Ballots are now arriving in the mailboxes of 372,578 registered voters in District 1 of the County Board of Supervisors. The ballots are for a special election to replace former Supervisor Nora Vargas, who resigned unexpectedly in December. Seven candidates are running for Vargas’ seat. Voters have until April 8 to vote by mail or in person. If no candidate wins a majority, the top two vote-getters will face off in a July 1 runoff.
Why it matters: County Supervisors are the most powerful elected leaders in San Diego. Their decisions affect every aspect of daily life in the county. They control an $8.5 billion budget and oversee a vast bureaucracy involved in healthcare, housing, transportation, public safety and other important issues.
Since Vargas’ abrupt departure, South County residents have had no voice in county politics. The Board also has been stalemated between two Democrats and two Republicans. The winner of this election will determine the political future not only of District 1 but of the entire county.
Who’s running? Of the seven candidates in the race, four currently hold elected office in South County: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Councilmember Carolina Chavez, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno. The other three candidates – Elizabeth Efird, Louis Fuentes and Lincoln Pickard – have never held elected office in San Diego and, so far, have not run full-fledged campaigns. Essentially, the race is a contest between Aguirre, Chavez, McCann and Moreno.
There are significant differences between the candidates, making this election a genuine contest between competing visions for county government. Here’s a look at each candidate and where they stand on major issues:
Paloma Aguirre
Aguirre was elected Imperial Beach mayor in 2022 after serving four years on the City Council. She is an environmentalist by training and temperament who has focused much of her attention on the Tijuana River sewage crisis. Political insiders describe her as the most progressive candidate in the race, but she has governed as a pragmatist in Imperial Beach, where city leadership is divided between Democrats and Republicans. “You’ll find that I take a practical, good governance, people-first approach,” she told Voice of San Diego earlier this year.
Aguirre is endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party, U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, State Sen. Steve Padilla, city councilmembers in several cities and an array of deep-pocketed labor unions. If elected, she promises to wield the power of county government to speed up efforts to address the sewage crisis. She also says she wants to expand county services for people experiencing homelessness and balance the need for more housing with environmental stewardship.
Carolina Chavez
Chavez was elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 2022. She also serves as public relations director for SIMNSA, a cross-border health provider, and has coordinated binational affairs for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. On the Chula Vista Council, Chavez has prioritized the needs of local businessowners and residents with cross-cultural ties to Mexico. She has focused on campaign on improving healthcare access, bolstering law enforcement and public safety, building more housing and promoting economic development.
John McCann
McCann is a longtime fixture in South County politics and the lone Republican in the race. He was first elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 2002 and has served continuously as a local official since then. He describes himself as a moderate Republican who supports fiscal discipline, lower taxes, law enforcement, home construction and economic development.
Though District 1 is heavily Democratic – Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one – McCann told Voice of San Diego he has a history of winning elections he was forecast to lose. He is endorsed by the county sheriffs’ union, the Lincoln Club of San Diego, homebuilders, apartment owners and an array of Republican elected officials. If elected, he likely would help to instigate a major course change for county government, which has been led by Democrats since 2020. He opposes new taxes and has promised a “tough love” approach to homelessness and drug addiction. He also says he would seek to boost funding for law enforcement and modify environmental rules to promote home construction.
Vivian Moreno
Moreno was elected to the San Diego City Council in 2018 after a career as a broker-buyer in the metal industry. She has governed as a moderate, supporting the interests of homebuilders and apartment owners while also opposing the city’s homeless encampment ban, which she said doesn’t solve the underlying problems driving homelessness.
In an interview with Voice of San Diego, Moreno touted her record bringing parks and other amenities to her City Council district, which stretches from Barrio Logan to San Ysidro and border-adjacent communities. She said she would bring similar advocacy to South San Diego County, which she said has been neglected by county leaders. She also promised to speed up new home construction, change the county’s approach to mental and behavioral health, seek more homeless shelters and advocate for removing tolls on State Route 125.
She is endorsed by County Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe, several members of the San Diego City Council, state Assemblymember David Alvaraz, the Chula Vista Democratic Club and a handful of local labor unions, including unions representing carpenters, construction workers and San Diego municipal employees.
The bottom line: This election matters. County supervisors face a range of pressing decisions on issues San Diegans care about. The winner of this race will shape the county’s response to homelessness, crime, affordable housing, immigration, the environment and mental and behavioral health. The political future of South County – and all of San Diego County – is in voters’ hands.
In Other News
The National School District last month voted to switch from at-large to by-district elections for school board beginning in 2026. Under the current system, all school board candidates compete citywide. Under the proposed system, the district would be divided into “trustee areas” and voters in each area would elect a board representative. The district seeks public input on the proposal before submitting it to county officials for final approval. Members of the public are invited to attend public hearings at 6 p.m. on March 19 and April 9 at district headquarters, 1500 N Ave. in National City.
The Coronado Unified School District last week sued the operator of a cross-border sewage plant, alleging that failure to maintain the plant has led to sewage-related beach closures and other water quality problems along the southern San Diego coastline. Veolia North America, the plant operator, said the lawsuit was misplaced because the main cause of the crisis is untreated sewage flowing across the border from Mexico. (Coronado News)
Organizers of a series of job fairs to fill 800 jobs at the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista shut down registration for the events last week due to what organizers described as “overwhelming demand.” Thousands of job seekers signed up to attend the fairs, which were scheduled to take place last weekend and this coming weekend at Southwestern College. Those who signed up early were able to attend the events. Others who waited hours in line were turnred away. (Fox 5)
Attention parents and would-be composters! The Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista will host two “Spring Wildlife” day camps March 24-28 and March 31-April 4 for kids in grades Pre-K to 6. For families looking to boost their gardening or just do their part for the environment, the center also will host a free seven-week course on “the art and science of composting” April 16 to May 28.