The mayoral races in Escondido and Encinitas, two North County cities that couldn’t be more different on the surface, share a strikingly similar political backdrop.
In both cities, conservative-leaning incumbents backed by councils that have shifted rightward in recent years face two Democrat-backed challengers.
The two incumbent mayors — Escondido Mayor Dane White, a Republican, and Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers, an Independent who often aligns with more Republican values — are running against Democrat-backed, nonpartisan candidate Elias Velazquez in Escondido and Democrat Rimga Viskanta in Encinitas.
Velazquez has said that current Escondido leadership is leading the city astray. He accuses White of breaking three promises he made during his campaign: White promised to reduce homelessness, make way for more affordable housing and to never support a sales tax increase. White later supported a sales tax measure in 2024.
Viskanta has been critical of Encinitas’ approach to state housing mandates and had some thoughts about councilmember conduct, telling the Coast News that councilmembers micromanage and berate staff.
“I think the current climate in the city council chambers is one where they are designing traffic projects from the dais. I don’t think they’re respecting the expertise of staff,” she said. “I’m not there to rock the boat; I just want to steady the ship.”
Both councils also lean conservative.
In Escondido, the council has been made up of four Republicans and one Democrat for the past few years. That Democrat, District 1 Councilmember Consuelo Martinez, is not running for another term.
In recent years, the council has taken a more enforcement-driven approach to homelessness by rejecting Housing First policies, pulling longtime financial support from the only homeless shelter in the city, adopting stricter rules for homeless people camping outside and more. Martinez was almost always the only dissenting vote.
Similarly, for the past two years, Encinitas’ Council has been made up of one Democrat, one Republican and three Independents whose policies and rhetoric often lean conservative. The lone Democrat, District 3 Councilmember Joy Lyndes, also decided not to run again.
Since 2024, Encinitas also moved toward more enforcement-driven policies on homelessness and adopted stricter public camping rules. City leadership has also become increasingly critical to state housing mandates, but that’s a feeling shared by many people from both sides of the political aisle in Encinitas.
For some residents dissatisfied with their elected officials in Escondido and Encinitas, a new mayor would be a big step in the right direction, a resident from Escondido told me. Both challengers are tapping into a desire among a large portion of voters to move away from the conservative direction the two cities have taken.
Escondido
In Escondido, homelessness has become a top issue in the race for mayor. Escondido consistently has some of the highest homelessness numbers in North County.
White, who is completing his first term as mayor after voters elected him in 2022, actually used to be homeless. When he first took office, I wrote a story about him called, “Escondido Mayor Used to Live on the Street Behind a 7-Eleven.”
He was open about the fact that being unhoused and struggling with substance abuse greatly informs how he views reducing homelessness in Escondido, which should start with substance abuse treatment and public safety first, not housing, according to White.
His opponent Velazquez, who works with the homeless population at Brother Benno’s Foundation in Oceanside, disagrees. He points to the increase in the city’s homelessness population since White took office and says his methods aren’t working.
He argues that following the state’s Housing First method gives Escondido access to homelessness dollars, which can be used to get more people off the street and into shelter and housing where they can then receive treatment for mental illness or substance abuse problems.
Velazquez has also criticized White for not bringing more affordable housing to Escondido, which he argues residents desperately need. And he says White flip flopped on the idea of a sales tax increase, saying he wouldn’t support one during his campaign and then ultimately supported one that voters approved in 2024.
“I think the current leadership is leading the city down a dark future,” Velazquez told Times of San Diego.
Encinitas
In the race for Encinitas mayor, housing is a key factor. Are we surprised?
Both Ehlers and Viskanta share a desire to achieve more local control for Encinitas, but they slightly differ in their approach. Ehlers has a history of being resistant to state housing laws. He was removed from the Planning Commission in 2022 by the city councilmembers who said he was getting in the way of the city’s efforts to stay compliant.
Viskanta said she’d rather work collaboratively with legislators to change things.
Ehlers is seeking a second term after being elected mayor in 2024. He was elected to the City Council in 2022 and served on the city’s Planning Commission for seven years before that.
Viskanta currently serves on the San Dieguito Union High School District Board of Trustees and was on the Encinitas Union School District Board before that. She has also previously worked for the city of Solana Beach.
Encinitas has a long history of resisting state housing laws resulting in the city getting sued by developers and threatened by state officials, including Attorney General Rob Bonta.
But that was several years ago. Ehlers and the current Council have accepted that the city can’t outright disobey the law, so they’re pushing a statewide ballot initiative to force a change in state housing laws, instead.
Viskanta agrees that the city should have more control over the type of housing that developers can build and where. But she’s critical of how the city has handled it all so far, telling the Coast News that she would “prefer to work collaboratively with legislators and other partners to reform state housing law rather than try to change things through lawsuits.”
Her campaign also emphasizes bringing respect and cross-collaboration to City Hall. That’s something I’ve heard several times before from residents, a lot of whom dislike how some councilmembers have conducted themselves during meetings.
Join Me at Politifest North County!
We’re bringing Politifest to North County on Friday, Oct. 2, at the Harding Community Center in Carlsbad!
Join me for two back-to-back sessions: a sit-down conversation with District 5 Board of Supervisors candidate Kyle Krahel, followed by a candidate debate I’m moderating between San Marcos mayoral contenders Sharon Jenkins and Mike Sannella.
In Other News
- ICYMI: The Vista Detention Facility is slated for a rebuild that will cost roughly $950 million as sheriff’s officials insist that the jail has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced to sustain progress on reducing in-custody deaths. (Voice of San Diego)
- A 45-year-old inmate died in an apparent suicide at the Vista Detention Facility on Tuesday night, the Sheriff’s Office reported. This marks the eighth in-custody death this year and the first at the Vista jail. (Union-Tribune)
- The city of Del Mar has declared a local emergency over high levels of sand in the San Dieguito Lagoon. With a “Super” El Niño on the way, city officials said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Southern California Edison must remove sand to prevent flooding. (Coast News)