San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones and Vista Mayor John Franklin have a lot in common.
They’re both Republicans with similar policy beliefs. Both are mayors of neighboring cities in inland North County. And now, they’re both battling for the same seat on the County Board of Supervisors.
Besides their different political styles — Jones distances herself from polarizing political issues, while Franklin leans into them — there’s not much else that sets them apart.
But this race has implications far beyond Jones and Franklin, at least from the perspective of San Diego County Republican Party members. It represents a deeper power struggle between the party and someone who threatens its very foundation, Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio.
“What’s at stake in this race is the future of the County Republican Party,” said Corey Gustafson, the party’s former chairperson.
DeMaio’s goal, Gustafson said, is to sideline the County’s Republican Party and make Reform California the only source for Republican politics in the region. Winning this election would bring him one step closer to doing just that.
That’s why the race for District 5 County Supervisor has shaped up to be one of the key races of the year. Jim Desmond, who currently holds the seat, is termed out. He’s now in the race for the 48th Congressional District.
That leaves Jones, Franklin and Democrat Kyle Krahel (the former chair of the county Democratic party) as the top candidates for the seat. Other candidates in the race are Norma Contreras, a Democrat and former chair of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, and Sasha Miller, an independent endorsed by the Green Party.
In February, a majority of the County Republican Party’s Central Committee attempted to endorse Franklin for the District 5 Supervisor seat, but DeMaio convinced the committee they should not keep voting until a candidate gets a super majority of votes. Bylaws recently put in place by DeMaio and the party’s chair, Paula Whitsell, indicated votes would continue until there was an endorsement, but DeMaio advocated that if no candidate could get a super majority from the start, then the “people should decide.”
Franklin, along with other candidates, failed to garner enough votes, and the party didn’t endorse anyone. DeMaio and his political action committee, Reform California, endorsed Jones.
“There are more than 90 Republicans – from elected officials to grassroots leaders – almost the entire spectrum of Republicans in the county is supporting John Franklin except for one, and that’s Carl DeMaio,” Gustafson said.
Why? Well, one reason is spite, he said. Franklin is supported and endorsed by 48th Congressional District Rep. Darrell Issa, who has been on the outs with DeMaio for years.
“This goes back to 2020 when Franklin helped Darrell Issa defeat Carl DeMaio in the 2020 Congressional race,” Gustafson said. “DeMaio is essentially launching a personal vendetta against Franklin, and really Darrell Issa at the end of the day … he’s spending millions of dollars against Republicans to exact his revenge.”
The second reason, according to Gustafson?
“Carl wants to control the process to select Republican candidates. He wants it to be only him who decides it,” he said.
The County Republican Party didn’t officially endorse anyone or send out a voter guide. So, the only voter guide available for Republican residents this year is Reform California’s, where every endorsement is determined solely by DeMaio.
Mason Herron, a political consultant, told Voice of San Diego that without the Republican Party’s resources and outreach, voters could be missing information about the race, especially because it’s a large district.
“I think without the party getting involved, there’s not really an institution that voters trust that they can turn to,” Herron said. “It could take extra effort for voters to kind of parse through what the difference is between these two candidates, especially if the candidates seem kind of the same for the most part.”
Recently, DeMaio’s voter guide landed him in hot water with the California Republican Party.
He received a cease-and-desist letter from the party’s attorneys on May 14 demanding he stop distributing his voter guide because it claimed to be the “official Central Committee Slate” and the “REAL San Diego County Voter Guide for Republicans.” It also featured the Republican Party’s elephant emblem.
In the letter, Ashlee Titus, general counsel for the California Republican Party, accused him of misleading voters, deception, misconduct and more.
DeMaio has since changed his website to read “Carl DeMaio’s Reform California Voter Guide for Republicans” instead of “Official Republican Voter Guide.”
The Candidates
Franklin told Voice that he is proud to receive the majority of votes from the County Republican Party’s Central Committee. And regarding DeMaio’s endorsement of Jones, he was surprised.
“Given [Jones’] record of voting three times in the last 24 months to raise taxes, it’s very surprising,” Franklin said. “And that’s supposed to be Carl’s issue.”
DeMaio has historically opposed tax increases of any kind, as do most Republican politicians.
In 2024, Jones and the San Marcos City Council voted to place a sales tax increase on the San Marcos ballot, and voters approved it. And in 2025, she voted in favor of SANDAG’s regional transportation plan, a plan that identifies projects SANDAG wants the region to build in the next 30 years and includes an assumption that voters will approve two separate sales tax increases within the next 10.
Jones told Voice she voted to put a tax measure on the San Marcos ballot because San Marcos had the lowest sales tax rate in the county, and she wanted to let the voters decide for themselves. As for SANDAG’s regional transportation plan, she said she voted for it with the understanding that it would need to be updated in four years and sent to the state for approval before any tax measures are introduced. In the meantime, she is in favor of finding grant dollars and other methods to fund the plan, not tax increases. She added that she led the effort to remove the proposed mileage tax from that same regional plan and brought an efficiency department to SANDAG to identify waste and cut costs.
As supervisor, she would reject any efforts to impose tax increases for county residents, Jones said. She added that DeMaio’s endorsement, as “one of the biggest tax fighters,” proves she’s against raising taxes.
“I’m proud to have their support,” she said, referring to DeMaio and Reform California.
It’s not the first time DeMaio has supported a candidate that wasn’t the party’s preferred pick. Voice previously reported that DeMaio controversially endorsed former Poway City Councilmember Tony Blain in 2024, who was running for the seat at the time, instead of the party’s preferred candidate Jared Wilson, president of San Diego’s police union. Blain was later recalled from office before resigning from his seat. He’s now facing criminal charges.
That endorsement created the first rift, and this one created a deeper divide. From the party’s perspective, Gustafson said, DeMaio is spending millions of dollars against members of his own party, a party fighting to survive while its presence in San Diego County rapidly shrinks.
DeMaio declined a request for comment.
Soon, voters will decide which two candidates will advance to the General Election for the District 5 Board of Supervisors race. If a Democrat wins the General Election, Democrats will have a fourth seat on the board, creating the first-ever supermajority where they’ll be able to pass key items like budget amendments without needing Republican support.
And if a Republican wins, it will determine who wins the battle for the local party: DeMaio or the party’s traditional guard.