San Diego, CA
Coronado Council Race Turns Bitter as City Politics Shift Left
The city of Coronado, a carefully tended enclave of Americana tucked between naval bases at the northern tip of San Diego Bay, is so beloved by residents, one is running for city council on a platform of keeping the town exactly as it is.
“My motivation for running for city council is to maintain Coronado as that little slice of paradise for future generations to enjoy,” council candidate Mark Fleming wrote on his campaign website.
But Coronado is changing anyway. And one major change—a rapid rise in the number of registered Democrats—has raised the stakes in local politics and ushered in a new era of partisanship and sharp-elbowed campaigning.
The latest example: Earlier this month, Christine Mott, a Democratic city council candidate, filed complaints with the county district attorney and the state Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that Republican Mayor Richard Bailey was unfairly—and illegally—maligning her and a fellow Democratic candidate in an election recommendation email designed to look like an official government document.
The complaints come amid a campaign marked by back-and-forth attacks in local news publications, accusations of underhanded tactics unbecoming of a proudly patriotic city and complaints of partisan bias in local community groups on social media.
“This campaign cycle has been less friendly than recent campaigns,” said Fleming, a first-time city council candidate whose campaign centers on his promise to maintain Coronado “as that little slice of paradise.”
“Frankly, I’ve been a target of some of it myself,” Fleming said. “There’s a lot of partisan politics that has weighed into our local community.”
A decade ago, voter registration in Coronado was roughly two to one in favor of Republicans. Since then, the number of Republicans has declined and Democrats have almost pulled even.
Control of both the mayor’s office and the city council is at stake. Both parties have endorsed candidates, and several issues—especially affordable housing, the environment and support for local schools—have become the subject of intense debate.
Mott’s FPPC complaint stems from an Oct. 6 email sent by Bailey to recipients of his newsletter. The email, headlined “Mayor Bailey’s Election Recommendations,” includes endorsements in local and statewide races, along with a red-letter “City Council Warning” urging readers not to vote for Mott or fellow Democrat Laura Wilkinson Sinton.
The email slams Mott for being politically inexperienced and “profiting off the backs of Coronado taxpayers,” a reference to a lawsuit Mott helped to file last year that stopped the city from chopping down five pine trees near a lawn bowling court.
The email calls Wilkinson “off-putting,” ignorant about important local issues and dishonest about her leadership role in local nonprofits and her work as a cannabis entrepreneur.
At the top of the email is a letterhead image that features an image of a crown surrounded by the words “51st Mayor Coronado CA.”
Mott’s complaint claims that the letterhead image, which resembles the city seal of Coronado, illegally misleads voters by giving them the impression that Bailey’s personal election preferences are endorsed by the city government.
“Your average Joe who receives this email might think this is a legitimate email from the city endorsing three Republican candidates and trashing and defaming two female Democratic candidates,” Mott said. “These are the kind of terrible political tricks Laura and I are dealing with.”
Bailey called Mott’s accusation “frivolous.” He said he created the letterhead image years ago using a free online graphics app called Canva. “Every elected official at local, state and federal office endorses candidates, and this is no different,” he said. “I suspect they’re upset I shared their record and experience with voters.”
Bailey said it is Democrats, not Republicans, who are lowering the tone of Coronado’s election. “When they can’t campaign on their record or experience, they tend to resort to silly accusations,” he said.
Republicans in the race pointed to recent Democratic attempts to tie them to a controversial San Diego megachurch that drew protesters when it started a satellite congregation in Coronado earlier this year.
A political organization affiliated with the church recently issued a guide to voters that includes endorsements of several Republican candidates in Coronado races. Left-leaning contributors to local social media groups were quick to trumpet the guide as evidence of right-wing extremism in local Republican politics. “The administrators on those Facebook sites jumped right on that,” Fleming said.
All four endorsed candidates told local news organizations they never sought the church’s endorsement and weren’t contacted by its representatives. Several condemned the church’s message and asked it to withdraw its support.
Republicans also complained that Democratic candidates are allowed to comment freely on local social media groups and even post advertisements, while Republicans are sometimes blocked or face insulting backlash from commenters.
Democrats countered that Republicans have used deceptive online tactics such as a recent so-called “push poll” that asked participants in a local social media group their opinions about local races using questions that were worded to favor Republicans and provide unflattering information about their rivals.
“We have found ourselves time and time again facing attacks from conservative groups and their many-armed octopus branches,” Mott said. “I’m running to bring respect and dignity back to Coronado.”
Thad Kousser, a political scientist at University of California, San Diego, said elections often become more partisan, intense and bitter when communities experience rapid change, including changes in political preference. “When the stakes for control for a city get high, both sides get motivated and mobilized,” he said.
Kousser said Coronado is the last remaining majority-Republican city in coastal San Diego County. Like many affluent coastal constituencies, it began trending blue following the election of Donald Trump. “Trump’s elevation as the voice of the Republican party really flipped many moderate voters,” he said.
If current trends continue, Kousser said Coronado could become majority Democratic in just a few years. “It’s part of the long-term trend that we’ve seen in California,” he said.
Whatever the electoral future holds, it’s not inevitable that Coronado will split along partisan lines. For all their rancor toward one another, candidates in this year’s officially non-partisan election mostly agree on key issues. All vow to tackle the Tijuana River sewage crisis, shore up the city’s stormwater infrastructure and seek a balance between growth and preserving the city’s small-town character.
Candidates in both parties also pointed to Coronado’s longstanding ties to the military as an inspiration to keep the tone civil.
“This is a Navy town. Honor matters,” Wilkinson Sinton said.
“Coronado is a very special place,” Fleming said. “You can’t go many places in the U.S. where you feel the level of patriotism you see in Coronado. It crosses party lines.”
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.
Related Posts
-
Oklahoma3 minutes agoOne injured in auto-pedestrian crash in northwest Oklahoma City
-
Oregon8 minutes agoWoman dies after falling into Devil’s Punchbowl on Oregon coast
-
Pennsylvania15 minutes agoHalf of child deaths left unreviewed in Pennsylvania since 2020 as counties struggle with ‘unfunded mandate’
-
Rhode Island18 minutes agoHe grew up in the kitchen. Then he rewrote the menu, and the future of his parents’ restaurant – The Boston Globe
-
South-Carolina23 minutes agoHere’s when, where you can vote in South Carolina 2026 primary election
-
South Dakota30 minutes agoSchedule, prediction for 2026 South Dakota softball state tournament
-
Tennessee33 minutes agoTennessee AMC theater worker, 85, receives $146K from strangers for retirement after viral video
-
Texas38 minutes agoPeanuts, beans and more: Texas Roadhouse discontinued these menu items
