San Diego, CA
Biden is gone. What is next? San Diego political voices weigh in
To many observers it was a question not of whether but of when President Joseph Biden would bow out of the presidential race.
He did so Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, days after announcing he was ill with COVID-19 and three weeks after a debate performance so troubling it led to immediate calls for him to step aside.
Even with his endorsement of Harris, Biden’s departure leaves a gaping gap at the top of the Democratic ticket four months before the election.
It might also be the Democratic Party’s only chance at winning, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.
“This is not what anyone in the Democratic party planned or wanted three, six or 12 months ago,” Kousser said.
The crux was last month’s presidential debate, where Biden at times struggled to speak in a coherent manner. “After that time, I think Democrats collectively decided that their only chance to move forward was with another candidate. This is not plan A or plan B,” he said. “But it gives Democrats hope of winning what they see as a historically crucial election.”
It also puts Democrats in a potentially precarious spot, said Carl Luna, a professor emeritus of political science at San Diego Mesa College.
“Now the ball is firmly in the Democrats’ court. What do they do with this moment? It’s an opportunity to rejuvenate the campaign and rally behind a standard-bearer who can take on Donald Trump in the fall. Or it could become a divisive event — which makes it that much easier for Donald Trump to win,” he said.
“Kamala Harris was in San Diego in 2016. debating opponents as she ran for U.S. Senate. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)Along with Harris, there is a broad field of other potential contenders, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Tom Shepard, a longtime San Diego political consultant who has worked for candidates in both parties, called Sunday’s announcement “an honorable decision by Biden and a necessary one for the Democratic Party to be competitive in November.” But to stay competitive, he said, the Democrats will have to iron out what he called “fundamental problems” with Harris’s candidacy.
“The Democratic Party, for all of its strengths, has over the last several decades kind of developed a perspective that is based on identity politics, and the reason that Kamala Harris was on the Democratic ticket as vice president is, at least in part, a symptom of that approach,” Shepard said.
In San Diego County, where 60 percent of voters chose Biden in 2020 and 37 percent voted for Trump, and throughout California, where the president won 63 percent of the vote, a number of local and state elected officials praised his decision.
“Joe Biden has always put the country first and he did so again today, after more than 50 years of tremendous service,” Rep. Adam Schiff, the party’s nominee for Senate, wrote. He added: “The stakes are high, and we must focus all our energy on electing Kamala Harris and defeating Donald Trump.
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria called Biden “a leader, patriot and true public servant who has always put the good of our country first” and said he agreed with the president’s decision to endorse Harris.
“She is ready to lead our country as our next President,” he wrote. “I supported her during her first Presidential campaign, and I am 1000% backing her during this one.”
County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican representing parts of North County, also took to X with a much different viewpoint. He contends Biden is “unable to fulfill his duties.”
In another post, he added, “The reality is, if Biden were up in the polls he would remain in the race. This isn’t about Biden’s cognitive decline which we’ve known for years. It’s about lagging poll numbers.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, criticized Harris’s leadership, alongside Biden.
“We’ve had 4 years of Democratic chaos — at the border, in business, overseas, in our schools and on our streets. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris led all of it,” he wrote on X.
Among analysts, Biden’s departure is a political Rorschach test, with Democrats seeing it as the perfect opening to reinvigorate their party and align behind a younger candidate and Republicans seeing this as yet another step toward Trump’s inevitable victory.
Dan Rottenstreich, a prominent San Diego Democratic political consultant, said Biden’s withdrawal would ripple down the ballot in November and presented Democrats a perfect opportunity to refocus their energies.
“It’s a ten-pound weight off the shoulders of every Democrat running in a swing seat in California,” he said. “Joe Biden is easily the most effective Democratic President of our lifetimes, but the political debate was no longer where it needed to be — on the disaster and danger Donald Trump is for America.”
Having a woman at the top of the presidential ticket could, he said, “elevate abortion rights even further, which in almost all of pro-choice California would be welcome news.”
With Biden out, every prediction about the presidential race until now is also out the window, he said.
“It’s a brand new race now,” Rottenstreich said. “Democrats have a huge opportunity to reenergize the base, drive up Democratic turnout and unite the electorate against Donald Trump’s far-right agenda.”
Kousser, the UCSD professor, said the shake-up could pose a challenge for Trump, depending on whether the Democrats unite around a nominee.
“Donald Trump felt very comfortable running against Joe Biden,” he said. “I think the Republican Party clearly likes that matchup better than any other matchup. And this throws things wide open. I think if one candidate can generate momentum and keep it, I think the Democrats have a better chance at … threatening Donald Trump’s path to victory than they had just a few hours ago.”
Linda Lopez-Alvarez, the chair of the Escondido Republican Women headquarters, said she expected Biden’s departure, as did others at last week’s Republican National Convention, which she attended. Another sentiment she shared was gratitude — for Trump’s survival after a July 13 assassination attempt.
“I think everybody has the same consensus. We’re grateful that Donald Trump survived that attempt. I mean, that was by the grace of God,” she said.
Lopez-Alvarez said she expects Democrats will nominate Harris. “They’re in a pickle right now. Because we’re so close to the election. So that’s what they’re going to rally around,” she said. “I do believe Trump will win by a landslide.”
In the next four weeks, before the Democratic National Convention in August, Biden’s party will have to decide if it will coalesce around Harris or pick another star.
Luna said Biden’s departure, just after the Republican convention, “will focus things until mid-August on Democrats and take a lot of the oxygen out of the Trump campaign, because they’re not sure exactly who to run against.”
Kousser said that while a rapid whittling down of the candidate pool will be unusual, compared to the much longer runways of other elections, it’s not a first.
“While this will be absolutely a compressed process compared to everything we’ve seen in the modern era, this is not unprecedented. This is a return to the way that presidential candidates were determined for a century in American politics,” Kousser said.
Staff writers Gary Robbins, Emily Alvarenga and Michael Smolens contributed to this report.
Originally Published:
San Diego, CA
Automated license plate readers and public surveillance cameras are coming to Imperial Beach
The city of Imperial Beach will soon install four Automated License Plate Readers and two additional “public safety cameras” in hopes of improving public safety.
On June 3, Imperial Beach city councilmembers voted to enter into an agreement with the San Diego Sheriff’s Office to place four license plate readers manufactured by surveillance giant Flock Safety at four proposed intersections, and they will also install two cameras in the city to monitor for criminal behavior.
The cameras, part of a two-month pilot program, seek to improve public safety in the South Bay coastal town.
The four proposed locations for the license plate cameras are Imperial Beach Boulevard and 13th Street, Palm Avenue and 13th Street, 13th Street and Elm and 9th Street and Elm Ave.
The proposed locations for the public cameras are on the median of Palm Avenue and 8th Street, Palm Avenue and Seacoast Drive and Imperial Beach Boulevard and Seacoast Drive.
For the license plate readers, city staff said they have proven their usefulness in cities and unincorporated areas throughout San Diego County for years.
“[License Plate Reader] technology has contributed to multiple arrests, including identifying suspects’ vehicles involved in retail thefts, gas station thefts, and vehicle burglaries. [License Plate Readers] have also assisted in identifying a suspect vehicle in an international hit-and-run homicide in Lemon Grove and a vehicle involved in a [pellet] gun case in Encinitas,” reads the city’s staff report to the city council.
City staff said the Sheriff’s Office recommends a total of eight license plate readers, but the city opted for four.
“This is a pilot program. We have to consider the trade-off of privacy for security,” said public speaker Vivian Dunbar. “People have been falsely arrested and falsely identified through the use of these cameras.”
Imperial Beach Mayor Pro-Tem Jack Fisher said that while he understands the privacy concerns, the benefits outweigh any negatives. “This is one of those programs where IB is not leading the charge. A few weeks back, everyone was aware of the tragedy that happened at the Islamic Center of San Diego and the license plate readers were key in tracking those individuals down. It’s good for us to do our part.”
Added Fisher, “The era of big brother has passed, if you have a cell phone, you know there is already tracking.”
The council unanimously voted in favor of the pilot program.
Utility man Samad Taylor was selected to the Major League roster from Triple-A El Paso in a corresponding move.
Tuesday night was a tale of two parties. Two election night parties.
At Liberty Station’s Stone Brewing, a small coterie of Democratic elected officials and functionaries and a larger coterie of news media shuffled around trying to make sense of the lackluster returns trickling in.
Meanwhile, at downtown’s US Grant Hotel, a much more spirited collection of Republican operatives and supporters laughed and drank in a blindingly-lit convention room, backed by a pianist’s rendition of “Billie Jean.”
The takeaway seemed clear: this was a not-so-great night for San Diego’s Democratic in-group. Chula Vista’s Republican mayor had a huge lead over his Democratic opponent. A tax on second homes lagged behind in the vote count. And several Republicans seemed to make it out of crowded primary fields in local races.
Hell, even if it was only a just-OK night for Republicans – that still seemed worth celebrating to them.
Normally we now get long stretches of days, even weeks of fingernail-biting anticipation as the county so slowly tallies the rest of the votes. But there doesn’t appear to be many close races to watch this time around. There are a couple. We start at the top:
It’s Becerra vs. Hilton
As of 11 p.m., with more than 50 percent of votes counted, it appeared that a Republican and Democrat — rather than two Democrats — would make it through to the general election. Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra led the race, with billionaire Tom Steyer on the outside looking in. The New York Times has a nice tracker here.
Empty Homes Tax Goes Down
Measure A presented a simple choice. What do voters in the city of San Diego have more disdain for – people with enough money to own a second home they leave empty, or new taxes? Turns out, it’s additional taxes. For now, at least.
Championed by Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, Measure A would have placed a tax on homes left vacant for more than half of the year. It was pitched as a way to both raise badly needed revenue for the city and, potentially, make available badly-needed housing.
As of Tuesday evening, the measure’s prospects looked grim, with about 58 percent of voters casting a ‘No’ vote. It will become the second citywide tax increase rejected by voters in as many years. Despite the poor showing, intern Naomi Granata found the pitch resonated with some voters in North Park.
San Diego County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk Jordan Marks was one of a number of local electeds who came out in opposition of the tax. He said the city’s housing problems couldn’t be solved by what he called “bad taxes.”
“This result reflects that Sean Elo-Rivera and the City Council have lost the trust of the public and that voters are reading the fine print,” Marks said.
Elo-Rivera said it wasn’t looking good, but he was hopeful the picture would improve. Ultimately, he thought the money spent opposing the tax — and the distorted message he felt it sent — was too big to overcome.
“There was an enormous amount of money spent, and not just money spent, but money spent to trick voters into thinking that something was going to impact them that wasn’t,” Elo-Rivera said.
No Ammar
Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond led the way in the 48th Congressional District on Tuesday night.
What we were waiting for is the candidate who would go with him to the runoff. It will attract a ton of national attention and money. It was one of the seats made more competitive by Democrats in the special redistricting vote last year.
San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar, squared off for a chance to wrest the seat out of longtime Republican control. With 53 percent reporting, von Wilpert held a commanding lead over Campa-Najjar. The councilmember will advance to face Desmond in November.
On the ground in the district, reporter Tigist Layne found that the national politics that led to the redistricting fight were also front and center on voters’ minds as they headed into vote.
Bailey vs. Crosby in Coastal Council District
Former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey and Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby will advance to the November election in District 2 of the San Diego City Council.
Bailey, a Republican-turned-Independent, seemed destined to finish in the top two after he attracted significant attention on social media. The race for the second spot was more uncertain. Josh Coyne, like Crosby, attracted significant Democratic support. And Mandy Havlik — a more development-resistant candidate — also had strong grassroots support in Point Loma.
Our new intern Fiona Bork talked to voters in District 2, which covers the city’s southern coastline, who said that affordability was the most important issue. Exactly how that explained their electoral choices differed by a lot. One voter said Coyne’s market-driven approach to building more housing appealed to him. Another liked Havlik’s approach to limiting vacation rentals. A third voted for Bailey because she wanted less development and more public transit. It seems unlikely that Bailey, who is fiscally conservative, would support massively expanding public transit options. Read the full story here.
City Council District 4: The race for southeastern San Diego’s council district featured three candidates: incumbent Henry Foster, Martha Abraham and Johnny Lee Dang.
Abraham was highly critical of Foster in her campaign and that seemed to resonate well with voters. At the latest count, she led Foster by several hundred votes.
Foster has many supporters in the district, but the city’s handling of catastrophic flooding in January 2024 — among other issues — has led to massive distrust of City Hall.
Council District 6: Incumbent Kent Lee had one prominent opponent, Mark Powell, who is a former member of the County Board of Education. They will both make the runoff but Lee got 55 percent of the vote in early counting.
City Council District 8: San Ysidro School Board Member Antonio Martinez and current District 8 chief of staff, Gerardo Ramirez, lead in this race — which was crowded with Democrats. Venus Molina, who serves as the chief of staff to Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, trailed closely behind in third place. This is one of the races close enough to change as the registrar continues counting votes. Molina’s count improved slightly as the night went on.
Our South County reporter, Jim Hinch, spoke with voters outside the Otay Mesa/Nestor Branch Library. One voter told Hinch she voted for Molina because she liked that she is local and a single mother. Read the full story here.
Election Watch Party Bonus: Ramirez’ supporters and family gathered at the Landing Strip, a bar and restaurant at Brown Field Municipal Airport, to watch results roll in. They broke out into applause when results showed him coming in second.
“For some of the folks it might seem like ‘hey man’ you’re second place, but we’re in there. This is a huge, wonderful sign,” said Ramirez.
DeMaio’s Gonna Gloat
Two local elections were something of a proxy battle between two warring factions of the Republican Party. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio’s team won, again. Every time local Republican leaders unite to oppose him or the people he supports, DeMaio wins. This time it was about two races: the one to replace County Supervisor Jim Desmond and the one to replace State Sen. Brian Jones.
In the county supervisor race: San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones left no doubt she would make it to the runoff. The only remaining question is who will face her — Vista Mayor John Franklin or Kyle Krahel, the former chair of the Democratic Party. After the first votes were counted, Krahel held a slight advantage with 20 percent of the vote compared to Franklin’s 19 percent. DeMaio went all in for Jones and she led the field with more than 41 percent of the vote.
In the state Senate race: As expected, former San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott made the runoff for the state Senate District 40 seat. She got nearly 45 percent of the votes counted so far. The real question was who would go with her. That Republican battle between Kristie Bruce-Lane and San Marcos City Councilmember Ed Musgrove seems to have also gone DeMaio’s way with Bruce-Lane holding a 4.7-percentage-point advantage over Musgrove.
That’s not enough of a gap to call the race but it’s significant.
Teachers Union Pushed Barrera to Runoff in Statewide Race
The race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction became something of a flex test for the state’s largest teachers union. Could the California Teachers Association almost singlehandedly lift a relatively unknown San Diego board member over a bevvy of better financed, higher profile candidates? Yup. Easily.
Fueled by nearly $5 million in spending from the state’s largest teachers union, longtime San Diego Unified Trustee and labor-darling Richard Barrera sailed to a convincing second place finish in the race for state supe. In his nearly two decades as the power behind the throne of the second largest district in the state, Barrera has engineered a progressive labor friendly transformation that the union hopes can be taken statewide.
He will now face off against Republican Chino Valley Trustee Sonja Shaw in November.
Brews and News + Your Chance to Win Padres Tickets
Meet our team and get an election debrief at our Brews & News Live Podcast at Soda Bar on Thursday, June 11. We will be joined by San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera. Get your tickets here and you’ll be automatically entered to win two tickets to a Padres game. Winners will be announced at the event.
Obligatory note: No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the Brews and News Live Podcast Giveaway. A ticket purchase or donation will not increase chances of winning. All applicable federal, state, local and municipal laws, rules, and regulations apply. Void where prohibited by law.
In Other News
- Opinion: A retired lifeguard finds irony in SDG&E’s stance on residents putting solar panels on their balconies. The company once argued against rooftop solar because it was unfair to renters, but now, he writes, “a low-cost system allows most of those same people access to solar, but SDG&E seeks to deny them as well.” (ICYMI: Our MacKenzie Elmer wrote that plugging in such a device could put her at risk of getting her power cut.)
- San Diego County officials warned South Bay residents to limit their exposure to the outdoors after a broken pipe spilled millions of gallons of sewage into the Tijuana River. (Union-Tribune)
- NBC 7 reports that a judge ruled that the city of San Diego illegally collected parking ticket late fees for three years.
- About that cross-border tunnel: The U.S. Attorney’s office says a recently discovered, massive tunnel stretching from Tijuana to Otay Mesa leads to a fake store in the southern San Diego neighborhood. Four people have been charged in connection with drug trafficking linked to the tunnel.
The Morning Report was written by Jakob McWhinney, Mariana Martínez Barba and Will Huntsberry. It was edited by Will Huntsberry, Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña and Scott Lewis.
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