The Morning Report
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The intersection of Julian Avenue and Cesar Chavez Parkway in Logan Heights found Felipe Hueso steps away from a familiar place Tuesday afternoon, dressed in a suit and Panama hat.
Just down the street lives Hueso’s 79-year-old mother, Virginia, still in the house Felipe where was raised. Just across the street stood Calvary Baptist Church, a peeling pink stucco building and polling place for today’s elections.
Virginia finally had given in to one of Felipe’s requests. She became a U.S. citizen. Earlier on Tuesday, Felipe and his brother Ben escorted their mom to the church.
“It took most of my adult life to convince her to become a citizen,” Felipe said. “Now she could vote for her two adult sons.”
Felipe and other family members stood at Julian and Cesar Chavez waving signs and encourage drivers to honk their horns in support of Felipe’s bid for San Diego City Council District 8, which spans the city’s southernmost neighborhoods. Felipe is trying to replace his brother on the council. Ben is running for state assembly.
Turnout on Tuesday is reportedly low all across San Diego County and is expected to be especially small in the District 8 race. Hueso is one of four candidates along with Nick Inzunza, David Alvarez and B.D. Howard expected to contend for one of two spots in the general election.
A poll worker at Calvary Baptist said he was seeing about 30 people an hour at the precinct, though it was nearly empty in the early afternoon.
Andres Olivas was throwing a football in the street up toward where Felipe’s mother lived. He hadn’t voted yet, but was picking Hueso.
“I went to school with his son,” Olivas said. “My daughter knows them.”
Julian and Cesar Chavez also is Alvarez’s neighborhood. Alvarez lives four blocks from Hueso’s mother and voted at Calvary Baptist in the morning.
Walking into the church to vote, Robert Olvera said he was going to vote for Alvarez. He and Alvarez went to the same schools. A couple months ago, Alvarez was rebuilding a fence outside his home. Olvera, a construction worker, asked him for the scrap metal and Alvarez gave it to him.
“Since he’s local, he must know stuff around here,” Olvera said.
— LIAM DILLON