Supe Candidates Spar Over Taxes, Homelessness – And Trump 

There might as well have been three candidates in Tuesday night’s San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1 debate: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann – and President Donald Trump. 

The debate, televised on ABC 10News and moderated by 10News anchor Kimberly Hunt, ostensibly focused on top local issues in the race to fill a vacant South County seat on the five-member Board of Supervisors: Housing, homelessness, immigration, the Tijuana River sewage crisis and the county budget. 

But Aguirre, a Democrat, repeatedly turned the conversation back to Trump, reprising her top campaign attack line against McCann that, as a Republican, he would bring to San Diego what Aguirre called “MAGA politics in Washington.” 

McCann, a self-described moderate who has won numerous elections in a Democratic-majority city and worked for years with Democrats on the Chula Vista City Council, parried Aguirre’s attacks. He declared his opposition to federal tariffs, decried recent immigration raids in San Diego and lobbed his own criticism at Aguirre for failing to pay her property taxes. 

Aguirre invoked Trump’s name in response to almost every question Hunt asked. 

What is the most pressing issue facing San Diego County, Hunt asked at the start of the debate? The Tijuana River sewage crisis, Aguirre responded – and “MAGA and DOGE-style cuts.” 

How about the county budget? “We need to make sure people don’t lose their health care coverage by the big cuts that are coming out of the Trump White House,” Aguirre said. 

The economy? “I absolutely oppose Trump’s tariffs,” Aguirre said. “My opponent supports that.” (He doesn’t.) 

Problems in San Diego County jails? “It’s interesting my opponent calls himself law enforcement’s choice because he’s the one who lobbied Trump to release a convicted felon that went back into the community,” Aguirre said. 

Aguirre even cited Trump in response to how she would work collaboratively on the officially non-partisan Board of Supervisors. “With all the cuts coming down from the White House, people are going to be left hanging,” she said. “We need to make sure we have leadership that stands up to that chaos.” 

For his part, McCann mostly stuck to local issues – except when he was dinging Aguirre on her property taxes. 

Asked about a proposal to tax high-end homes to fund affordable housing, McCann said he opposed the tax – then added: “First, it’s very, very important to pay your taxes…You should talk to Mayor Aguirre and ask her why she hasn’t paid her taxes.” 

When they weren’t attacking each other, the two candidates engaged in a mostly substantive debate about San Diego County’s future. 

Aguirre promised to continue her fight to clean up the Tijuana River sewage mess, said the county needs to take the lead on resolving homelessness, pledged to build more affordable housing and said she would seek to use county rainy day funds to pay for services threatened by federal budget cuts. 

McCann said he would bring to the county the same policies he has pursued in Chula Vista. He pointed to the city’s robust finances, a recently opened bayfront resort, low crime rates and a city-funded homeless shelter. 

Before they became opponents in the supervisor race, Aguirre and McCann had a cordial relationship as mayors of neighboring cities. Beneath the animosity Tuesday, they often agreed on key issues. 

Both said the county needs to play a larger role responding to homelessness, though Aguirre emphasized what she calls a compassionate response, while McCann stressed the need to overhaul county services and eliminate ineffective programs. 

Both said they would press federal officials to resolve the sewage crisis, though McCann said Mexican officials bear equal responsibility and disagreed with Aguirre’s proposal to improve solutions by studying the crisis’ health and economic effects. 

The areas of sharpest disagreement were the county budget, housing construction and the county’s super-sanctuary policy limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

McCann said he opposed Aguirre’s proposal to use rainy day funds to close budget gaps. The funds, he said, should be used for emergencies, and the county should balance its budget by eliminating unnecessary spending. 

Aguirre said the reserves were crucial for protecting health care, in-home supportive services and other programs serving San Diego’s lowest income residents. 

McCann said he would prioritize home ownership by building houses middle-class people can afford. And he would seek to eliminate a county environmental rule that makes it harder to build homes in outlying rural areas. 

Aguirre said McCann’s plans would prioritize homes for wealthy buyers over apartments for lower-income San Diegans. She said she would look for ways to protect tenants from rent hikes and build more high-density housing close to transit centers. 

Both candidates said they opposed the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids on workplaces in San Diego. But McCann said he remained supportive of deporting immigrants with violent criminal records. And he said he opposes the county’s sanctuary policy because it impedes cooperation with federal authorities on fentanyl and human trafficking. 

Aguirre made an impassioned plea for protecting immigrants by standing up to what she described as militarized raids that terrorize communities. She gave an unclear response on the sanctuary policy, supporting its overall intent but saying she opposed how it was crafted because County Sheriff Kelly Martinez was not involved at the outset. 

Fact-checkers had plenty to work with. McCann repeatedly accused Aguirre of supporting a $1 billion tax hike. She has never proposed such a hike and said she opposes taxes, full stop – though in an April interview with Voice of San Diego she expressed openness to taxing high-end home sales if voters approve of the idea. 

Aguirre just as repeatedly said McCann supports Trump tariffs and other elements of Trump’s agenda. That’s also untrue. McCann has long opposed tariffs and said on Tuesday he opposes aggressive immigration raids and deep cuts to Medicaid and other government programs supporting lower income residents. 

Trump made a final appearance Tuesday in Aguirre’s closing statement. She described herself as a fighter for working people supported by unions and Democratic politicians throughout the region. 

“With him?” she said, gesturing toward McCann. “You can expect rubber stamping Trump policies, making cuts at your cost, making sure that when things get hard and scary like they have been, [he’s] nowhere to be found.” 

McCann brought the focus back to South County. “You deserve leadership that delivers results,” he said in his own closing statement. “Lowering the cost of living, reducing homelessness, balancing the budget, keeping taxes low and our neighborhoods safe. That is what I’ve done as the mayor of Chula Vista and will do as the next supervisor.” 

Of course, he couldn’t resist one last dig. He invoked the supposed $1 billion tax hike and added: “While she wants you to pay more in taxes, she hasn’t even paid her own taxes.” 

“The contrast is clear,” he said in conclusion. 

Perhaps the truest words uttered all evening.