The Race to Lead San Diego County’s Second Largest City Just Got a Lot More Interesting 

This story has been updated.

In a move that instantly put a political spotlight on San Diego County’s second largest city, Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo this week announced he is running for Chula Vista mayor. 

Tamayo, a Democrat, filed papers on Monday to take on veteran Republican John McCann, who is running for re-election after first ascending to the mayor’s office in 2022. Previously, McCann served for two decades on the Chula Vista City Council and the Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees. 

Until recently, McCann had been running unopposed, an open source of frustration for county Democrats. 

Though Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one in South County, Democrats have not controlled a single mayor’s office in the region since former Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre won a seat last summer on the county Board of Supervisors. 

McCann is well known in Chula Vista and broadly liked, even by many Democrats. Party insiders had fretted no one was stepping forward to challenge him because they feared he was unbeatable. 

In an interview Monday, Tamayo said he entered the race because he feels that, under McCann’s leadership, Chula Vista has tilted too much in the direction of splashy corporate projects and neglected basic needs such as local job creation, better infrastructure and more equitable attention to the city’s west side. 

“I think that the city can do more to create local jobs and maintain not only our residents living [but] also working here,” Tamayo said. “[McCann] definitely favors bigger projects that do create some jobs. But it’s not for the everyday working person.” 

Tamayo has served as a trustee of the Chula Vista Elementary School District since 2014. He also serves as director of information technology and security at Calbright College, an online community college. Previously, he worked in technology-related jobs at the San Diego County Office of Education and the Sweetwater Union High School District. 

McCann said he was prepared to run a competitive race. 

“We take nothing for granted,” he said in a brief interview Tuesday morning. “It’s like the Super Bowl. You never know what your opponent will be like ‘till you step on the field.” 

In a follow-up email exchange, McCann said Chula Vista had prospered during his time in office and he intended to keep the positive momentum going in a second term.

“The list of accomplishments is long, but altogether they have made Chula Vista the economic engine for the entire region, making Chula Vista’s successes a win for all of us,” McCann said. 

The race is likely to be among the most expensive – and possibly the most bruising – in South County this year. 

McCann formed his re-election fundraising committee last summer and, as of Dec. 31, already had raised more than $100,000, according to campaign filings. 

If Tamayo consolidates support from county Democrats and labor organizations, he will gain access to the same cash spigot that enabled Aguirre to defeat McCann in last year’s supervisor race. 

Tamayo said his experience at Chula Vista Elementary, California’s largest elementary-only school district, had prepared him to lead at Chula Vista City Hall. 

“That experience of setting partnerships with other local districts and local agencies and helping our community has prepared me to provide that vision and direction at the city level,” he said. “[I] also have vast experience in budgets.” 

In his Tuesday email, McCann pointed to Chula Vista’s low crime rate, abundant development projects and a recent partnership with San Diego State University as evidence that the city is thriving under his leadership. 

He said future plans included new parks on the city’s west side and expanded opportunities for homeownership.

“This truly is Chula Vista’s decade,” he wrote, a sentiment he often expresses at groundbreakings and other ceremonies marking city milestones. 

Both candidates also have vulnerabilities that likely will loom large if the campaign turns negative. 

McCann has faced questions about a real estate company he co-owned with his wife last year. And Aguirre attacked him relentlessly for his role in securing clemency from President Donald Trump for a local businesswoman convicted of fraud. 

The businesswoman, Adriana Camberos, donated to McCann’s 2022 mayoral campaign after she exited prison. And she bought a high-rise condominium in Coronado that the McCanns’ real estate company previously had tried to sell. 

Camberos’ name briefly returned to news headlines earlier this year when she won clemency from Trump a second time following another fraud conviction in 2024. McCann said he had no contact with Camberos after her first prison sentence and was not involved in her purchase of the condominium. 

Tamayo has been dogged by accusations that, under his and allied school board members’ leadership, Chula Vista Elementary has sold out to its politically muscular teachers union and mismanaged its budget and internal operations. 

Over the past year, the district weathered a series of internal investigations, an unflattering external audit and the departure of a senior leader. It is now in the midst of laying off staff and cutting back programs in an effort to avoid draining emergency reserves. 

Tamayo said he anticipated attacks against him and remained focused on the main themes of his campaign. 

“We’ve thought about some of the attacks, and if they come we’ll deal with them,” he said. “My main focus will be on what is the main vision for Chula Vista.”