Tuesday, April 8, is the final day to vote in special primary election. This is the race to fill San Diego County’s First Supervisorial District seat left empty by Nora Vargas.
If you haven’t made up your mind, here’s what you need to know.
What’s at stake: A lot. As our South County reporter Jim Hinch has explained, the person who wins will determine partisan control of county government. That control will shape the board’s priorities moving forward, such as where housing gets built and how the region responds to the growing homeless crisis.
Who is running: There are four major candidates in the race: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Councilmember Carolina Chavez, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and San Diego Councilmember Vivian Moreno. KPBS has more on the other candidates in the race here.
Over the last few weeks, Hinch has done in-depth interview with the major candidates. You can read those Q&As here.
If none of the candidates get more than 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, then the top two will face off in a general election in July. We’ll have the results for you in the Morning Report. Subscribe here.
More county news: We reported that two candidates are urging the board to delay the budget vote until the District 1 seat is filled. The county of San Diego has a specific timeline for budget discussion, public participation and finally a vote in June.
On Friday, Supervisor Monica Montgomery Stepp announced a proposal to use a “two-step” system that would allow the board to approve a recommended budget by the end of June and the final budget by Oct. 2.
This proposal would help address financial uncertainties tied to federal funding and ensure District 1 has a voice, according to a press release from her office. Here’s the proposal. The board is set to vote on it on Tuesday.
Save the Date for Politifest!
It’s that time of the year my friends. Politifest is back. Mark your calendars for Saturday, Oct. 4 at the University of San Diego.
Our team is hard at work putting together panel discussion and getting a great lineup of speakers. There’s no better occasion to bring together politicians, community members, researchers and experts than Politifest 2025.
We can’t wait to share more.
More Chisme to Start Your Week
- This week was ripe with chisme. First, we learned that flood victims were upset that their photos were being used in mailers in support to Councilmember Vivian Moreno. The residents do not support Moreno and are not happy with how the city responded to the floods. The group responsible for the mailer agreed to stop using their photos. Read more here.
- Second, we learned that Eric Dargan was fired. Dargan was the chief operating officer at the city of San Diego until Feb. 18 when Mayor Todd Gloria announced he was eliminating the position. At the time, Gloria said the decision was “budgetarily driven.” We broke the news last week that Dargan had filed a lawsuit against the city and Gloria in late March. In response, Gloria’s office told us Dargan was fired.
- Our Will Huntsberry dropped a new story on how officials at the Chula Vista School District and a former COO are trading corruption allegations. Read the story here.