Jacobs Leads In 53rd District Race With Gomez In Second

Speaker 1: 00:00 The race to replace longtime Congresswoman Susan Davis in the 53rd congressional district is shaping up as many expected Democrats. Sarah Jacobs, who heavily outspent her opponents is holding a sizable lead with 100% of precincts reporting. Jacobs has 29 and a half percent of the vote. The next closest challenger is Democrat, Georgette Gomez, who currently has 18 and a half percent of the vote Republican. Chris Stoddard is next with 14% however, those numbers could easily change because those male and provisional ballots are still uncounted. Sarah Jacobs joins us now and Sarah, welcome. Speaker 2: 00:37 Thank you. Thanks for having me. Speaker 1: 00:39 You know, so far you've had the strongest showing. If those numbers hold, you'll be facing Georgette Gomez in the general election. What do you plan to do to keep your lead as the electorate consolidates ahead of the November election? Speaker 2: 00:52 Our campaign doesn't change regardless of who we're running against. We have never been focused on who we're running against. We're really focused on talking about what we're running for, talking to people in the district about the issues that matter to them, like gun violence and climate change and the high cost of living and really, uh, you know, talking to voters about why we need a new generation of leaders who can go to Washington and do things differently and respect everyone, listened to everyone at work across the aisle and actually get some things done. Speaker 1: 01:20 You know, last week gum as filed an FTC complaint, accusing your campaign of trying to manipulate the systems so that you'd face Republican Chris Stoddard in the general election. They alleged your campaign used TV and digital ads to help Stoddard. Uh, there were some unmarked mailers that promoted Stoddard's candidacy even. What's your reaction to those allegations? Speaker 3: 01:42 Okay. Speaker 2: 01:43 Uh, you know, we don't know who sent the mailer, so your guess is as good as mine. We certainly didn't do it and frankly that's the kind of silly baseless attack you tend to see right at the end of an election. Um, we're very happy that uh, what it looks like, uh, it's happening means that we will have two Democrats through and that the seat will definitely stay in democratic hands. And I think that's good for everybody. Speaker 1: 02:05 You outspend your opponents by a wide margin which could open you up to criticism of trying to buy the office. How do you deal with that kind of criticism? Speaker 2: 02:13 I'm very proud of the campaign we ran where we talked directly to voters in every single community in this district and I'm incredibly proud of the very broad coalition of support that we've built. And yes, we were able to communicate, but as we saw just this past few days with Tom Stier and Mike Bloomberg, no amount of money matters if you don't have a message that resonates with voters and it's clear from the returns and from everything we saw on the energy and excitement, excitement on the ground that voters in this district are looking for a representative who has the experience that I have working in Washington and it can really go and get things done for San Diego. Speaker 1: 02:50 I've been speaking with Sarah Jacobs candidate for the 53rd congressional district. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 02:56 Of course. Thank you for having me Speaker 1: 02:58 now to the candidate who will likely Speaker 2: 03:00 challenge Sarah Jacobs in November, San Diego city council president, Georgette Gomez. Georgette, welcome. Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 03:07 So how are you feeling about last night's results so far? Speaker 2: 03:11 I'm feeling very energetic and good spirits. I'm very happy to see where, uh, the 53rd district is settling and I'm looking forward to be making it into the general. So we're feeling really, really, really good just in terms of where we are and what we need to do to ensure that we get like during, in November, Speaker 1: 03:33 if the numbers hold with Jacobs ahead and you end up facing her in the general election, how do you plan to try to close that gap? Speaker 2: 03:41 Well, I mean, just like, uh, what we were able to do the first time around when I first ran for city council. I mean we, I, uh, and even now this, this, uh, in the congressional, we were extremely successful in just five months to put together a campaign that is based in a lotta, a lot of community members were able to come in. We were building a really strong grassroots campaign. Um, a lot of the folks that participated in the campaign are people that have, that are, that are part of the 53rd district. And, uh, they believe that it's time to, to have a strong, uh, representative that is, uh, that has spent her entire life in the community fighting for the community as a community organizer, a public policy advocate and environmental justice. And now as a council precedent, someone who's been working extremely hard and, and really trying to create better policies that are lifting our communities, uh, specifically communities that have been neglected for far too long by government. And, uh, they want to see somebody with the track record, not only just from the community, but also somebody that has experience in government and the, the, the second Brown in the general. It's going to be pretty, pretty clear on who's who's who and what people are bringing to the, to the, to this race. And uh, um, working on that, continue building our grassroots movement and talking to voters. Speaker 1: 05:10 I want to talk a bit about some of the controversy. The Jacob's campaign denies your allegations that they or their super PAC tried to manipulate the system. So she'd face Republican Chris Stoddard instead of you in November. Um, what evidence do you have to back up that claim? Speaker 2: 05:26 Well, we, uh, submitted a complaint to the FCC and they're going to start, uh, we just heard back that they're going to be investigating and they'll, we'll see what the outcome is on that. And uh, I mean the they evidence where, uh, basically that, uh, Sarah Jacobs started comparing herself to the federal Republican Chris and there was really no recent, but we'll see what the outcome of the investigation will be. Speaker 1: 05:52 All right. I've been speaking with Georgette Gomez who will most likely face era Jacobs and the race for the 53rd district seat in November. Georgette, thanks so much for joining us. Speaker 2: 06:02 Thank you so much. I appreciate you.