S1: Hey there , San Diego , it's time for KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. On today's show , we feature a roundtable with local political reporters to hear about their takeaways from Tuesday's primary election results. What did we learn about how voters are feeling about the direction of San Diego and California? We dig into the latest on a local congressional race with potential national implications. San Diego City Council races and more then , the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins. Next week , we get a preview of the once every four year tournament happening across North America , and hear about local events happening around it here. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. A few days out from primary election night. We have a clearer picture on many of the races , though not quite a complete one just yet. Some 275,000 votes have yet to be counted in San Diego County. More results are expected later today. I'm joined now by a panel of San Diego journalists to help us make sense of the week and what comes next. Shelby Bremer is here from NBC seven. Welcome to you. Hi.
S2: Hi. Thank you.
S1: Also from Voice of San Diego , his editor in chief , Scott Louis Scott , welcome back to roundtable.
S3: Hi , Andrew. Thanks for having me.
S1: And making her KPBS return here today is Claire Tregear , now with Axios San Diego Claire. Welcome back.
S4: It's so nice to be back. Thank you.
S1: Great to see you here. I want to just get started real quick , Shelby , just to get started , just in a few words , how would you describe the story of San Diego voters that , you know you learned this week?
S2: Well , I think there's so many different stories. I mean , the voters that I talked to and I predominantly covered the 48th Congressional District , but there was a lot of anger that I felt , honestly , and people who were just kind of generally frustrated. And I think that that kind of can also apply to city politics too , right? Yeah. Scott.
S1: Scott. Same what same question to you. What are the voter vibes? What are you getting from this election so far?
S3: Yeah , I think there's a there's a trust crisis on all levels of government right now. The city , the county , the state , all the even the the polls that those actual agencies run about themselves show that there's a concern that they're going in the wrong direction. And I think that was reflected , on the other hand , the the races where politics nationally were more important , um , you know , also skewed things differently , too. So I think that people are more aware of their place in the national conversation on those and , and voted accordingly to Claire. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. I mean , you can see it in , you know , measure A seems like it's headed towards failure. And then um , incumbents kind of across the The board didn't do as well. In district four , the incumbent , Henry Foster , is trailing the one of the outside candidates. It seems like outsiders in general have have done really well. And I think you can see that even , you know , up and down the state. Even in LA , we have Spencer Pratt , who's giving the incumbent mayor a run for her money. So yeah , it seems like there's just a lot of frustration and that's being reflected in the people um , voters are interested in. Scott.
S1: Scott. Claire mentioned , uh , district four there. Let's kind of stick with San Diego City Council. District two and eight both got a lot of attention because they didn't have incumbents running right. District two looks like Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby are in the lead for that. Um , you know , going ahead to November. But , I mean , what are you taking away from the district two results? Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So district two is the coastal district , and I think it's important to remember exactly what it is. So it's mission Mission Beach , Ocean Beach and Point Loma , and then it's Claremont. It's really Claremont. Claremont is where the bulk of the votes are. Nicole Crosby's from Claremont. She has a Claremont vibe. She did well , got into the runoff. A lot of people look at it and say , wow , Richard Bailey did great. I actually don't think he did as well as maybe he would hope or supporters of him would hope. The that was what , 38 maybe heading towards 40% or something. When you get to a November election , that's going to be far more polarized with party involvement. They're going to work and spend a ton of money to identify him. With his very recent past as a Republican , as a supporter of the Republican Party , as a supporter of many of Donald Trump's stuff , like he doesn't want to talk about that , that. But they do and they will. And I think that ceiling at 40% is probably worrying him a little bit more than he might think.
S1: So Richard Bailey right now is at 37%. Nicole Crosby 32. Shelby , you know , I do find it interesting , like how party plays a role in these races , yet not because also city councils. Not like officially.
S3: Yeah , it's part.
S1: Of that , right?
S3: Um , so I hate it when people say it's not part of it. It's like very clearly that the parties.
S4: Aren't listed on the ballot , but yeah. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Right , right. So it's like.
S1: This and then the , the , the , the candidates are sort of like reinforcing like I am this that. So like how do you see that play out in this , you know , in this race and others.
S2: Well , I was at the Republican Watch party at the Grant downtown on Tuesday , and I was actually pretty surprised to see Richard Bailey get on stage with Richard Bailey signs behind him with all of the Republicans. And I thought that I wondered if that was a strategic move headed into November.
S3: Yeah , I mean , he he left the Republican Party in January. He moved to Point Loma from Coronado. He he didn't very clearly as as I pushed him a few times , like , what do you think about the president? He didn't want to go that far. He didn't want to say anything about national politics. He didn't want to. And I don't honestly know why you would want to do that. Why take the half measure of leaving the party but not doing enough to , like , really say no , I don't want to do anything. I want to have anything to do with that brand , that that movement. Because clearly he wants to protect some of that support. But that's exactly what happened the last time , you know , an incumbent was thrown out of that district. They made the very smallest connection possible between her and Donald Trump , and it sunk her. She went from being an incumbent city council member with no scandals , no problems , and she lost by almost 15 points just because of that campaign. That's exactly what's going to come again. And he's left himself , I think , more vulnerable to it.
S1: So what about district eight? How is that? Because there's different kind of party politics going on with that race , right? Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So the largest union of city employees got behind one of the candidates , Gerardo Ramirez , and he is fighting for that second spot with Venus Molina in the runoff. Antonio Martinez is going to go to the runoff. He's run. This is his third time in the district. That'll be a if whoever that works out will be really interesting. Gerardo got support not only from the largest Union City employees , but also there's a group trying to do a landfill in South Bay. Uh , they , you know , have had some state controversy laws tried to pass to stop it. They invested a lot of money in his campaign. I'm not sure exactly what city politics can do for them , but that really helped boost him as well in that district. I think it's all about the money , the resources and stuff. He's lining up a little bit right of center and the other two are a little bit left , but not not much. It's not going to be a policy difference there.
S4: Were you surprised to see Martinez do as as well as he did? I was a little bit surprised when those results came out.
S3: Not really , because I think he's run. This is his third time that they've seen him. He he learned lessons from the past and worked harder this time. I think he got a lot of grief last time when he didn't do as much on the ground. He has he raised a little bit of money. You know , it's not a lot of votes that can make a difference there. And he he mobilized it. Well , I don't know that he will do well against the runoff. Candidate goes with him , but we'll see. It'll be a fascinating one.
S1: Claire , you mentioned the district four results there and kind of how that was somewhat surprising. And I know you kind of touched on this angst or whatever , this anger that you're kind of feeling from voters. And I want to talk about measure A now and how that kind of plays into it. It's the non-primary homes tax. And voters seem to reject that pretty pretty strongly. It's like knows like 56% right now. I mean , what does that say to you about how voters are feeling and what it says about larger issues here , about how , you know , this is something the city of San Diego pushed , you know , pushed for? Yeah.
S4: Yeah. I mean , I think there are a couple of things I heard from people who are just , you know , even though the tax wasn't going to apply to them , they're like , no , you know , the city can't handle its budget , can't handle its finances. I'm not giving you , you know. Even though it's not me giving you , I'm not giving the city any more money that will go directly into the general fund. Um , and so , you know , just know , like , figure it out on your own city. I'm. I'm over this. I've heard that from from multiple people. The other thing is that there was a really well-funded opposition from the California Association of Realtors who were just , you know , papering people's mailboxes with attack ads. So there was a couple of things going on there.
S2: Yeah , I actually covered this from the start in City Council when it was also going to be the Airbnb tax. And I spent , you know , several hours listening to public comment after public comment of people who were angry , not just at the proposal , but at the city. And I actually think it kind of ties into , you know , parking at Balboa Park and the trash fee and all of these things that people are feeling this frustration over. And I think , you know , kind of the the walking back of some of those or the court decisions. I think the city has sort of projected this air of incompetence , and the voters are not willing to reward that with a single penny more , regardless of where it comes from. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. That said , there was $1 million spent against it by the realtors , which I found kind of shocking as well , I didn't. I would love to get into their mindset about why it was such an important investment there. You know , people buying second homes is a big deal , I guess market. But I think even with that , $1 million spent against it , it probably will get more than 40% of the vote , which I think is is in that environment of like this trust crisis at City Hall and in the environment of like just we don't want to support City Hall and $1 million get spent against it and it still gets more than 40%. And I think that's a really interesting angle. There was a poll we reported on before that showed that people were willing to support taxes if they knew what it would do to help make things better , and if it was against , you know , boogeyman , rich people or whatever. And I don't think this quite hit the mark because they had no connection to what it would do to actually make San Diego a better place. but for it to. With all those things working against it , to still get more than 40 , I think is actually kind of interesting.
S1: Oh , interesting. And Shelby , like I mean as. As you mentioned that it first came up as the Airbnb tax. So I wonder if just the kind of , I don't know , shift there also maybe confused voters or.
S3: I think that would have done better , frankly.
S4: Maybe I mean would have gotten probably even more opposition. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Right. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. One thing that I think is really interesting is if you look at the council districts and how they voted on measure A , the more working class areas that Councilmember Chandler Rivera who championed this , that probably would have benefited more , voted it down by a much wider margin than places like Hillcrest or North Park. And so you have to kind of look at that divide and see , okay , what went wrong here? If this is the the audience that this measure is aimed at?
S3: Yeah , 100%. There's there are a lot of people in those neighborhoods do own homes. And it felt like a it was clearly communicated as a tax on homes. And I think that rubbed people wrong or that they could even fall into it , that they just didn't want any threat , that they might get in trouble with it.
S4: Well , yeah. And I , you know , hearing from people , it seemed like there was some , you know , misunderstanding of what it was or people who were renters saying , oh , will this get passed on to me because my landlord owns the home. And so therefore they're going to have to pay a tax. And so then am I going to have to pay a tax? And I was like , no , no , no , because you live there. It's only if you aren't there that you will , you know , that you're the property owner would get taxed. But going to Scott's point about the California Association of Realtors , like I couldn't , you know , get a very clear answer from them for why they really didn't like this so much. One thing that council member Shawn Ella Rivera said who supported it. He said this is just them trying to like flex , basically , and show that they can swat something like this down because it's being considered in other places , like New York City and places like that. So they just want to show like , okay , no one even think about this , because look what we can do if you are going to consider something like this.
S3: I figured they saw a trend coming and want to stop it.
S2: Yeah , well , and he brought up in council when he made the switch from an Airbnb tax against all that opposition to just the second homes that , you know , people were bussed in and Airbnb spent a lot of money to , to beat it down. But I think two things can be true. Right. There was a huge opposition and there was flexing. But there is also a trust crisis with San Diego City Council. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Scott , I kind of want to talk a little bit about the state of the local Republican Party , which is something you've talked quite a bit about , you know , in the run up to this election.
S3: I don't know why I got to be the guy that you cared about that.
S5: Yeah , I do , um , you.
S1: Know , the race for Jim Desmond's former seat , district five on the Board of Supervisors. It's looking like Rebecca Jones and Kyle Carroll. Um , they're going to face off in the general , you know , tell us about that race and why it matters and what it tells us about the Republican.
S3: Well , I'm not sure it's resolved on who will go to the runoff because Rebecca Jones , definitely she just , you know , had a great turnout. Did did a great job is the top spot there Kyle Kraal is is looking like he'll get that second spot. But John Franklin still has a chance I think to make up that difference. So I'll be interested to watch how that vote progresses. Look , this this. Remember , this county supervisor seat is kind of the mayor of this vast area of unincorporated San Diego County , right? So places like Rancho Santa Fe or others that , you know , don't have actual city governments like this is the person that represents them. And the Democrats think they have a shot to take it. And Kyle Hill is , you know , a , you know , almost a perfect candidate for them for that. We'll see , you know , what comes out. But he and so he'll you know , there was this big fight about who would run against them or you know , which of these mayors were. And these mayors are very similar. Their policies are almost exactly the same. But this fight got to be so bitter because it was kind of a proxy of this bigger fight in the Republican Party between Carl DeMaio and his Reform California infrastructure that he wants to use to run this , the state and local Republican Party , and then all of these Republican elected officials that have this long rivalry fight with him. Representative Darrell Issa , Senator Brian Jones , Joel Anderson , all these people. And this was the second round of their big fight. And Karl won it again. And I think he's established himself , this assemblyman , as the premier and kind of kingmaker , you know , basically boss of the Republican Party , not just here , but maybe increasingly in the in the state. Shelby.
S5: Shelby. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Scott , I am so interested to hear your thoughts on this , because I want to know why Carl DeMaio has the sauce. Like , what is the juice that he has that makes him that kingmaker?
S3: I think in a way similar to Donald Trump. He has just a vast connection with people who are upset with things. I mean , he has just a mailing list that's enormous. He has a fundraising routine. Infrastructure. He has a company that works alongside him that he helps run , that does all this fundraising that has basically supplanted the local Republican Party's entire fundraising infrastructure. And he , you know , he has this just vast grassroots ability to to raise money and raise signatures and raise , you know , ire when he needs to. And he's also always been really good at framing discussions , framing conversations so that whether you're against or for whatever he's talking about , you're talking about what he wants you to talk about all the time. And he's just really good at that. And he has , you know , I think just established himself. Like he also just has no tolerance , just like Donald Trump for anybody who ever sort of crossed him , um , including me. Like , he just doesn't like.
S5: People who ever.
S3: Whoever was in his way on anything. And that's partly what happened with this. You know , Rebecca Jones with mayor of San Marcos led a tax increase , get on the ballot. And then it passed. Uh , John Franklin opposed it , but. And he's this big , like , anti-tax guy. But John Franklin had supported , you know , Darrell Issa before and he just wasn't somebody he could support again.
S4: So it seems like he's kind of aligned with this moment , more so than he was when he was actually running for higher offices. He ran for Congress and mayor , and that wasn't successful. But now he's , you know , the the moment that we're in aligns with the way that he operates.
S3: Yeah , 100%.
S2: Well , I ran into a voter when I was covering kind of the post-election in the 40th district on Wednesday. And I said , you know , did you vote , you know. And he was like , yeah , I voted for everybody that Carl DeMaio endorsed. And I thought that that was really fascinating. But I'm also curious , you know , how does this look for the Republican Party moving forward? Like , what's Carl daimyos track record in general elections. How does that play out?
S3: Yeah , it's going to be a real problem , just like Donald Trump is for anything that's at all. By party or at all. Purple. Right? And I think that'll be really interesting. So the the state Senate district 40 , this is , uh , Mara Elliot , former city attorney. Democrat is going on to the runoff , and it looks like Christie Bruce Lane , who Carl supported , is also going to be in the runoff. Again , that was another proxy war , another big fight. And he prevailed and she prevailed. I think that's a really good example of will the. Will he be able to get her over the top there , or will that be another like part of like , oh , actually , when it comes to anybody who's not aligned with this fierce Republican brand. Uh , is there any appeal? And I think that's there's probably not. But in a small pond , he's the biggest fish , right?
S2: Well , and that's interesting too , because that's the minority leader seat. So would the minority leader seat then flip blue? That would be really fascinating. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S5: No kidding.
S1: All right. Well , we covered a lot of ground. We still haven't even gotten to the 48th. So we're going to take a quick break now and come right back. We'll continue our conversation and take a look at that 48th congressional race when we come back. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. We're continuing our conversation now about the primary election results and what we know right now. I'm back with Axios San Diego's Claire Tracer , Scott Lewis from Voice of San Diego and NBC Seven's Shelby Bremer. Shelby , I want to zoom out a little bit more and talk about , you know , the race that's getting a lot of attention. It's California's 48th Congressional district. Some national implications there. Yeah. And it's you know , it's because it's one of the seats Democrats are hoping to flip following the passage of prop 50. Remind us what the new area of that district covers , because it's a pretty interesting part of the story.
S2: Yeah , yeah. So when they redrew the lines. They basically took out really Republican areas in East County like Santee , Lakeside and all of those kind of areas and carved that out. And then they added Democratic leaning Palm Springs. Right. And so that went from a 12 point registration advantage for Republicans to a four point advantage for Democrats. And so that's going to be , I think , a really big question mark is can a Republican overcome that?
S1: And yeah , so I mean , how are you interpreting the results so far. Again , it's a different picture. It's a different race going into November.
S5: But yeah yeah. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So I was like I said at the Republican Watch Party and I was talking to Supervisor Jim Desmond and I think he , you know , they were all really pleased with the result. He's he's very much in the lead. And he I think is a strong candidate. He's the former mayor of San Marcos. And , you know , he has been pretty quiet over the past few months I think since , you know , he he was actually running in the 49th district. But when they redrew , he , he switched his registration quietly. And then right before Darrell Issa , the longtime Republican congressman , announced that he would not run. And so that was sort of like the musical chairs , right? But he's been pretty quiet because he's sort of enjoyed that frontrunner status. But the past three months are very different from the next five. So it was a pretty bruising primary. On the Democratic side , it looks like San Diego City Council member Marney van Wolpert will be the Democrat , and it's going to be really interesting to watch. I mean , I talked to a lot of voters , and a lot of them , like I said , were angry. I was in San Marcos parking lot on Wednesday just talking to people. And I said , you know , hey , did you vote? They said , yeah , I'm just really mad at everything that's happening with Trump right now. And you would ask , you know , what specifically? And it's just everything. Take your pick. And I talked to a political consultant who said basically a doorknob with a D next to their name could get elected in a D plus four district right now. But I do think that , you know , Desmond is a strong candidate. And when I've asked him , how do you overcome that? He says , look at my record. I'm running on my record , I'm running on all that I've done. And , you know , I'm nobody's rubber stamp , even though he does have President Trump's endorsement. So that's going to be a tough line to walk. And it's it's going to be fascinating.
S1: So again , it's got kind of the national. Kind of raining down here in these local races. I mean , how are you seeing this campaign looking to shift as we turn towards November and the dynamics there?
S3: I think voters in that district vote with the national perspective in mind , like this is this is one where they were clearly strategically thinking about that. What would be the best candidate to put up on the Democratic side? And I think , you know , that explains some of what Marni von Wolfert , her appeal to the whole district was and why it was so significantly higher than the Mara Kemp and Aja. Um , there was a tremendous amount of spending that came in towards the end , largely against a Mara campaign. Aja or supportive of Marni von Wilbert. Um , some of it was from supporters of Israel , and he blames that Amar does for why he lost. But there was a lot of spending also from gay and lesbian groups that support national candidates. There was , uh , labor groups. There were , you know , all kinds of there. She built a long , a big coalition of people. And and I think they when when Democrats were looking for the easiest , you know , least risky pick for a seat like this , she made the case easily , and I don't I think maybe it would have been interesting had he run a truly like , you know , anti-Israel campaign , which I think he sort of got his voice on at the end , but he didn't. And and , you know , it was very late or pulling together or even responding to what was happening to him. And I think , you know , it didn't he just had. No , he was so on so many different sides of so many issues that they were just able to pummel him. And in , in , she emerged as a very strong candidate. And I think that there will be 48% who support Desmond. There'll be 48% who support Marni Von Wilbur. And then there's going to be this , like tiny , tiny sliver of people that might be persuadable. And it'll be very interesting , I think very national , how they decide that , like where people are on gas prices , on the war , on all kinds of stuff that makes them , you know , flip. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And I think , you know , an important part of that too , is there's the Democratic registration advantage , but a third of the district is still no party preference. So and that's that's going to be key not only here but nationwide. And when I was talking to voters , you know , a lot of the things that they were angry about were gas prices , the war , immigration , a cost of living. And so I think that those things that are kind of the referendum on the president nationally , we kind of hear in stereo here , you know , military , town , border community , very expensive place. And so , you know , I think that's what people are going to be looking towards. But the other thing , too , is a lot of voters that I talked to , they weren't really even quite sure who they voted for for , for Congress because it's down ballot. Right. You know , it's one of our marquee races. But for them , they're looking at the national environment and thinking like , okay , who's got a D next to their name? Who's got an R. Mhm.
S5: Mhm. Claire.
S1: Claire. I mean Scott talked a little bit about Mark Kemp and Aja. You know shortly after you know he conceded pretty quickly and said you know I think he.
S5: Said , he said third. Third time's.
S4: The charm. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Yeah.
S1: Like , I mean I don't know what's the lesson there. What do you make of his.
S5: Oh , God.
S4: I mean. He.
S5: He.
S4: You know , one thing is that he ran in , like , these entirely different races , in actual different , like , physical locations and was kind of trying to craft himself. He ran for what was at the 50th Congressional district , um , where he was trying to be , you know , way more like center right than he ran for mayor of Chula Vista. And now he's run in the 48th. I don't actually know where he even truly lives. Um , but , you know , not necessarily in those congressional districts , which you don't have to , to run for , um , to run for Congress. But , yeah , it just seemed like he was kind of like casting about in different areas. Different.
S5: Different.
S1: Narratives there. Yeah. Um , I don't know. Like moving ahead. Claire , you recently wrote about a poll that finds found 7 in 10 San Diegans say the city is on the wrong track. And I think that kind of just over.
S4: Kind of.
S5: Sums up everything was.
S4: San Diego wrote about the same poll. Too.
S5: Too. But yeah. So.
S1: You know , tell us about how these results kind of fit into this conversation we're having.
S4: I mean , yeah , it fits with what we were saying earlier about , you know , the the struggle that incumbents are having , the struggle that measure A had like people are just , you know , unhappy with the way things are going. I don't know how that will play out because then you also at the same time have , you know , maybe like in district two , the Democrat Republican thing that's going on. So are people going to be so unhappy that they'll vote for someone like Richard Bailey , or are they going to vote for someone who's like a little bit more of an insider? Um , you know , it's kind of competing , competing desires there. But in races like district four , you know , potentially we've seen that happen before where the incumbent was unseated by Monica Montgomery. Um , you know , back when she was running for city council , which nobody like was paying attention to or expected. And so I feel like that could potentially happen again. It's kind of unclear. Yeah.
S5: Yeah. Scott.
S1: Scott. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. I think , um , the city is in this awful position where it's it's done the most distasteful things where you raise fees on trash , you raise fees on parking , you raise fees on basketball leagues , at rec centers , you raise fees on literally everything where you dock your boat. It's everything is more expensive. And literally nothing has gotten better because of it. It'd be one thing to raise fees in Balboa Park if it was going to build a new botanical building , or a new fountain , or the roads were going to be better or something , they literally did nothing with the money that would make life better. It only went into this hole. And so again , you raise taxes or you promise to raise taxes , or you raise fees and you don't do anything out of it , you're going to generate a lot of animosity. You're not even going to be able to point to anything that comes out of it. So that that , combined with just the state and the feeling of the the rampant crisis and suffering in the streets with homelessness , the cost of living , the the state of the roads and infrastructure , the way that bathrooms and restrooms and restrooms in parks look , everything is just so awful. And to like to then like be like , well , we're going to pay more for everything. Being as bad as it is is just a it's a brutal combination. And I think there's the solution that , you know , people like Sean Rivera and others are pointing to is like , we need to extract more wealth from the people who are winning in society or from the tourists who are coming in and taking advantage of it. And that makes sense , I guess. But again , even that connection of what it'll actually do wasn't made in measure A clearly enough. Yeah.
S5: Yeah.
S4: I was so surprised to just , you know , I know they weren't as well funded , but there was like literally nothing , you know , no press conferences saying like , this is what we're going to do or , you know , don't believe the lies from the mailers that are coming out or like , it just seemed like there was really nothing.
S3: I ran into some walkers in my neighborhood from Alliance San Diego. They were handing out a flyer saying like , this was , you know , a great tax and would support , you know , homes or whatever. I think that connection to housing was remote to people like , what is that? What is a vacation home going to do for me or whatever that , you know , that's a I get the connection. I think it makes sense in a lot of ways , but it's a hard one to make. Just.
S5: Just.
S4: Such an easy case to make , though , like tax these people who , you know , have so much money that they just have a house sitting there , they're not even using it. But like , I didn't really see that.
S3: Yeah , obviously it wasn't that easy. Yeah. Um.
S5: Um.
S3: And I think the so I think that it's going to take , it's going to take a little bit of product. Now one thing that's happening. Richard Bailey's two main causes the trash fee and the Balboa Park fees. There was a comprehensive sort of compromise made on those. And those were two. They are now removed from his sort of quiver.
S2: But I would actually argue , though , that , you know , the court case over the trash fee and the , you know , different fee than what was actually promised when it was passed and , and the clawing back of the Balboa paid parking. I think those things sort of project to the citizens that the city doesn't have the competence to roll this out. Right. So even if.
S5: We can argue.
S2: Yeah , you know , because it would be one thing if they were able to , to get something done. Like you said , you know , take that money and , and build a new botanical building or whatever it is. But now it's not only this is a tax that is unpopular , this is a fee that's unpopular. But actually we didn't even implement it. Right?
S5: Right?
S3: And because of the rollback that they had to agree to some of the things they promised that would come because of the new fee like bulk item pickup. That's literally the only.
S5: Thing I wanted. It was the only thing I.
S3: Was excited about is that irregularly , you could put out a big pile of stuff and they would come get it. And now that's not going to happen. Probably.
S4: But we do have those RFID chips. So.
S5: So.
S2: Well , and even down to the rollout of switching out the garbage cans , right. There were neighborhoods where the old garbage cans sat for weeks. Right. And what message does that send to the person who is , you know , driving around Camp Park? You know , all of that? What does that. Sound?
S3: Sound? Well. And also they , they they are serving 60,000 fewer homes and it's costing them more. It's the only city park , right?
S1: Well , it's a great conversation so much I don't know. We can keep going. We'll have to leave it there for now. Hopefully we can do this again as we head towards November. I've been speaking with NBC seven reporter Shelby Bremer , Axios San Diego's Claire Tracer , along with Scott Lewis from Voice of San Diego. Thanks so much for being here.
S5: Thank you. Thank you.
S1: Coming up world Cup kicks off next week. We get a preview of it. Next. This is KPBS roundtable. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Get your drums and your chanting voice ready. The 2026 World Cup kicks off next week. This year's World Cup is especially notable because it's happening on home soil here in North America. In addition to matches across the U.S. , games are also being played in Mexico and Canada. But there's been controversy surrounding this year's tournament , and many soccer fans are feeling left out due to the high price of tickets. Joining me with a preview is Hector Trujillo. He's a soccer writer for The Times of San Diego and El Latino. Hector , welcome back to roundtable.
S6: Thank you for having me back.
S1: Great to have you here. And to talk about this. I mean , just put this in perspective for us. The World Cup happens once every four years. As someone who covers the sport. How important is it?
S6: Oh , this one will be huge. It'll definitely break all the records of previous World Cups. I know people like to compare it to Super Bowls. Just think of it as four Super Bowls in one because like you said , it's every four years. The attention that's gotten because of how FIFA's been handling it unfortunately hasn't been that positive. But again , it's Mexico , Canada , the US sharing it. I can't remember the last time. I think it was 2002 when Japan and South Korea did it. But this is going to it's going to make that small in comparison I think.
S1: And yet there are some questions being raised about this year's tournament. You kind of mentioned touched on FIFA there. FIFA rather. It's the world's soccer governing body that runs the tournament. And there is this ongoing concern around the prices of tickets. Can you talk about just the overall feeling you're hearing from fans in the run up to this , this tournament?
S6: Yeah , it's been disappointing. Fans have shared it not just on social media , but talking to the people here in San Diego. Obviously , you know , the games are going to be we've got a few a couple of ones coming up here this weekend , Saturday and Sunday. They're affordable here at Snapdragon if you want to go watch those teams as well. But yeah , I mean the ridiculousness of how FIFA handled the prices , the hotels , as soon as they , the host cities , found out that they're going to be having those World Cup games. The prices went up ridiculously. And also the recent news about the water bottles not being allowed into the stadiums. I'm sure there's a reason for that. Safety is what FIFA said , you know , but hopefully that's the main reason they're doing it. But they have to have some sort of outlet for those fans. It's going to be really hot in a lot of those stadiums. So I'm not going to bring up the FIFA so-called FIFA Peace Prize. They gave a certain person so that that kind of jinx things as well. So I hope it runs smoothly because it's like I said , it's going to be something that hopefully unifies the world and it's going to be , you know , something that's really been talked about for generations. But the price situation , I hope in the next few days at least , something gets worked out.
S1: Are the cost complaints similar to in Mexico is that you're hearing in the US?
S6: Oh yes. Absolutely. I mean , we have family down in TJ and Mexico City who are complaining about it as well. And that is exorbitantly as in the US. And but still , it's one of those things where you're not making nearly as much as you are in people working in Canada or the US. It's something that , you know , you're going to prioritize , whether you feed your family or go watch a World Cup game in person , or maybe just go to a bar with friends and family. So it's disappointing how it's been handled , but hopefully there's a few more days for FIFA to to strike it correctly.
S1: So as you mentioned there , you know San Diego is not hosting any World Cup games itself , but it's having its own , I don't know , its own mini version this weekend at Snapdragon. And tell us about yeah , some of the matches there. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. We got a game coming up here Switzerland in Australia and uh , on Saturday at Snapdragon and followed on Sunday between Colombia and Jordan. Colombia is one of those teams that's going to bring out a lot of fans , a lot of Colombian people here in San Diego. I mean , I think Brazilians outnumber them , but they still bring the same level of passion as anybody else. And , um , it's one of those things that you can't miss it. I'm not sure it's going to be televised anywhere , but if you can find , you know , a viewing party somewhere and go with friends and family just to get the vibe ready , you will see what kind of energy. I mean , the introduction that you just did for the for the show is perfect , I think , because it's going to kind of bring that extra sauce that everybody wants to see for something that's going to be so memorable. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And yeah , and , and all of these teams are playing in the World Cup. This is just like the kind of final warm up matches right at Snapdragon. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. It's interesting that they actually did it so close to the start of the world. I remember the last time that happened. I think the coaches have a reason to do it because they want to keep their players , you know , in rhythm. But uh , yeah , we'll see. Especially Colombia , who's one of the dark horses that in every World Cup we'll see how they react. And and Switzerland obviously the last time they played here was against the US. They mopped the floor with them for nothing. So I think those are the two teams that are going to keep an eye on this weekend. Great.
S1: Great. So some great soccer this weekend. Mexico will be opening the tournament on Wednesday. They're taking on South Africa. Um , tell us more about how that team was looking so far and what the hopes are. Yeah.
S6: Yeah. They've won the last three games. Uh , Mexico , El tricolore. Uh , they undefeated in the last eight games. They obviously won the Gold Cup against the US 2 to 1 and a close one. So they're they're in good form. A lot of their players run from Chivas de Guadalajara which is my team. So hopefully they represent Chivas well. And a lot of uh 11 of their 26 players are from Liga mX. So they have a lot of chemistry there , knowing each other , competing in the league. There's a lot of controversy with how the federation itself , Mexico , handled it because they gave an ultimatum in the last minute that we need you on camp tonight. If you're not there tonight , you're not going to be on the national team. So a lot of the owners and a lot of the teams that we're still competing in , the league playoffs were like , okay , I guess we're going to have to prioritize the national team. Kind of put an arm behind your back kind of thing. Chivas was the first. The owner for Chivas was the first one to say , yes , I'll send my players over there. Toluca begrudgingly sent them , but they ended up winning the Concacaf Champions Cup anyway without some of their best players. So I think they're going to be strong this year. We'll see if they can break that jinx of not winning.
S5: I was going to ask.
S1: You about this. There's this , you know , so-called we've heard of , you know , certain sports curses. And there is something of one around Mexico in the World Cup. Can you explain it briefly?
S6: 1986 I was in elementary school in Mexico , Tijuana and the elementary school , and our teachers stopped classes that day just so we can watch them beat Bulgaria in a knockout round the first game. Then they lost to Germany in the quarterfinals. But and ever since then , it's called the curse of the rules. In 1990 , there was that big controversy where Mexico was having players that weren't age wise , appropriately , to be playing on the club , national team or the junior national team. That was reported by one of the best reporters in Mexico , Jose Ramon Fernandez. It made national news and they were kicked out of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. And ever since then , it's been kind of the Babe Ruth jinx of Mexican soccer. I guess you'd call it.
S1: Well , hopefully this might be the year moving forward. So now on to the US team. They're playing on Friday against Paraguay. And that's going to be played in LA at SoFi Stadium up in Inglewood. Let's talk about the US team. How do you see their chances and how are they looking.
S6: Well right now they're a little bit more favored than Mexico. I think last time I checked , DraftKings not to promote , you know , anything gambling wise here. But if you're into that thing , a 60 to 1 odds for them to win the World Cup , Mexico is 80 to 1. They have , you know , last game they played against Senegal they won 3 to 2. Pulisic finally scored.
S1: Christian Pulisic Pulisic is sort of like the leading star on the team.
S6: Yeah he's been a lot of comparisons to Landon Donovan , which I think are not appropriate. But still , he's the I guess they call him the best player the face of of US soccer for the World Cup. Uh , they he scored against Senegal. They won 3 to 2 after a couple of poor showings I guess you call it versus Portugal and and Switzerland as I talked about that before. Or Belgium. I'm sorry. They lost the Belgium 5 to 2. So they looked good the last game. And hopefully they can continue that into , you know , the World Cup. And they got their captain Tim Ream a lot of controversy on that as well. Um , and also they got some of the familiar faces joining the team as well this season for the World Cup. So I think there's a there'll be enough time to build that chemistry , build off what there. And they have a game to go tomorrow against Germany as well. So that'll be a good test for them because Germany is always among the favourites in the World Cup. Um so yeah , we'll see how they do. I expect them to do good in their group , their favorites to win their group. And there's this actually weird situation if they finish second in their group , they might go up against Iran , who if they finish second in their group , you might see them in the knockout round. It all depends on how the situation is , so just add some fuel to the fire.
S1: There are a lot of interesting storylines there. So you mentioned Germany being a favorite. Who are the other kind of like top three favorites in your mind right now?
S6: The top three favorites are Spain and France. I think they're like neck and neck right there. England is right behind them. But my pick right now , I would have to go to win the World Cup would be Brazil. They haven't won that in a while. I'm sure they're not happy of Argentina winning the last World Cup and watching them celebrate. They haven't beaten Argentina in a competitive match in like seven years since the Copa America semi-final in 2019 , I think it was. So they won it in 1970 , in Mexico , Brazil did. They won in 1994 , in the US in penalty kicks against Italy. So now that's in Mexico and the US and Canada , I think I think they'll show up. I think they're like the fifth top five favorites.
S1: So you know I don't know. There's also just like the Cinderella stories of those countries that you may not expect to kind of make a deep run. That's always exciting to watch. You recently wrote about two of San Diego FC's players who were playing in this year's World Cup. Tell us more about that.
S6: C.J. dos Santos , the goalkeeper , and Anibal Godoy , midfielder. Godoy plays for Panama and CJ plays for Cape Verde. Cabo Verde in Spanish. So yeah I mean he had a good. He came in as a substitute against Serbia as a goalkeeper and they won three to nothing good showing for him Anibal Godoy. He's the most capped player in the history of the Panamanian national team. He's been a mainstay of San Diego FC the last two seasons , and was an integral part of their making the Western Conference final last year. So those watch parties are going to be going crazy , not just for the U.S. and Mexico , but also for , you know , Panama and Cabo Verde.
S1: You mentioned some of the watch parties. There's there's a number of things happening on both sides of the border. Tell us , you know , a few of what opportunities that soccer fans here have to to watch matches with other people , because that's part of the fun of it , is going out and watching these with others , I found.
S6: Yeah , especially with the ticket prices that we talked about. So it's better to get that vibe going if you're not going to watch it at home. So yeah , Belmont Parks and I'd be having there C.F.C. Watch parties there from mission Bay.
S5: Mission beach.
S6: Mission beach area. Correct. And obviously starting with the opener in Mexico and South Africa. And from there , the you know , the rest of them , including obviously US and Canada. So and I don't know if San Diego waves doing anything in terms of watch parties. But yeah , there'll be any place you go , especially in Pacific Beach when I live there. And that was the 2014 World Cup. I still remember the trauma of the Brazilian fans losing , watching their team lose 7 to 1 to Germany in the semifinal. So those places , if you're going to go to a watch party , whether it's PvE anywhere in San Diego , get there early because those seats are going to go fast , especially when you're watching teams like that.
S1: Yeah , and I think the UFC is also hosting watch parties also in Chula Vista and Little Italy through the tournament will be. Yeah , pretty exciting. Um , I want to talk a little bit. You know , again , San Diego doesn't , you know , has these matches this weekend and it doesn't have World Cup games , but it will have some Olympics soccer games when la when the la 28 Summer Olympics come. I'm just wondering if you can reflect. We have about a minute left. But how have you seen just soccer culture in in San Diego evolve over the last few years since you've been covering?
S6: I'm sticking with that famous saying , um , San Diego is the epicenter of soccer in North America. You've seen it when we had Sierra , San Diego , Loyal Albion , San Diego , those U.S. Open Cup games. Obviously , when San Diego FC showed up as well. 1904 FC brought the vibe here as well. Obviously Covid didn't help out the situation when they showed up , but yeah , obviously we talked about San Diego , which was in the first place of the NWSL. It's only been growing , growing more. I think the binational , binational link that we have with Mexico and TJ and the show flows. Right. It's something that's. Been.
S5: Been.
S1: Close in Tijuana.
S6: And they finally got Mex. It's something that's only been , you know , strengthening the culture of this beautiful sport , which as we not to end on a downer , I hope I hope FIFA realizes how bad they're screwing things up right now because it's the most popular sport in the world for a reason. It's the working man sport. And hopefully they can remember the roots and not just try to gouge people , you know?
S1: Hector Trujillo is a soccer writer with The Times of San Diego , and El Latino newspaper will have links to some of Hector's latest reporting on World Cup. Hector , thanks so much and enjoy the tournament.
S6: Thank you. I hope to see you in one of those Mexico games. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Let's go. See you. That'll do it for this week's roundtable. Thanks so much for listening. And to all my guests today. If you have any thoughts on today's show , you can always email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtables technical producer is Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rusch , Brooke Ruth's Roundtables senior producer , and I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. Thanks a lot. Have a great weekend.
