S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman on today's show , a recap of election night. We'll hear from reporters about the governor's race , 48th district , local city councils and the San Diego second Homes tax. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So it's been called one of the most uncertain primary governor's races in recent years. Polls in the last few weeks have shown Javier Becerra , Steve Hilton and Tom Steyer duking it out for those top two spots to make them to the fall to take them to the fall , rather. Now here to help us better understand where things are now and what's ahead is Cal Matter's capital reporter , Jeannie Kwong. Jeannie , welcome back to Midday Edition. Hi.
S2: Hi. Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. I'm sure it's been a busy last day for you , but I appreciate you joining us. So listen. The The Associated Press has not called the governor's race yet , but top results right now seem to show Steve Hilton and Javier Becerra in the lead. Can you give us an overview of the information we have right now ? Yeah.
S2: So we have , um , more than 55% of votes counted. But , you know , it could take days or weeks for the rest to be counted , especially the late arriving mail ballots and those who voted on Election Day yesterday. Um , and it looks like Hilton and Becerra are in the lead with about 27% , about 25% each. And Steyer is is trailing. He's got just under 20% of the votes counted so far. Um , he could make up some of that ground for second place. We're looking at some of the larger urban counties that haven't finished counting votes yet , like Alameda County in the East Bay and San Francisco where he is leading. And of course , there is a large batch of votes in Los Angeles County that remain to be counted. But he is trailing , and it's looking like if things kind of continue at the same pace , it's looking like Hilton and Becerra are well primed to be in the top two.
S1: All right. You know , we've heard that Democrats were really motivated to avoid the situation of having two Republicans on the ballot.
S2: That being said , I think that was still lingering in the air as a concern for Democrats , to the point where many of them were struggling to pick until the very last minute and sort of wanting to back whoever looked like they were ahead.
S1: Now , both Hilton and Becerra made remarks last night. Let's hear some of what they had to say. Here's Becerra.
S3: We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. California. Thank you very much. November. Here we come.
S1: And here's Hilton.
S4: I'm fighting for working people in California so that you can keep more of what you earn. The best way to put money in people's pockets is to take less out of it in the first place. And that's what I'll do. Is your governor your first 100 grand ? Tax free.
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S2: Hilton was running on a platform of change. He had this rally last night where he said change is coming to California and it's long overdue. And what's interesting is that Tom Steyer was also running on change. It's obviously in a very different direction , but both of these candidates were from the two parties , newcomers to office and promising to take things in a radically different direction one in a right wing way , one in a more left wing way. And so they really cast Becerra as someone who was the status quo more of the same. Now , Becerra says he's a steady hand and he's experienced in government. He's a bit of a career politician. He's been around for a long time , and he knows how to handle crises. So that was his main selling point that he's experienced and he's willing to take on Trump. And that , I think , is something that a lot of the kind of average Democratic voter was looking for in this race.
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S2: I don't think he's conceded as of now. Yet Stier is said last night that he's going to wait till every vote is counted , so they don't think that they're out of the game just yet. Um , the other Democrats have largely all conceded Katie Porter , Matt Mahan both did pretty poorly , coming in with less than 5% of the votes so far each. Antonio Villaraigosa , former mayor of Los Angeles , dropped out pretty or , you know , conceded his loss pretty much right when the polls closed.
S1: You know , you've called this the most uncertain primary race in recent years in California.
S2: You know , I think in California , people are really used to these stand out , sort of like breakout star candidates , frontrunners , larger than life personalities. We've had movie stars. We've had like , you know , the Browns who have , you know , father and son both were governor like just these dynasties. And , um , in this race , we just didn't see any of that. You know , we had some bigger names like Kamala Harris and Senator Alex Padilla , who did not get in the race. And so we had this crowded field of Democrats who were all less known. And that led to this big field that was divided. And all those concerns about Democrats getting locked out by two Republicans. And then , of course , Eric Swalwell , who was at the time the Democratic frontrunner. Um , you know , it's revealed through these investigations that , um , there were sexual assault allegations against him. He drops out and suddenly Becerra , who's polling in the low single digits , surges in his place. And that's kind of what , you know , the trajectory that he'd been on the last maybe two months of the race.
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S2: Chatter , was that there was a widespread belief that Senator Padilla made the decision not to run out of family for family reasons. We don't know that for sure. But I think looking at the bigger picture , it's a hard job. It's it's kind of a thankless job. You know , California is facing a lot of various crises right now. We've got a really high cost of living. You know , the threat of wildfires , um , the insurance crisis with home insurance companies wanting to leave the state. And just really it's just a really politically charged job in a very politically charged moment with the Trump administration frequently looking to California as a kind of liberal punching bag. And so I think it's just , you know , it's it's a tough job , and a lot of people might not want to take that on , especially when they've got , um , you know , kind of a pretty comfortable position , as , you know , one of the senators representing the state , for example. Um , and so I think that's definitely a factor there. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , you've done some reporting following the money and how that impacted the primary , too.
S2: It always plays a role in political campaigns. But first of all , you've got , of course , Tom Steyer , the self-funding billionaire candidate. He's running a progressive campaign saying he wants to tax wealthy people , at the same time spending more than 200 million of his own dollars towards this campaign. And that just , you know , it gives voters an uneasy feeling. And I think that was one of the knocks against him that led some people not to support him. Meanwhile , you had Matt Mehan , the moderate Democrat mayor of San Jose , who was whose campaign was backed and boosted by a ton of donations from Silicon Valley , from um , tech billionaires. And then you had , in the final month or so of the race , just a wide range of corporate interests and other special interest groups in Sacramento pouring out money to boost Javier Becerra campaign. We're talking , um , not just labor unions and other kind of powerful interest groups in the capital , but also meta , Airbnb , uh , Chevron and other oil companies. Um , you know , health care giants as well. And so there's a lot. Um , there he , you know , he was attacked a bit by Steyer for , for being supported by those groups. I think it's more that , you know , that's a way to see that those groups believe that he's somebody that will work with them if he's in office , that he's somebody that can be kind of , uh , influenced or , you know , that he's somebody who would listen to their concerns. At least we're Steyer was using his money to portray himself as independent from special interests. And so all of that just sort of led to a lot of attacks back and forth about like , well , you know , who's really the the person representing the working class and who's really representing wealthy interests.
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S2: The beginning when when people started getting their Mail-In ballots that turnout was going to be low. There was a pretty low , um , return rate , um , leading up to the last few days. But in the final days , it seems like turnout has really surged. And so I think we're on track to have higher turnout than prior , uh , primary elections , though. Um , the prop 50 special election from the fall was really high turnout , and I don't think we're going to get to that. Right.
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S2: Is obviously top of mind. And we've seen that over and over again in the polls. Everybody is particularly , um , focused. All the candidates are particularly honed in on the housing crisis. Pretty much everyone agrees we need to build more housing. Um , Steve Hilton does break away from the Democrats on that. He thinks we need to build more , uh , sort of suburban style developments on , on currently undeveloped land , whereas a lot of Democrats have been focused on , um , you know , developing current , you know , already developed neighborhoods , kind of like building up urban density. Um , so that's one way in which they differ. Um , I mean , I think people will be looking at these promises to lower gas prices that Hilton has promised , um , as well as promises to freeze utility rates that Becerra has made. These are all things that could affect people's pocketbooks.
S6: But I also.
S2: Think at the end of the day , you know , Californians disapprove in pretty high numbers of President Trump's administration. And , you know , Democrats outnumber Republicans almost 2 to 1 in the state. And so the Trump connection that Hilton has , the fact that he's a Republican , like he will still have an uphill battle.
S1: All right. It'll be interesting to see it all unfold in November. I've been speaking with Kal Matters Capitol reporter Jenny Kwong. Jenny , thank you so very much for that breakdown.
S2: Thanks for having me.
S1: And now we move our conversation to San Diego's lone measure on the primary ballot. It's called the non-primary homes tax , which weighed whether or not the city could levy a tax on empty second homes. Right now , San Diego voters are rejecting that measure , with nearly 58% of voters saying no so far. KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen is here to talk about the measure and the results from San Diego City Council races. Andrew , welcome.
S7: Hi , Jade.
S1: So can you remind us what the non-primary homes tax was actually looking to do here.
S7: Yeah the measure A had two main goals. So one of them was to disincentivize property owners to just leave their homes empty for most of the year. The idea being , you know , we're in a housing crisis where it's largely due to the shortage of available homes. And so if a home is just sitting empty for most of the year , let's , you know , put a tax on that , make that , give that homeowner an incentive to either rent it out or sell it to someone who will occupy it. And then the second part of the measure was to actually raise revenue for the city. So , you know , while it's a disincentive , some people would actually just choose to pay that tax. And the revenue would then go into the city's general fund , which would help prevent some of the budget cuts that we're seeing on the horizon right now , you know , to basically help the city balance its budget deficit.
S1: And this measure went through some changes since it was first introduced , didn't it ? I mean , do do you think that may have played a role in why voters seem to be rejecting it.
S7: Yes , I think so. You know , one of the big changes we saw was an argument over the ballot title. So initially this measure was supposed to be called on the ballot , the empty homes tax or empty second homes tax. And the opponents of the measure took that to a judge and said , listen , can you really call a home empty if it's occupied for , say , five months and 29 days out of the year ? And the judge ultimately agreed with them and ordered the ballot title to be changed to the non-primary homes tax , which isn't as catchy. Frankly , it's a little confusing , and I think you could reasonably understand why someone might look at that and think , what does this even mean ? And when voters are confused about things , they tend to just vote no. So , you know , I think that did probably weigh down on the , um , on the turnout or the , you know , support for this measure. Um , but I think the biggest issue was money , actually , right ? Yeah.
S1: And money , as you mentioned , is always a big topic when talking about political races. Um , how did spending play a role in measure A.
S7: A huge one. So this was very lopsided in terms of the resources on either side. I spoke with , uh , Steve Russell , who's the president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Federation , last night as the first results were coming in. Uh , you know , he supported it. His organization supported it. And , uh , you know , he said we we spent about $300,000 on the yes campaign. The no campaign spent about 1.3 million. So they outspent them by about $1 million. And almost all of that money was from the California Association of Realtors. They obviously have an incentive to , you know , make these homes in San Diego marketable to people outside of the country. These are very pricey homes , and they are in hefty commissions on them. And so they had a real economic , uh , you know , motivation to stop this tax from becoming law. Uh , yeah. I think , you know , people got lots of mailers in their mailboxes about this. I know I got some , um , they also , you know , when you have that much money behind you , you can do pole testing based on very specific messaging. So , you know , you can say , how does this language resonate with a voter ? And then do another poll and test out a different , you know , see , basically are the arguments that you're putting out into into the mail in people's mailboxes working. And is that changing the tide ? And so , you know , it was just a really well funded campaign and one that was very difficult or will be very difficult at this point for the yes side to overcome. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. So there were also four San Diego City Council races on the ballot. Tell us about the race for district two covering Claremont Ocean Beach in Point Loma.
S7: It has an incumbent who's termed out , and it was interesting because it had the most candidates , but also because one particular candidate entered the race with a lot of name recognition and some background , and that is Richard Bailey. So Richard Bailey is currently in the top spot in district two. In a second place is Nicole Crosby. So Richard Bailey is a business owner. He's the former mayor of Coronado. He was a Republican but reregistered as an independent just a few days. You know , within days of entering this race. We managed to reach him last night as the results were coming in. Here's what he told us.
S8: They've allowed the city essentially to become a jobs program now , where you have a very bloated city government that's really causing the structural deficit to exist , and we need to reform that.
S7: So , you know , Bailey may not be a Republican anymore , but he's certainly still conservative and has a conservative approach to city government. You know , cut the trim , the fat , you know , get rid of these civil servants who are who are , you know , bloating city government. On the other hand , you know , Nicole Crosby is a city employee herself. She works for the city attorney's office. Here's what she had to say.
S9: Last night I prosecuted hate crimes , prosecuted gun crimes , protected victims of domestic violence and elder abuse. I am actually here for the people and making sure that any of the development we do do make sure that we have the infrastructure to sustain it.
S7: And Nicole Crosby , you know , she's the endorsed Democrat. This district actually flipped from Republican to Democrat in 2018. And there are a lot of interesting parallels , because in 2018 , it was two years after President Trump was elected. So he was having this sort of backlash to the Trump agenda in San Diego. As it becomes more and more blue today , we're also two years after that Trump election. And , you know , I think we can expect that Nicole Crosby and the Democratic Party will hit voters very heavily with this messaging that this opponent , Richard Bailey , is not from the district. He only just moved here. And he used to be a Republican. He might. You might as well still be. So , you know , we'll see how that strategy plays out.
S1: So while City Council District two will be choosing a new council member for the seat in district four , incumbent Henry Foster , the third , who is at least for the moment not in the top spot , he is narrowly trailing Martha Abraham.
S7: What is not surprising about it is that district four has actually unseated incumbents before. So I think there's sort of a general fervor around , you know , like unseating incumbents. And also there's been a lot of dissatisfaction with Henry Foster in this district. There was a footnote to the Land Development Code that allowed some really big development projects in this district to get permitted , and there were questions about , you know what ? Foster knew about that at the time. And , and , you know , sort of talking to a lot of people just felt like he was not on their side , not out of advocating for their interests. And Martha Abraham was a part of this community activism that was really upset with the city about allowing these development projects to move forward. So , you know , she , I think , deserves credit for winning those votes. And , you know , we'll see how it plays out again once it's just her and the incumbent , Henry Foster.
S1: Well , another competitive city council race is happening for district eight. And that covers southwest Barrio Logan , much of the city's border region. Give us the latest in that race.
S7: So much closer. Among all of the candidates first place we have Antonio Martinez. Second place is Gerardo Ramirez , third is Venus Molina. So Gerardo and Venus are very close to each other. So there could be sort of some changes between that second and third spot. You know , these all the candidates in district eight were Democrats , but they're not the same type of Democrat. And so , you know , I think that we can see well will be definitely interesting to see how those the top two came. Well , first of all , who the top two candidates are and how they message out to their voters , you know , how do they distinguish themselves from another Democrat ? And , you know , who are the alliances ? Where are the. Where does labor fall in all of this ? Um , district eight , definitely a very interesting one. And one that , you know , was pretty evenly matched amongst all four candidates.
S1: All right. Well , I've been speaking with KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen. Andrew , thank you so very much.
S7: Thanks , Jade.
S1: Still to come , we look at results from California's 48th Congressional District race. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The race to represent California's 48th district is on County Supervisor Jim Desmond , and District five City Council Member Marianne von Wolpert have won the top two spots in this primary and will advance to the runoff in November. Here with all the details , is KPBS reporter Jake Gatta. Jake , welcome back to the show.
S10: Happy to be here.
S1: All right , so give us a breakdown of the results we're seeing so far.
S10: So County Supervisor Jim Desmond got out to a pretty commanding lead early last night , and it had him declaring victory even before the race was officially called. He sent out an email , you know , talking about how he's advancing to the general in November , but this was expected. He was the leading Republican in the race. And with an endorsement from outgoing Congressman Darrell Issa and from President Trump. And so he has about 40% of the vote in this primary so far.
S1: And let's talk more about County Supervisor Jim Desmond , because like you said , it was expected he'd land in the top two. So tell us about him and what he ran on.
S10: Yeah , Desmond ran a pretty standard Republican campaign , promising to cut taxes and regulations and also secure the border. But what's interesting is what he said last night after claiming victory.
S11: I want to go to Washington , D.C. , to fix a few things. And things that are of interest to me in Southern California is that , you know , the cost of living and the young people being able to afford a house , you know , the American dream is slipping away. We need we stop the the border is secure now , but we need a better immigration system that allows workers and people to come into our country where that doesn't take years. You know , it should be months or something like that.
S10: So it sure seems like Desmond is pivoting to the general election , already addressing the issue of cost of living and housing affordability. That was really a focus of the campaigns for many Democrats. And then he went out of his way to talk about reforming the immigration system , rather than just repeating the line about a secure border. And I think that's because he knows the playing field is uneven. Right ? There's far more registered Democrats in this new 48th than registered Republicans. So he's going to have to reach some Democrats and independents if he wants to win in November.
S1: Well , and Marni von Wilbert , on the other hand , had to fend off a whole field of Democrats to get into the top two.
S10: Whether that meant pushing back on immigration enforcement or stopping the war in Iran. And Democrats got prop 50 passed last year to help retake the House of Representatives so they could put a check on President Trump's agenda. And that's what Vaughn Wilbert said last night.
S12: The lead we have tonight shows the strong momentum we have , and I'm grateful for every single Democrat who threw their hat in the ring for this race. You know , we all want a better future for America , and now it's time for all of us to come together and really focus , because we have to flip the House of Representatives , take back power in Congress to make sure we have a Democratic majority in November.
S1: So , Jake , how did she lean in on her record as a city council member for this race ? Yeah.
S10: Vaughn Wilbur made sure to talk about how she's pushed affordable housing developers to the front of the permit line. That was something that they did at the city council , and she spoke about standing up to ice at the city with votes to block Ice and immigration enforcement from entering city property. And she says she's going to continue to do things like that if she's in Congress.
S1: And one of the other leading Democratic candidates , Amar , campaigned , Aja conceded in a statement released earlier this morning , saying his political career is permanently over. Talk more about that. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. Camp and Aja has now ran and lost four campaigns since 2018. And like he said , it doesn't sound like he's going to try for a fifth anytime soon.
S1: And have we heard from any other candidates this race on either the Republican or Democratic side ? Yeah.
S10: Brandon Riker was another Democrat in the race. He's from the Palm Springs area , and he conceded as well. He said he , quote , looks forward to helping deliver a Democratic victory for working families in November. And that's what all three of the Democrats that we interviewed last week before the primary said that they would work to support whoever was the Democrat that advanced to that general in November. Right.
S1: Right. As you mentioned , you know , this this is one of the congressional districts that was newly redrawn after the passage of prop 50 , given giving Democrats , you know , this possibility of flipping the seat from red to blue. So what's at stake here with this one ? Yeah.
S10: Like I mentioned earlier , this is one of the districts that Democrats are looking to flip , not just in California , but nationwide in the House , in the House of Representatives right now. Republicans hold just a five seat advantage out of 435 seats. So it's really a narrow margin that the Democrats are hoping to change with this midterm election in November. And because we're out here on the West Coast , the 48th could end up being one of the last House districts decided in this November , general. So it could kind of make or break this Democratic majority.
S1: And , you know , we spoke with Marnie Von Wilbur and the other leading Democratic candidates last week on Midday Edition , talking about their record and policy positions. Can you talk about some of her top policies ? Yeah.
S10: Council member Vaughn Wilbur. Like I said , she's leaned on her history in the city council and what she did there. She wants to ensure that we're addressing this affordable housing development pipeline issue. She says that there's a lot of permits that can be fast tracked and that can help address that problem. And then she's also just been hammering away at this standing up to ice. She says she's a fighter. She says she's the right person to take on Donald Trump. And that's why she's the right person to help flip this seat in November.
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S10: And he keeps saying secure the border , which is something that I'd love to ask him about and what that means and what he thinks that should look like. Because one of the problems that Councilmember von Wilford has been highlighting is not just the immigration enforcement , but the tactics and the and the way that Ice and other federal agents have been going about that. And so that's something that we're going to need to see from both of these candidates coming to November is how they're going to deal with something that has been rejected by a lot of people here in San Diego.
S1: This race has has been called. But it might take a while before we get the final numbers. You're also watching other results. So what is the timeline on this ? Yeah.
S10: So ballots are going to be counted all the way into next week and maybe even longer. There's a lot of ballots that are still left out there. And there's important races that aren't called yet. The governor's race , of course , is a really big one that hasn't been officially called. And so we're going to be checking back in on these results as they come in over the next , you know , several days and maybe even into next week.
S1: So what else will you be watching for ? Yeah.
S10: The Board of Supervisors race in San Diego County is definitely one to watch. It was the seat that was vacated by Supervisor Desmond , who's running in the 48th. And so now there's a runoff set up between Republican Rebecca Jones , who was endorsed by Carl DiMaggio's Reform California. And then either Kyle Creel , who's a Democrat , or the Republican Party endorsed John Franklin. And there was somewhat of a interesting story behind that race because Carl DeMaio is a Republican. But his group , Reform California , endorsed a different candidate than the Republican Party of San Diego. And they've kind of been butting heads for a while there. And we have some great coverage from our partners Voice of San Diego on that front. But it's going to be interesting to see if there's two Republicans that advance to this runoff in November. That could set up a sort of pitched battle between reform California and the Republican Party of California. And that's kind of a fight for the future of Republicans in this state. But Kyle Creel is the Democrat. He's roughly tied with Franklin for the second place spot right now. And so if he were to advance , it would be a Republican versus a Democrat for this county supervisor race. And that's something that Democrats in San Diego County are hoping they can flip another red seat blue.
S1: You know , I always ask this because you always hear , like , what the candidates say , what their platform is , and then you hear about what voters want to see. And there always seems to be a slight gap between the two things , between what the candidates say they can do and what voters want to see happen.
S10: But what does that actually mean ? What are you going to do about that ? You know , like what plans do you have to address that cost of living crisis ? And how are you going to make housing more affordable here in San Diego ? How are you going to bring rents down for people who are renting ? I think more than half of San Diego County residents are renters , but it's definitely a high number. And so that's something that is a changing dynamic here in the in the county where we're looking at a housing crisis that's really reaching unprecedented levels. And so County Council member Marni von Wilbur , she's really laser focused on that issue. And I think that might be something that really pushed her ahead , is addressing one of the biggest issues as a central focus of her campaign.
S1: Yeah , maybe something that resonates with with voters , for sure. There. You've been following , you know , this race for the 48th district and other races for a while.
S10: But as we mentioned , I think Marni von Wilbur's focus and her name recognition as a city council person. And , you know , her efforts to address some of these things at the city council level that are real problems for the city kind of showed up. And people respect that experience. And people wanted to have someone who's shown a record of fighting and winning in Congress.
S1:
S10:
S1: Live stream , by the. Way.
S10: Way. Thank you. But so yeah , we were we were talking about how a lot of this election results kind of centered around this idea of billionaires and paying their fair share and whether or not the state. And then here in San Diego County , we were going to address that issue , like measure A was one of the big questions in San Diego were , are we going to pass this measure to try and tax these , you know , homes for the ultra wealthy ? And that one didn't pass , but at the same time , Tom Steyer ran as , you know , the friendly billionaire in the governor's race. And I don't think people really bought that enough to push him over the lead. It's not over yet , but that's one of the big questions , is whether or not , you know , a guy who comes in and tries to spend all his money is going to be able to buy his way into an election.
S1: Well , he can certainly buy his vote. His vote ? Yeah. That's right. Well , we'll see how all of this unfolds. This race is called , but the results are still coming in. You can follow along and check out the rest of our election coverage on KPBS. I've been speaking with KPBS reporter Jake. Jake , thank you so very much.
S10: Of course. Thanks for having me.
S1: And still to come here about Chula Vista mayoral race. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. This hour we've been recapping some of the top races in San Diego. Our election coverage now takes us to South Bay , where we're looking at the race for Chula Vista mayor. Here with the latest is KPBS investigative reporter Gustavo Solis. Gustavo , welcome.
S13: Hello , Jade.
S1: So tell me first , like the role of Chula Vista mayor and what they're responsible for on a day to day break it down.
S13: A little different than San Diego , right ? San Diego has that strong mayor vibe. Um , Chula Vista , is Morley back ? They have a city manager that runs most of the day to day. Uh , but the mayor is important , right ? The mayor represents the entire city. They do have more of a say on what gets placed in the agenda on a weekly basis. And traditionally , they represent the city in regional boards like Sandag and things like that.
S1: So what do we know about the results so far ? Incumbent John McCann has taken a wide lead.
S13: He is crushing it right now. I mean by yeah , I don't think he was expected. I didn't expect it to be this massive. Although John McCann has been around for a long time. Familiar name. Right. But as the last time I checked , he was more than 65% of the votes were going his way. Almost. Uh , I think his opponent was trailing him by a little bit less than half of the votes.
S1:
S13: Affordability. Those are the main two. When I talked to him , he touted his , um , the sport he has among the police and fire union. And I think he's just he's been there for a long time. People recognized him. And Chula Vista has been going through a bit of a glow up , right , with the Bayfront project that's people have been talking about that for literal decades , and they are now seeing it at a time when it just so happens that John McCann is the mayor.
S1: The glow up has happened. It's happening.
S13: Before our. Eyes.
S1: Eyes. Yes. Before eyes. What a vote. Did you talk to voters ? Get a chance to to hear from them about what they're they were mainly concerned about.
S13: No , fortunately I didn't. Cory Suzuki , my colleague , is the one covering this race. Uh , he is out of town , so I've been.
S1: You've been taking in.
S13: Yeah , yeah , but , I mean , I did cover the South Bay when I was at the UT. I covered the last election where John McCann beat a major cabinet. Jarom. Yeah , four years ago. And I think I mean , Chula Vista is odd. it's a. It's the second largest city in the county , but a lot of times it feels like a small town. And I think people care about what's going on in their neighborhood , about who they know , who they can represent , who can represent them. Mhm.
S1: And this you know there's there's a lot. Yeah. To to talk about there between you know you've got the border , you've got East Chula Vista versus West Chula Vista and the investments that are made there. Oh yeah. So much. I mean do you have a sense of how Chula Vista voters feel about McCann's record specifically ? He did manage to pull off the blow up.
S13: Right , exactly. I think the the results speak for themselves , but but I'd be a little bit hesitant to say that that they speak for all Chula Vista residents just because of the low voter turnout. Right. I mean , with 25% of the votes counted in the Chula Vista , the votes counted in this mayoral election is about 33,000. I checked this morning. Right. 33,000. In a city of more than 300,000. Less than 10% of the people that live in Chula Vista. Their votes have been counted. Right.
S1:
S13: He seemed very happy. He was just mostly thankful , very appreciative of the support that he has. I believe we have a little bit of sound from the phone call I had with him yesterday.
S14: I'm just very thankful for the voters of Chula Vista. Chula Vista is my hometown. I love this town , and I work every day to make the quality of life better for everyone who lives in Chula Vista.
S1: You know , Francisco Tamayo is second in the lead.
S13: The Democrats didn't really have an opponent for John McCann until late , and Tamayo filed the last week that he could file to run. Um , he is a trustee in the Chula Vista Elementary School District , and his tenure there has not been without controversy , uh , even from Democrats within his own party. So I think potentially some of that may have been carried into some of that baggage may have carried into this race. But we do know that he'll have another shot at John McCain in November.
S1: Um , notably , one issue that McCann has stayed out of is immigration.
S13: And he's used his. He has actually been criticized in the press for using his status as a reservist in the Navy as a way to excuse himself from any kind of votes surrounding immigration. He doesn't want to put himself in conflict with the federal government on any issue , and is , cynics would argue it's a convenient way for him to avoid mentioning this topic in a city that has a lot of immigrants , in a city that has a lot of its citizens been detained by Ice in the last year and a half.
S1:
S13: Right ? Right. But but he speaks to it. Other Democrats have in support of Tamayo have raised hey , he's a Latino leader in the South Bay. We could use more Latino leaders in the South Bay to speak on our behalf.
S1: And I've been asking about the gap between , you know , what candidates are running on and the issues that voters really care about.
S13: And frankly , the messages are always the same. All the candidates , they support public safety. They want to bring jobs to Chula Vista , and they want to increase opportunities for housing , whether they're Republicans or Democrats. That's what they've all said consistently over elections that have been covering since 2018. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. There was another Democratic candidate in this race. Yeah. Gersten , what can you tell us about him ? Yeah.
S13: He's ran once before , not for Chula Vista but for a county board of supervisors and lost. Uh , he didn't seem to make a big splash in this campaign just going on the early election results. He was getting less than 5% of the votes. Last time I checked , he's a Democrat and unfortunately , I can't tell you much of what he ran on. Yeah , um , maybe we can have Corey on next time.
S1: Well , well , that I , you know , and I guess that's reflected maybe in our outcome here.
S13: Imperial beach , Chula Vista , none of them have Democrat mayors. So I think it raises important questions about what the Democrat Party is doing in the South Bay. Is it a is it an organizing issue or is it a get out the vote issue ? Is it a lack of vision ? Um , the party hasn't been without controversy in the South Bay in recent years. You might remember the Cardenas political consultant family. A couple of them were indicted and charged for for fraud. And I think that really shook a little bit of the confidence in the party among voters. I don't know if that's what we're seeing here , but I think that is an interesting conversation that ought to be had.
S1: It really is. Also , though , I think what's interesting is something that you touched on earlier , which is voter turnout. And so it seems like there is a this a small minority of people who really do have a lot of sway when you have such low voter turnout.
S13: I mean , right. Chula Vista is massive. It's a big , big city. A couple of apartment blocks could shift the results of the election if they're so low. I do remember one council member , Mike Vincenza , representing the east part of the town. He made an effort to knock on as many doors as possible. I saw him do it when I was covering that campaign , and he just gumshoe did it by the numbers , knocked on doors , knocked on doors. Ended up winning because of that. I don't know if these candidates are doing that kind of level , but I do think it it the low voter turnout benefits John McCann because he's just been there for a long time. People know him , people recognize him. And if nobody else is really challenging it that hard.
S1: Then no one else ranking , no one else is recognized. Exactly.
S13: Exactly.
S1: Because they're not boots on the ground in the same way. So. Hmm. Well , this has all been very interesting. And we'll continue to follow these these results. Ballots are still being counted , and you can keep up with the race and others on kpbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS investigative border reporter Gustavo Solis. Gustavo , thank you so very much.
S13: Thank you. Jade.
S1: Thanks for joining us today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues and the latest on yesterday's election. You can also share your feedback or segment ideas at midday at KPBS. Or you can give us a call. The number is (619) 452-0228. I'm Jade Hindman. We'll talk again tomorrow. Until then , make it a great day on purpose , everyone.
