2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors special election

Last updated

2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors special election
Flag of San Diego County, California.png
←  2024 April 8, 2025 (primary)
July 1, 2025 (runoff)		2026 →
1st Supervisorial District of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors
  Mayor of Imperial Beach Paloma Aguirre.jpg Mayor of Chula Vista John McCann.jpg
Candidate Paloma Aguirre John McCann
Party Democratic Republican
First round21,424
32.33%		28,087
42.38%
Runoff41,821
53.88%		35,793
46.12%
Incumbent Supervisor

Nora Vargas
Democratic



The 2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors special election was held on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 to fill the 1st Supervisorial District seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors vacated by Nora Vargas, who resigned on January 6, 2025, for "personal safety and security reasons." [1] [2] [3] The primary election was held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in which Chula Vista mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach mayor Paloma Aguirre advanced to the runoff election. [4] Aguirre defeated McCann and is expected to be sworn in on July 22, 2025. [5]

Contents

Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, and although most candidates do identify a party preference, their party affiliations do not appear on the ballot. As no candidate won a majority of votes in the primary, a runoff election was held between the top two vote-getting candidates. [6] [7]

Background

On December 20, 2024, Chair Nora Vargas announced that she would not take the oath of office for a second term, despite having won 62.5% of the vote just weeks beforehand in the 2024 San Diego County Board of Supervisors election, citing "personal safety and security reasons." [1] [3] Vice chair Terra Lawson-Remer became acting chair of the board, and on January 14, 2025, the board voted to hold a special election to fill the vacancy left by Vargas' resignation. [6] [8]

Top election issues include the Tijuana River sewage crisis, [9] [10] [11] homelessness, immigration, [12] and housing affordability, part of a broader housing crisis statewide. [13]

Candidates

Advanced to general

Eliminated in primary

Declined to run

Primary election

Endorsements

Paloma Aguirre
U.S. representatives
State senators
Local officials
  • Marcus Bush, member of the National City council [13] [20]
  • Jennifer Campbell, former president of the San Diego city council (2020–2021), member of the San Diego city council from district 2 (2020–present) [21]
  • Luz Molina, member of the National City council [13] [20]
  • Ron Morrison, mayor of National City (2006-2018, 2022-present), former member of the National City council (1992-2006, 2018-2022) [13] [20]
  • José Rodriguez, member of the National City council [13] [20]
  • Esther Sanchez, mayor of Oceanside [22]
  • Ditas Yamane, member of the National City council [13] [20]
Labor unions
Organizations
Newspapers
Carolina Chavez
Local officials
  • Cesar Fernandez, member of the Chula Vista City Council (2024–present) [21]
  • Michael Inzunza, member of the Chula Vista City Council (2024–present) [21]
  • Stephen Whitburn, member of the San Diego City Council (2020–present), former president pro tempore of the San Diego City Council (2020–2021) [22]
John McCann
Organizations
Vivian Moreno
Local officials
  • Sean Elo-Rivera, member of the San Diego city council from district 9 (2020–present), former president of the San Diego city council (2021–2024) [22]
  • Henry Foster III, member of the San Diego city council from district 4 (2024–present) [22]
  • Joe LaCava, president of the San Diego city council (2024–present), member of the San Diego city council from district 1 (2020–present), former president pro tempore of the San Diego city council (2023-2024), [22]
  • Kent Lee, president pro tempore of the San Diego city council (2024–present), member of the San Diego city council from district 6 (2022–present) [22]
  • Monica Montgomery Steppe, member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors from district 4 (2023–present), former president pro tempore of the San Diego City Council (2021–2023), former member of the San Diego City Council from district 4 (2018–2023) [13] [21]
  • Jose Preciado, member of the Chula Vista city council [22]
  • Mary Salas, former mayor of Chula Vista (2014–2022) [21]
Labor unions
Organizations
  • Chula Vista Democratic Club [22]

Results

2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1 special election [26]
CandidateVotes %
John McCann28,08742.38%
Paloma Aguirre 21,42432.33%
Vivian Moreno 8,93413.48%
Carolina Chavez5,1287.74%
Louis Fuentes1,0531.59%
Elizabeth Efird1,0271.55%
Lincoln Pickard6190.93%
Total votes66,272 100.0%

General election

Results

2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1 special election (unofficial until certified) [27]
CandidateVotes %
Paloma Aguirre 41,82153.88%
John McCann35,79346.12%
Total votes77,774 100.0%

References

  1. 1 2 Alvarenga, Emily (December 20, 2024). "In surprise announcement, Nora Vargas will step down as supervisor, just after re-election". San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.(subscription required)
  2. ↑ Hinch, Jim (December 20, 2024). "Nora Vargas' Abrupt, Unexplained Resignation Shocks County". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Lindsey Holden; Eric He; Will McCarthy (December 20, 2024). "San Diego official resigns suddenly over 'security reasons'". Politico. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  4. ↑ Tammy Murga; Maura Fox (April 9, 2025). "McCann and Aguirre hold leads in special election for South County supervisor, early returns show". San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego, CA. Retrieved April 11, 2025.
  5. ↑ Robinson, Lucas (July 2, 2025). "Paloma Aguirre wins election for South County supervisor as John McCann concedes". San Diego Union-Tribune . Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  6. 1 2 DeFore, Tracy (January 14, 2025). "Board Supervisors Formally Call District One Special Election". County News Center. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  7. ↑ Alvarenga, Emily (January 15, 2025). "District 1 voters will choose new supervisor in special election this spring". San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.(subscription required)
  8. ↑ City News Service (January 7, 2025). "Lawson-Remer retains acting chair role after vote for new county board leader fails". ABC 10 News. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  9. ↑ Aliyu, Wale (January 15, 2025). "South Bay resident pins hopes on new supervisor to tackle Tijuana sewage crisis". ABC 10 News. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  10. ↑ "South Bay residents hopeful for sewage solutions in District 1 special election". ABC 10 News. March 19, 2025. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  11. ↑ Balc, Tessa (March 15, 2025). "Candidates Face Off Over Border Sewage, Funding, Homelessness at District 1 Supervisor Forum". Times of San Diego . Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  12. ↑ Suzuki, Kori (March 10, 2025). "Special Primary Election 2025: The race for San Diego County District 1 Supervisor". KPBS Public Media . Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hinch, Jim (January 21, 2025). "South County Report: State of the Race". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  14. ↑ City News Service (December 30, 2024). "Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre running for County Supervisor seat". CBS 8. Imperial Beach, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  15. ↑ Keatts, Andrew (January 2, 2025). "Chula Vista's Chavez to run for county supervisor, kicking off race for institutional support". Axios San Diego. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  16. 1 2 Dawson, Danielle (January 31, 2025). "Seven candidates vying for South County's Board of Supervisors seat: Here's who". Fox 5/KUSI News. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  17. ↑ Bojorquez, Arturo (January 31, 2025). "Former County Chair to run again… in San Diego". Imperial Valley Press . Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  18. ↑ Dawson, Danielle (December 26, 2024). "Vivian Moreno launches bid for Vargas' seat on Board of Supervisors". Fox 5/KUSI News. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  19. ↑ Smolens, Michael (January 12, 2025). "Where labor, business may go in special election for county supervisor". San Diego Union-Tribune. San Diego, CA. Retrieved January 19, 2025.(subscription required)
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Aguirre, Paloma [@palomaaguirre]; (January 15, 2025). "Mayor Ron Morrison and Entire National City City Council Endorse Paloma Aguirre for County Supervisor" . Retrieved January 29, 2025– via Instagram.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Castañares, Arturo (February 3, 2025). "Friends Clash in County Special Election". La Prensa. San Diego, CA. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Dawson, Danielle (March 4, 2025). "Meet the candidates running for Vargas' Board of Supervisors seat". Fox 5/KUSI News. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  23. ↑ "Candidate: Paloma Aguirre". victoryfund.org. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  24. ↑ City News Service (February 18, 2025). "San Diego County Democratic Party endorses Aguirre for District 1 Supervisor seat". NBC 7 San Diego. San Diego, CA. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  25. ↑ "Endorsement: Paloma Aguirre for county supervisor". The San Diego Union Tribune. U T Editorial Board. March 8, 2025. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
  26. ↑ "First Supervisorial District Special Primary Election". San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
  27. ↑ "First Supervisorial District Special General Election". San Diego County Registrar of Voters . July 2, 2025. Retrieved July 2, 2025.

Official campaign websites

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.