Democratic Presidential Race Heading Toward 2-Person Race And San Diego Results From Super Tuesday

Speaker 1: 00:05 [inaudible]. The votes are still being counted, but the outcome is taking shape. We'll bring you the latest results and analysis. I'm Jade Hindman. I'm wearing Kevin. Ah, this is KPBS midday edition. It's Wednesday, March 4th Speaker 2: 00:24 [inaudible]. Speaker 1: 00:25 The 2020 democratic primary is in the rear view mirror for California as the votes settle. The contest for the democratic presidential race is now between two candidates, Bernie Sanders, who took California and Joe Biden who made a comeback last night locally. The unofficial election night results are in from the hotly contested 50th congressional race to the race for San Diego mayor. Today we'll hear from the candidates talk about how each race went and what's next as the attention turns to November, but first, as more votes continue to be counted, how close are we to officially knowing who won our elections? Joining us now is Michael WGU, the San Diego County registrar of voters. Michael, welcome. Thanks for having me. So where do things stand right now? Where are you all at in the process of counting votes? Speaker 3: 01:11 Well, we finished up the election night count, which generally represents all 1,548 precincts worth of polling place. Ballots are into the count. Um, and now we go into what is known as the semifinal official certification count, which is, uh, processing all outstanding mail ballots and provisional ballots. And what we've posted online is, is that we have approximately 350,000 mail ballots and provisional ballasts to still consider for the count. Um, and that number could grow. So the public should expect that, uh, we have mail ballots that have been postmarked, uh, by yesterday and that we can accept three days afterwards. Speaker 1: 01:51 Hmm. What was voter turnout like yesterday? Speaker 3: 01:54 You know, it was steady here at the registrar voters. It seems like it was steady also across all of the different precincts that we had out there. Uh, certainly a number of individuals dropped off their mail ballots as well. So at these respective polling locations. So I would say it's steady and it was on par to the 2016 presidential primary election. But we will ultimately see when we certify the election on April 2nd. Speaker 1: 02:15 Do you have an estimate on projected voter turnout? Speaker 3: 02:18 Yeah, so at going into it, uh, prior to knowing what we know today, uh, is, is that I was anticipating anywhere from a 50 to 55% turnout. Um, it might be in and around that respective area. It could could be a little bit lower at this rate in time point in time. Uh, but again, we still have remaining ballots that are out there. Uh, those that will be able to accept, uh, due to the timeliness of the ballots are received. And these are those mail ballots. Speaker 1: 02:47 Hmm. How many more ballots are locked out there? Speaker 3: 02:49 All right. Currently we have, what we're saying is 350,000 outstanding mail ballots and provisional ballots. And then what we have to still consider are those mail ballots that were dropped and postmark yesterday and that we can accept three days within three days of yesterday. So, uh, any mail ballots that were through the us postal service that was postmarked yesterday can be accepted. Speaker 1: 03:11 And your office issued more mail ballots this time around than ever before. Are most voters opting to do that now? Instead of going to the polls and how does that impact vote or getting votes counted rather. Speaker 3: 03:21 So 74% of the electorate received a mail ballot that's over 1.3 million registered voters of the 1.8 that we have. Um, and by far the majority of all votes cast, uh, RML ballots these days. The shift has occurred for over a decade now where more individuals are trending towards voting by mail and certainly it's more convenient and a yes, what that ends up doing is extending the life of an election and particularly for any particular close contests that is out there. And that's kind of how we've been going. Uh, moving forward. If you think about the November, 2018 election, we had 33% of the count, um, reported out, which were our mail ballots at 8:00 PM and then 24% where our polling place pallets, but 43% of all votes cast was counted post election night. Speaker 1: 04:14 Any problems to report with yesterday's election? Speaker 3: 04:17 No. You know, everything ran very smoothly considered considering the complexity and the challenge. We were anticipating long lines. There really weren't any long lines out there, any undue waiting lines. We were happy and pleased with that. Um, and uh, across all the 1,548 precincts, as well as our satellite locations and the registrar voters office. Uh, and so overall pretty good, well-run election. Speaker 1: 04:44 Uh, how'd the satellite polling sites work out and do you think you'll keep those satellite sites in November and possibly expand beyond the four? Speaker 3: 04:53 Well, I, you know, I, I'm really pleased with the number of individuals that took advantage of our satellite of voting locations. Uh, the, it was our first foray at, uh, introducing satellite locations, something beyond just the registrar of voters office. So we had a decent number of individuals that went to each and every single one of the sites. Um, and I anticipate that we'll need the satellite voting locations going to what is most likely going to be a pretty big turnout, uh, in November. So, uh, we will ultimately see, we'll assess, uh, what happened at all the respective satellite voter league, the locations. I know that those that went to these satellite voting locations, um, we're very pleased because they were able to vote on their particular contest, their eligible contest, and those that were not registered at that point in time before they walked in one of these, uh, the doors of the satellite voting locations who walked out being registered and being able to vote. So, you know, we wanted to make sure that we didn't have a recurrence of what we saw during the November, 2018 election, which was a long lines here at the registrar of voters office and we were trying to avoid any long lines at any of the precincts. And so I, I believe that the satellite building locations helped in that regard. Um, but at the end of the day, like every elections, we will debrief on this election and see where we need to tighten up and move forward. Uh, with the November election, Speaker 4: 06:16 I've been speaking with San Diego County registrar of voters, Michael WGU, Michael, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Speaker 2: 06:29 [inaudible] Speaker 4: 06:30 the race to see who will replace Duncan Hunter in the house of representatives is one of the most closely watched races in the County. As we just heard from the register of voters, it will still take some time for all votes to be counted. But currently Democrat Amar camp in a jar is leading in the historically conservative 50th district, which includes East and North San Diego County campaign. New jar currently has 34% of the vote while a Republican Darryl Eissa is in second place with 25% of the vote. If both of those results hold, it means camp in a jar and ISO will face a runoff. This November we invited both the candidates on our program. We did not hear back from Darryl Eissa. Johnny me is Democrat Amar camp in a jar and welcome. Oh, thank you for having me. You were ahead in the polling of the 50th district is 34% is that outcome about what you were expecting Speaker 5: 07:20 thing around there? So 10% more than the second place. And, uh, you know, I'm pretty excited about our prospects because I've talked to a lot of people who support Brian Jones and Carl DeMaio and they all said I'd be their second choice. They just can't see themselves sending ice up back to Washington. Their feeling is that he's been there for 20 years. What else can he do that he couldn't do in 20 years? Um, and really for me, my focus is similar to Carl's in some ways where I'm a fighter and let's as a fighter, we need after being a fighter, we need a healer. Someone who could bring this district together. We've been through so much evil, chronicled it with Duncan Hunter leaving office and the way that he did, we don't have a Congressman. Now, there are so many urgent needs that we have to take care of. Uh, the moment I get into Congress, whether it's the cost of housing and living in healthcare, whether it's making sure we have more a relief for wildfires and make sure that our fire departments are fully staffed and funded, a whole host of issues that we have to hit the ground running and make up for the last time. Speaker 4: 08:16 This time around though, the Republican vote, uh, was divided by three candidates, so it's likely going towards November. The Republican vote will be consolidated and that's going to give you an uphill battle. This is still a largely Republican conservative district. How do you plan to overcome that? Speaker 5: 08:34 Well, I think if you combine my votes with the other Democrat, that puts me at 40%, now I've got to find 10 more percent. I really do believe there are Brian Jones and called the Maya voters who will vote for me over Darryl. I said they don't see this race as the left versus the right. It's the political insiders versus the outsiders like us and East County. Even people who voted for Trump wanted something new, fresh and different. Eissa is a of the past. He's the old version of, of the, of politics. We're trying to bring some new fresh blood to deal with these old problems in a new way. Speaker 4: 09:02 A practical question. Your election war chest is less than half that of Daryl ISIS. Now that you've made a good showing in the primary, are you expecting more support from the national democratic party Speaker 5: 09:13 and just grassroots people all across the district and the country? We've average donation we've received is $30 and we've raised over $2 million. So we could replenish our funds very quickly with that small, a grassroots dollar campaign and we're going to out raise them the same way we out campaigned them. I'm confident we'll be able to do that. And there's a lot of voters in this district who want to see someone earn this district the hard way, not just by this election. And um, in me they have someone who will be a work horse, not just the show. Speaker 4: 09:40 I have been speaking with Amar camp in a jar Democrat in the 50th district. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Joining me now is Mesa college political science. Professor and frequent KPBS political analyst, Carl Luna. Welcome Carl. Good to be here. These have been incredibly tumultuous years for the voters in the 50th district. They've seen the Duncan Hunter dynasty crash and burn. What effect do you think Dunkers indictment and that is Hunter's indictment, guilty plea and resignation has had on the district? Speaker 6: 10:11 Uh, it, it was somewhat demoralizing, I'm sure for his core supporters. It didn't do the party reputation all that much good. And you saw in 2018 a company, Yara came close to winning that golden ticket to Congress. But you know, families have problems. The Republican party has packed off Duncan Hunter and now they're rallying behind Daryl ice. So the question will be, will the Carl de Mio supporters come out for him? The more populous supporters, because I say is as we heard in the interview, something of the swamp, a Relic of the past, he's not a new voice, but that district breaks so red, it could take another two or three election cycles before Democrats have a chance to take it. Speaker 4: 10:50 Amar camp and a jar has been campaigning in the district now for about three years. He came out on top, as we heard in the primary. How has his message been resonating with voters? Speaker 6: 11:00 I think he's laying out a pathway to the future. I'm not sure if he's going to be able to grab enough independence and mobilize enough Democrats to leave Republicans who sit at home on their hands to win. I mean, he got about 40% of the vote, but, and he outperformed what he did in the primary last time. But you don't have a damaged Duncan Hunter to run against. And all that being said, unless he can really paint Daryl Eissa as a dinosaur, as a Relic of the old order, and unless the public is turning against the Trump administration, maybe coronavirus recession, whatnot, it's an uphill slog, but it's more possible than it's historically been in that district. Speaker 4: 11:38 Yeah. Dies. Darryl Eissa is however, a formidable adversary. Uh, he has more money. He has Washington experience. There are more Republicans in the 50th district even now. So how does a Amar capita jr overcome that Speaker 6: 11:54 if it can? Well, uh, Darryl Eissa is clearly the Goliath in this in terms of the money, the reputation. But remember he fled the 49th or retired from the 49th district when it was a competitive race with Mark, mr 11, one that could dog him. He's a bit of what could be seen as a carpet bagger to the district. The DiMio side might not want to support him with the hope he fails this time to take on that seat in 2022, there's a lot more machinations than you typically had when this was an established dynasty. We're now in the game of Thrones, part of that dynasty. Speaker 4: 12:24 And, and w how likely do you think it would be for the 50th to turn from red to blue this November? Speaker 6: 12:30 Uh, it's a low probability event, but if there is a huge blue wave of backlash against the current administration because up and down the ballot for Republicans, for better or worse, this is a Donald Trump referendum. It is the party of Trump. Darrell Eissa and Carl Demio competed for who are the Trumpist of Trump's. And if that brand goes sour, it could have down-ballot effects. But if this district goes, it means it's a route for the Democrats across the country. Speaker 4: 12:56 Let me change the subject for a minute about the length of time. We'll have to wait for the final results of this election. We heard from the register or Michael WGU that the large volume of mail in ballots and provisional ballots still need to be counted. But I saw a recent poll that most people don't mind waiting for election results as long as they're right. Do you agree with that? Speaker 6: 13:18 Pundents you know, in, in, uh, the news media that wants the fast one because we got to feed the beast. We got to keep this cycle going and something to talk about. Uh, the price tag of trying to get more people to vote is that it's going to take a little bit longer. And I don't think that's a big issue down the pike, but there is an issue of momentum. For example, if it turns out that in somehow going into the next presidential primaries that in some of the States Bernie Sanders did better or Joe Biden did better, it won't matter because the perception will be there moving forward. So at the state level with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, that could have an impact at the local level. All of these were basically hitting us toward the runoffs. I don't think they're that important as long as people have confidence that balance are being cast and counted. Speaker 4: 14:02 I've been speaking with political analyst, professor Carl Luna. He'll be back with us later in the show. Thank you, Carl. Thank you. This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Jade Hindman. I'm worrying Kavanaugh. We're back with election results for San Diego and yesterday's primary as the vote stands. Now, both of the countywide housing development measures a and B went down to defeat and the city of San Diego's measures C for the convention center. Expansion seems to have fallen short of the two thirds majority it needed for approval and Mara Elliott will face Corey Briggs in the November runoff for San Diego city attorney. It's important to remember that there are 350,000 uncounted male and provisional ballots and the final totals won't be available for days, but there is a clear front runner in the race for San Diego mayor and he joins me now. State assemblyman. Todd. Gloria, welcome to the show. Speaker 7: 14:55 Thank you so much Maureen. Speaker 4: 14:57 Now even though the results are in final, as I said, you're clearly, you're headed to the general election and as the total stand now it appear you'll go up against Republicans, Scott Sherman in the runoff. Do you think that's a good matchup for San Diego? Speaker 7: 15:11 Maureen? I, I think, uh, I'm not actually particularly concerned about whether it counts number three or council member Sherman. You know, my campaign isn't focused on myself and my vision for our city and I think voters rewarded that last night by keeping a positive campaign focused on issues and vision. And so it doesn't necessarily matter which of the two candidates advanced. We're going to stay focused on this vision of a San Diego that works for all of us. Um, and so I, I welcome the additional votes being counted. The election being certified, uh, the opponent being set. Um, but our strategy is not going to waiver. We want to be focused on homelessness, housing affordability, and investing in infrastructure. Speaker 4: 15:45 Well, let's concentrate though now on, uh, Barbara Bray. She's in third place now. If she remains in third place, she obviously won't be in the November runoff. She's a democratic opponent. She ran on more restrictions for scooters and short term vacation rental rentals. How would you appeal to her supporters if she doesn't make it to the runoff? Speaker 7: 16:05 Well, this campaign, uh, featured six candidates, many of whom work my fellow Democrats. My hope is that, uh, Democrats will consolidate around our candidacy, uh, and a democratic presidential candidate, uh, in November, and that will win handily. Um, with the six candidates though we still managed to get 40% of the vote. And so I think we're in a very strong position and I certainly would welcome any voter, uh, who, uh, vaguely selected a different candidate in the primary to join our campaign. We have built a broad, unprecedented coalition of support, uh, for my candidacy. And, uh, we'd like to add more people to that campaign to really create a mandate for moving our city forward to build a new San Diego one that is focused on, uh, making a space here for the working middle class. Speaker 4: 16:50 Okay. So now that you face this streamlined campaign towards the runoff, what do you expect from this next phase of the campaign as you head into November? Speaker 7: 16:58 You know, I like to run my races like I'm 10 points behind and I don't, I will continue to do that because I think every boat has to be earned. There was a lot to get us to this point. There'll be a lot more of that. But ultimately the end result is not just a ticket to November, but I think victory in November and an opportunity to set a new direction for our city. Speaker 4: 17:15 I've been speaking with, uh, Todd Gloria, who came in first actually in the primary for San Diego mayor. Thank you. Thank you Todd. Speaker 7: 17:23 Thank you Maureen. Speaker 4: 17:24 Joining me as the Republican candidate who currently stands to face, Todd Gloria and the Renault from mayor city Councilman Scott Sherman. And welcome to the program. Thank you for having me. The race for the second spot in November's Vernoff for mayor is still pretty close. You're up by several points ahead of Democrat, Barbara Bray. How confident are you that these results are going to hold? Pretty confident. You know, I've been through this a couple of times before. My first election was 54 votes, so we Speaker 8: 17:50 know how it is to make sure everyone counts, but she's never led in any of the vote counts that have been coming since election night. And we keep growing our lead a little bit with each count. So I think we're pretty comfortable that it'll be Todd and I facing off against each other in November. Speaker 4: 18:05 Now you jumped into the race pretty late. Yeah. Uh, you also raised not much money compared to your opponents. Are you surprised by these results then in coming in second in this runoff? Speaker 8: 18:16 Yeah, actually it was very humbling to sit there and come in with only three months and, and limited times and funds to get the message out. The other two had been campaigning for over a year and raising money. So to come in second with that little bit of exposure is a very encouraging going forward. Speaker 4: 18:32 Uh, how do you think that happened? Speaker 8: 18:34 Um, I think it was seven years of having been on the council. And you know, there's one thing people say about me is that I'm consistent and they know where I stand and if I shake their hand and tell them, I mean something that I'm going to follow through with it. And I think, you know, after seven years of doing that and trying to lead by example that maybe, you know, there were a few people paying attention. Speaker 4: 18:53 So the primary may have split the democratic vote between Todd and Barbara in November, you'll face most likely a consolidated democratic vote. What's your strategy? Speaker 8: 19:04 Um, to talk about the differences between Todd and myself. Uh, you know, if you want to look at grandiose visions and those types of plans for the city, then maybe people are going to look towards Todd. But if you want somebody who's going to run the nuts and bolts operations of a city and that's what local government's supposed to be about, you know, its streets and public safety in, in safe neighborhoods, those types of things. Start talking about those, uh, issues that are first and foremost, homelessness, housing. And uh, I think there's a definite difference between the two of us. And in my, uh, reelection campaign, it was a third, uh, Democrat, third independent, third Republican, and we won by over 60%. So the, the message I think resonates with people, it's just getting it out there. Cause at the end of the day, common sense shouldn't have a party affiliation attached to it. Speaker 4: 19:51 You said common sense and in your speech last night when you were coming in second andF and going onto this runoff election, but at, but there is a Republican mayor now, so how is your common sense different from his? Speaker 8: 20:05 Um, I'm a little more straight forward and I talk to the people more directly, a lot more often. And I think that's a big part of it. And I just want to take a lot of things that the mayor has been doing and take it a couple steps further. You know, cutting regulation, cutting the red tape at city hall, unleashing the power of the individual instead of the power of government. And uh, if we get that message going forward, I'm fairly confident that we'll have a, a good chance of being very competitive with that. Speaker 4: 20:30 Councilman Sherman, thank you very much. Speaker 8: 20:31 My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Speaker 4: 20:33 Meanwhile, San Diego city council member Barbara Bree has not yet conceded. She says she's waiting for every last vote to be counted. Speaker 9: 20:41 There's still 350,000 votes countywide to count of which at least are probably in the city. I'm very proud of the campaign that my tune ran, my leadership on STS. She West the one-on-one Ash street scandal and for uh, defending our residential neighborhoods from the impacts of short term rentals and whatever happens, I'm going to continue to work for more accountability and transparency in city government and to work for the residents of district one. Speaker 1: 21:12 If Barbara Bray manages to overcome Scott Sherman's lead, that means San Diego will choose between two Democrats in November Speaker 2: 21:29 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 21:30 the race to replace longtime Congresswoman Susan Davis and 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 10: 22:07 Thank you. Thanks for having me. Speaker 1: 22:09 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 10: 22:22 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: 22:50 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 10: 23:13 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 this seat will definitely stay in democratic hands. And I think that's good for everybody. Speaker 1: 23:36 You outspent 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 10: 23:44 I'm very, of the Speaker 1: 23:46 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 built. And yes, we were able to communicate, but as we saw just this past few days with Tom sire and Mike Bloomberg, um, 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 in 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 can really go and get things done for San Diego. I've been speaking with Sarah Jacobs candidate for the 53rd congressional district. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us. Speaker 10: 24:27 Of course. Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 24:28 Now to the candidate who will likely challenge Sarah Jacobs in November, San Diego city council president, Georgette Gomez. Georgette, welcome. Speaker 7: 24:36 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 24:38 So how are you feeling about last night's results so far? Speaker 7: 24:41 I'm feeling very energetic and good spirits. I'm very happy to see where, uh, the 53rd district, uh, 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: 25:04 Uh, 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 7: 25:11 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 a track record, not only from 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 in that, continue building our grassroots movement and talking to voters. Speaker 1: 26:41 I want to talk a bit about some of the, 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 7: 26:56 Well, we uh, submitted a complaint to the FCC and they're going start, uh, we just heard back that they're in the be investigating and that we'll see what the outcome is on that. And uh, I mean the, they have events where, uh, basically that, uh, Sarah Jacob started comparing herself to the Republican Chris and there was really no recent, but we'll see what the outcome of the investigation will be. Speaker 1: 27:23 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 7: 27:32 Thank you so much. I appreciate you Speaker 1: 27:34 and now we're going to turn to the San Diego County board of supervisors races. District one is going blue States and under been way, so a Democrat is leading in the various to fill the seat in the County board of supervisors. He currently has 31% of the vote. It's looking like he will face Rafael kassianos or Nora Varguez, both Democrats and the November runoff to replace Republican Greg Cox on the board. The two are separated by just over 100 votes in district two on the board. It's looking like former state Senator Joel Anderson and Poway mayor Steve Voss. Both Republicans are headed towards the November runoff to replace supervisor Diane Jacob, but it's the district three board of supervisors seat that is the most closely watched because it could flip the political makeup of the board currently leading his incumbent Kristin gas bar, a Republican with 46% of the vote following her is Democrat, Terra Lawson Riemer, a professor at UC San Diego with 29% of the vote. She joins me now. Tara, welcome. Speaker 7: 28:37 Hi, welcome. Happy to be here. Speaker 1: 28:39 How confident are you that your 4% lead ahead of Olga Diaz will hold? Speaker 7: 28:44 I think we're looking pretty good. You know, most of the ballots are in by now about two thirds reporting, but we are still waiting to see. Speaker 1: 28:52 And if your lead holds, how will your approach to the November runoff be different from how you approach the primary? Speaker 7: 28:58 Well I think the big takeaway from this election is that the majority of voters of district three have voted for change and voted for new leadership on the board of supervisors. A majority have rejected Christine Gaspar and have supported someone else. And I'm excited to be that someone else because the majority of voters in district three know we need the kind of leadership that can really speak to the real needs of San Diego's communities and San Diego's families can take on the traffic and congestion crisis that we face on a daily basis that really prioritizes protecting our beaches and coastlines. That takes leadership on the homeless crisis that's ready to jump in on day one on to do something about affordable housing in our County. So I think we're really well positioned to run a race and beat Christine gas bar in November. Speaker 1: 29:45 You know, registered Democrats currently outnumber Republicans by 26,000 in the district, but gas bar is the incumbent. How much of a challenge do you think that will be for you and how might you overcome that? Speaker 7: 29:57 Well, as I said, the big takeaway from last night is that the majority of voters in the district have rejected Kristin Gaspar already have have said that they're ready for new leadership and we're excited to be that new leadership on the, on the County board. And I think that's across the board. This is not about Democrat or Republican or declined to state. It's not about party preference. It's about a quality of life for us in San Diego County and for our children. And um, I think folks are ready for leadership that's willing to do the work to deliver for residents here in our community. Speaker 1: 30:30 And there are more nonpartisan voters in the district and registered Republicans. How do you plan to attract them to your campaign? Speaker 7: 30:37 Honestly, I've been out in the doors talking to voters for almost a year now and I'm talking to everyone. I'm not only talking to Democrats, I'm talking to Republicans, I'm talking to no party preference voters. I'm talking to all the voters in the district and there's a lot of shared concerns and shared priorities and those are my priorities as well and are really the reasons I decided to run for the race in the first place. There's a lot of concern about traffic and congestion and sprawl and in new sprawl development. There's a lot of concern in my district about protecting our beaches and our coastlines about taking action to combat climate change. So again, we're talking about quality of life issues that are shared among everyone in my district and I'm really excited to be able to be a champion to deliver on the things that matter the most to communities in San Diego. Speaker 1: 31:24 I've been speaking with Terra Lawson reamer candidate for district three County board of supervisors. Tara, thank you for joining us. Speaker 7: 31:30 Thank you so much. Speaker 1: 31:31 We reached out to Kristin gas bars campaign and she declined our request for an interview. Joining us with more analysis on San Diego County election results is Mesa college political science professor Carl Luna, who has been in studio with this. Carl, welcome back. Thanks for having me. So we just heard about Democrat terror, Lawson reamer who looks to be headed to the November runoff in the San Diego district three supervisor's race. How do you think she'll perform against Republican incumbent Kristin gas bar in November? Speaker 6: 32:00 Well, if you look at the, the actual vote, uh, she and her God democratic colleagues collectively got more of the vote than a Kristin gas bar. Yeah. In November you'll have an even bluer voter turnout. So I think there is a really good chance that since district one has gone to the Democrats and Nathan Fletcher has got a seat that you could end up with a three, two democratic majority on the board of supervisors in which case comes sometime in November. They may be skating down in Hades Speaker 1: 32:27 and the County democratic party has called the D three supervisor's race the most important race of 2020 in the County. Why is that? Speaker 6: 32:34 Cause that's the real swing, Jay, that that's the one that could tip this over. Finally to the Democrats that control the agenda goes to the Democrats and a more progressive agenda, whatever that might be, comes in with implications for homelessness, healthcare. Uh, how did they spend their jet, their, their reserves? Uh, it's, it's in San Diego. This is a sign that the County itself is now bluing, not just the city which has gone full blue Speaker 4: 32:58 in the San Diego mayor's race. Carl, if Scott Sherman's lead holds, does that mean there is still hope for the GOP in the city of San Diego? Speaker 6: 33:07 Slim? I mean the, you look at again the between, uh, Barbara Brie and, and, uh, Todd Gloria. It was almost 60, 60% of the vote went Democrat and will be even bluer again in November. I think Todd Gloria is going to have a comfortable way to go in, but he'll have to compete. There will be a debates and you'll have to be able to show that he can do a message to bring out the more conservative, uh, moderate Barbara Bree voters just like the Democrats are doing at the national level. Todd Gloria MIGA emerged as a consensus mayor coming out of this and I think the race was Scott Sherman will help him. Uh, that doesn't mean Sherman can't win, but he would require a real turn in fortunes to be able to do that. Uh, he's been the good Republican soldier making this competitive, but it is remarkable that less than 20 years ago you had races where there were no Democrats on the ballot and now you almost had two Democrats on the ballot and for the second time a Democrats likely to win this race. And you know, Georgette Gomez was originally thought to be a shoe in for the 53rd congressional district, Speaker 4: 34:07 but Sarah Jacobs outspent Gomez and came in first in the primary. Uh, well money continued to be a problem for Gomez in the runoff. Speaker 6: 34:14 Well now that you've got the issue going forward that you had the president city council trying to make it from that uh, that's kind of off Broadway to the Broadway of uh, Congress. Uh, Ms. Jacobs has the advantage of money and they did the family name recognition and political connections. It could be a different race though. Come November, you have to see how the money now breaks and now they're down to two candidates and how progressive the message will be for the electric going into that. It's not a shoe in for either of them. At this point. Speaker 4: 34:45 Voters County wide weighed in on two land use related measures. There's measure a, it asked voters whether they should get a say in housing developments that don't comply with the county's general plan. Election night results show measure a is failing. Now opponents made the case that measure a was anti housing and ballot box planning at its worst. But my question is do you think voters had a clear idea of what measure a was all about? Speaker 6: 35:10 I think they kind of did Lorraine. It's the idea again, how do we deal with our housing problem? And so in the generic idea, should you challenge every decision of the board of supervisors, the general plan, I think voters were uncomfortable with that. Even though there was a pretty well funded campaign to push proposition a from the golden door and other homeowners groups. It was a classic case of nimbyism. But at the same time, prop B said, look, you guys gave an exemption to this housing, we don't like that. And then by [inaudible] failing, you've cut down, cut down that development. So I think it's a sign that collectively we are uncertain about how to deal with housing. We don't want too much back country sprawl. But on the flip side, do you really want to increase interest in or densities in the core city until we resolve that debate? Speaker 6: 35:56 You're going to keep on getting this mixed message, you know, measure B. Uh, as you mentioned, it was one of the most expensive issues on the ballot. Is that right? Yeah. And you saw a huge spending from the developers who wanted to do the 2000 houses and from others like the golden door spa and upper end spa that wants to be in the back country unhindered by traffic a while you had conflict between two moneyed interest groups. It also brought in that basic notion cause this is a County wide vote. Do we want more sprawl out in the countryside with fired issues with traffic and congestion with a fairly weak sauce, a promise for more affordable housing? In prop B, a voters said this is not the message of the expansion we want for measure B. Measure C Speaker 4: 36:40 in the city of San Diego asked voters to raise the hotel tax to pay for the convention center expansion and for homeless services and road repairs. Unofficial results showed it's failing with just 63.6% of the vote, but it needs 66% of the vote to pass. Now mayor Faulkner and convention center supporters have been pushing for this expansion for years. What does the outcome mean for the future of the convention center in 30 seconds? Speaker 6: 37:06 Well, you have a love hate relationship with that center. You took multiple attempts to get it built and expanded in the first place. The current model of tying it to homelessness was seen as something of a SOP to try to buy support at some point if you want to expand it, you might have to look at a bond issue or alternative funding, but it, there's a sense of inevitability always with this convention center. If you can show that this will benefit the broader city as a message. I think they have a chance of getting it in a future ballot, but maybe we're moving doing to a post convention center era. Anyway, Speaker 4: 37:35 we've been speaking with political science professor Carl Luna and thank you so much. Thank you. This is KPBS mid day edition. I'm Jade Hindman. I'm Maureen Cavanagh. California's early presidential primary on super Tuesday was thought by some to be assure fire King maker California's prize of more than 400 democratic delegates would definitely make one candidate, the obvious front runner, except when it doesn't. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the California primary with 33% of the vote, but former vice president Joe Biden's swept most of the other super Tuesday States ending up with more delegates than Sanders. Joining me to discuss super Tuesday and California's presidential vote are Scott Schafer, senior editor of KQ, [inaudible] politics and government desk. And Scott, welcome. Hi there. And back with us is political analyst, professor Carl Luna. Carl, welcome back. Good to be here. So Scott Sanders was predicting a kind of a bigger win in this state based on the latest polls. What happened, Speaker 11: 38:38 a lot of late deciding voters really went for Joe Biden. And I should say, by the way, Maureen, we still have almost half half of the ballots yet to be counted. I was talking to Paul Mitchell, who was the ultimate, uh, voter data guru, uh, just about an hour ago. And he said that as many as 5 million ballots remain uncounted in California. So we need to, you know, have that caveat when we're talking about results. Uh, but clearly, uh, you know, Bernie Sanders had a good night. Uh, but because of the 15% rule where you have to get anybody who gets 15% of the delegates or more gets a share of the statewide and the congressional level delegates, you know, Joe Biden, uh, is going to do reasonably well in California. And, uh, even Michael Bloomberg could pick up a few delegates. Speaker 4: 39:23 Michael Bloomberg, Carl has spent a fortune on ads in California. He came in third, it seems from the California primary now with 14% of the vote he has dropped out of the race. Does this support the notion that you can't buy an election? Speaker 6: 39:38 Yeah, you definitely can't buy me 11 election like this Marine, but California has a long history of wealthy people or mr Huffington running for Senate in the 90s, spending a fortune and not seeing that pay off at the polls. You have to have the personal connection with the voters. This is always the myth of self funding campaigns. Steve Francis in San Diego ran for mayor, spend his own money, which meant on election day he had one vote. He can guarantee to him and his wife until you get those small donations, you don't have the assured people showing up at the polls. Speaker 4: 40:06 Let me ask you both and whoever knows, can chime in. What happens to the delicates pledge to a candidate who is no longer in the race? Like the Bloomberg delegates in California? Speaker 6: 40:16 I mean, under party rules. I've got to clarify, but I believe when they get to the convention they can actually switch their votes. But Scott, Speaker 11: 40:23 well, I was going to say, I think that, you know, as long as they are pledged to vote on the first ballot for whoever, you know, they were running to represent. But I do think that, you know, if Bloomberg or the others release them and say, please vote for Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, that, uh, that the, yeah, they are allowed to do Speaker 4: 40:39 so. Scott, is it too soon to tell if Bernie Sanders did get many new voters or young voters to the polls? Speaker 11: 40:45 Well, certainly in some of the other States we've been looking at, that was not the case. Uh, if anything, there was a surge of voters, uh, African Americans in particular, uh, in some of the other States for Joe Biden. Uh, but we just didn't see either in Iowa or New Hampshire, any indication that his claim to be the candidate who could bring younger voters, occasional voters to the polls, that there really wasn't a lot of evidence that he was able to do that. And I haven't necessarily, it's a little, little early still. Uh, but based on the exit polls, I don't, I have not heard that that was the case in California either. Speaker 4: 41:19 Where do you think the results of super Tuesday leave the democratic presidential race? Speaker 11: 41:25 Well, I think you have to say first of all that, uh, Joe Biden has resuscitated his campaign in a way that few could have imagined just a days ago. Uh, he's clearly now the front runner, both in terms of delegates as well as perception and enthusiasm. Um, there's going to be some pressure probably, or at least a hope on the part of the Sanders folks that Elizabeth Warren gets out. I don't know a that she will, but B, more importantly, whether she will actually endorse Bernie Sanders, there was a bit of bad blood between the two of them. I think the most important that the concern among Democrats, it was an, is that if Bernie Sanders somehow was denied the nomination, you know, by super delegates or some other way that the democratic establishment blocked him, that he and his voters would basically pack up and not participate in November. But what I'm hearing is that as long as it is a fair fight, and as long as Joe, if Joe Biden comes into Milwaukee either with a majority or plurality of the delegates and he wins the nomination, ultimately I don't think there's going to be the kind of bitterness that we might have seen otherwise. Speaker 4: 42:28 And is Biden going to be winding up at the convention with enough delegates on the first round? Speaker 11: 42:34 Well, I mean, four days ago we would've said no, but he's not only done a Lazarus, he's come back as the $6 million man. That was a major victory, uh, yesterday. The States that are coming up, upper Midwestern States, central States. I mean Bernie Sanders says best in the West, there's not a lot of that left. Joe Biden is really positioned to move forward and poor California. We moved up our primary thinking we'd be decisive while Texas Stoller funder, that Texas victory really helps to consolidate Joe Biden's reach across different aspects of the party and we thought there might be a broker convention. I'm beginning to believe that he is going to win the nomination outright before the convention. You know, conventional wisdom is a, you know, not worth so much. And the conventional wisdom now as both Carl and I are saying is that, you know, really, you know, Biden has taken control here, but he still has the same flaws that he had. Just a, you know, a week ago. He's not the best debater. He's a little rambley gets lost in his word salads sometimes on the stump. And so, and, and you know, he's just hasn't been a dynamo when it comes to fundraising now. A lot of those problems will be fixed by how he's done in the last 72 hours. But you know, he's still the same old uncle Joe. Speaker 4: 43:43 Now I've been speaking with Scott Schafer, senior editor for KQ, EDIS politics and government desk. Scott, thank you so much. Thank you. And thanks so much to professor Carl Luna for sticking with us through our election show. Thanks Carl.