Election results are still rolling in, but two city council candidates appear on track to notch lopsided victories in Chula Vista. If elected, Michael Inzunza and Cesar Fernandez would bring long to-do lists and could augur major changes in how San Diego County’s second-biggest city tackles some of its most pressing problems.
In particular, Inzunza said he is dissatisfied with the way the city has dealt with crime and homelessness. He vowed to crack down on encampments and empower police to curtail public drug use, shoplifting and other quality-of-life crimes.
“Other Democrats try to keep face and give this image of anti-police and that sort of thing,” Inzunza said. “That’s not the kind of policymaker I am.”
Fernandez, likely to represent the city’s lower-income southwestern corner, said he would press for new parks and job opportunities in neighborhoods that he said have been neglected by city leaders.
Fernandez said he would seek especially to maximize blue-collar employment in local development projects. “Not everyone goes to college,” he said.
Live! From Chula Vista: Hinch is joining the crew at Emo Brown Podcast on Monday to talk about his latest stories and what he’s going to keep an eye on after the election. Listen here.
Sacramento Report: Carl DeMaio Is Back
Against all odds, including a fierce effort by his own party to keep him out of office, Republican Carl DeMaio appears headed to Sacramento to represent San Diego’s 75th Assembly District. With two-thirds of votes counted as of Friday, DeMaio led his opponent, school board member Andrew Hayes, by a wide margin.
DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and radio host, prevailed despite a long track record of alienating allies and leaving a trail of controversy in every office he’s held. Ostensible allies, such as powerful public safety unions, spent big to try to keep DeMaio out of office, still smarting over his efforts to cut their pensions in San Diego years ago.
DeMaio’s campaign promises to cut taxes and government mandates, crack down on crime and immigration, improve access to homeowners insurance and fight what he called “politicized curriculum” in classrooms appear to have resonated with voters.
DeMaio wouldn’t talk with Voice of San Diego, pointing instead to a statement about his projected win: “This is not about me winning this seat in the Legislature — this is about bringing the voice of the forgotten Californian into the broken political system to demand change!”
Crime crackdown coming San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan says she’s preparing to enforce newly passed tough-on-crime ballot measure Proposition 36 starting Dec. 19, the day after the measure is certified.
Read more in the Sacramento Report here.
Politics Report: The Election Was Baked Months Ago
It was easy to see months ago that the County Supervisor District 3 race was baked, writes editor Scott Lewis.
“County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer never had a serious challenge from former Mayor Kevin Faulconer,” he writes. “Mostly because she and her allies were able to tie Faulconer to Trump. He never was willing to say otherwise — not that anything he said would have made much of a difference. The (lemonade stand? savage) attacks on his own competence as mayor were just like dropping boulders on an already sinking rowboat.”
In the latest Politics Report, Lewis explains why we knew this was coming and why it’s easy to live in a bubble. Read the newsletter here.
The Politics Report is available exclusively to Voice of San Diego members. To get access, become a member here and subscribe to the weekly politics newsletter.
VOSD Podcast: On the latest podcast, hosts Scott Lewis, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña, Jakob McWhinney and Bella Ross share what surprised them — and what shouldn’t have — about the election results in San Diego. Listen here.
Speaking of the Election …
We’re still waiting on the results of a few races and measures.
The race for San Diego Unified School Board between incumbent Sabrina Bazzo and challenger Crystal Trull is still too close to call. Bazzo is ahead by two points as of Sunday.
San Diego’s sales tax measure is still too close to call. As of Sunday night, “no” votes were leading by two points.
In the mayoral races in Encinitas and Oceanside, challengers are still ahead of the incumbents.
Poway (Measure H): In Poway, a controversial ballot measure that proposed putting a 30,000-square-foot Life Time fitness center in a residential area called The Farm failed at the polls.
The “no” votes for Measure H have accounted for 69 percent of the votes so far and are currently leading the “yes” votes by more than 7,000 votes.
In Other News
- Though San Diego remains mostly Democratic, many county voters swung right this November, Axios reports. Also, election analyst Mason Herron says one key Latino-majority city council district in southeastern San Diego swung big for Trump, from 28 percent four years ago to 40 percent.
- A new study led by San Diego State University researcher Julia Li Zhu found that drought and other extreme weather patterns caused by climate change are fueling migration across the U.S. southern border. (KPBS)
- U.S. pilots flight-tested F-35B fighter jets onboard a Japanese aircraft carrier near San Diego last week in preparation for a planned sale of the planes to Japan, which is beefing up air capabilities to counter possible threats from China. (Union-Tribune)
- La Jolla professional surfer JoJo Roper won the prestigious Men’s Paddle-In-Wave of the Year award at this year’s Surfer Big Wave Challenge. The award honored Roper’s March ride on a nearly 50-foot wave off the coast of northern California. (Union-Tribune)
- Not all elections last week were contentious. Fifth-graders at San Diego Unified School District’s Language Academy held a mock election Tuesday to decide such important matters as homework due dates and a party menu. “It’s like, your choices matter,” said one student. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.