse coalitions and support from both political parties.

We need Carl in Congress more than ever. Our nation faces major problems, and members of both political parties seem more interested in fighting over issues for political gain rather than resolving them for the public good. Just as he did in San Diego, Carl can be an important voice to change the broken system in Congress.

DeMaio has returned to campaign trail in full swing just months after losing his bid for Mayor to Bob Filner. As was the case in his mayoral bid, DeMaio's campaign has been quick to attack his opponent, first-term Congressman Scott Peters with positive poll numbers and favorable predictions.

Today, DeMaio issued new rankings from the University of Virginia's Center of Politics calling the race a "toss-up."

"The biggest shift of any House race over the past couple months comes in the district of Rep. Scott Peters (D, CA-52), which moves from likely Democratic to toss-up thanks to the entry of Carl DeMaio, a Republican who nearly won San Diego's mayoral race in 2012. DeMaio, who is openly gay, is presenting himself as a new generation Republican," was the statement included in DeMaio's press release.

Of course, the campaign didn't include the entire statement from Sabato's Crystal Ball. It also goes on to debunk some of the positive polling numbers that DeMaio and fellow Republicans have touted in recent months.

"The biggest shift of any House race over the past couple months comes in the district of Rep. Scott Peters (D, CA-52), which moves from likely Democratic to toss-up thanks to the entry of Carl DeMaio, a Republican who nearly won San Diego’s mayoral race in 2012. DeMaio, who is openly gay, is presenting himself as a new Republican focused on economic as opposed to social issues, although he “was more conservative than the Republicans whom San Diego voters generally favor for mayor,” according to a recent Los Angeles Times article. Republicans are touting an internal poll from late April showing DeMaio up 10, which is not particularly believable. Internal polls are almost always too optimistic for the side that commissions them, and Republicans have a “boy who cried wolf” problem in particular given the poor track record of their internal 2012 surveys. That said, this is probably a legitimate coin flip race in a district where President Obama won about 52% of the vote."

Click here to read the "Champagne with the Campaign" invite.