Five challengers seek to unseat Campbell in San Diego City Council District 2

One of the vital aggressive races in San Diego’s June 7 main election is the race for Metropolis Council District 2, the place incumbent Jen Campbell is dealing with 5 challengers hoping to unseat her.

The district, which incorporates Clairemont, Mission Seaside and Level Loma, is on the heart of a number of sizzling debates in metropolis politics, together with the redevelopment of the city-owned Sports activities Enviornment property and the regulation of short-term house leases popularized by Airbnb.

Campbell touts town’s forthcoming regulatory system for short-term leases as one among her proudest accomplishments on the council. The problem had been at a stalemate for years, with hard-liners on each side.

Campbell mentioned she brokered the compromise, which was codified into metropolis legislation on Tuesday.

“We’ll shut the chapter on the unregulated market that has vexed our metropolis, our residents and the great religion hosts who needed a transparent set of pointers to observe,” Campbell mentioned.

The foundations restrict the variety of full-time trip leases to 1% of town’s housing inventory, which Campbell mentioned “will enable 1000’s of properties to come back again onto our housing market and produce stability and normalcy and peace and quiet to our neighborhoods.”

However, whereas Campbell is happy with the ordinance, her opponents within the race see it as a betrayal of her constituents, lots of whom needed stricter guidelines.

Amongst these opponents is Mandy Havlik, an activist and member of the volunteer Peninsula Group Planning Board, which advises town on land use issues. Havlik has been a skeptic of progress and denser housing within the district.

“I am simply bored with not having responsive authorities or clear authorities,” Havlik mentioned. “Plenty of my background is in customer support, and I really feel like that is one thing that is lacking within the workplace.”

KPBS spoke with Havlik and three different candidates at a Wednesday evening debate, which Campbell mentioned she could not attend due to a scheduling battle.

Additionally in attendance was Joel Day, a UCSD lecturer and former workers member for ex-Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whom he suggested on town’s COVID-19 response. He has been endorsed by a handful of unions, Democratic golf equipment and neighborhood activists.

Day payments himself as probably the most detail-oriented candidate, with a short-, medium- and long-term plan to deal with his prime precedence: homelessness.

“We’d like protected encampment websites so that individuals get into the continuum of care and off of stoops and off of the streets,” Day mentioned. “We’d like block leasing or grasp leasing in order that town can instantly put folks into items with out safety deposits, with out credit score checks, that are big limitations to entry to quickly rehouse folks. After which, lastly, we have to construct deeply inexpensive items.”

Linda Lukacs is a dentist, professor of dental hygiene and a realtor. She’s been endorsed by Faulconer, former District 2 Councilmember Lorie Zapf and the conservative Lincoln Membership. Amongst her prime priorities is fixing San Diego’s crumbling infrastructure — although she mentioned she would not need to pay for these repairs with greater taxes.

“Plenty of us are being taxed out of the state,” Lukacs mentioned. “I do not know the way far more of a burden we are able to deal with. So my aim is to search for various funding measures, search the utmost we are able to from the state and from our federal governments, and, provided that we have exhausted all different assets, then we are able to speak about elevating taxes.”

Lori Saldaña is a former state assemblymember and retired neighborhood school professor. She mentioned she was probably the most skilled candidate and the one one, apart from the incumbent, who has represented the district’s residents in elected workplace.

Saldaña ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2012, mayor in 2016 and county supervisor in 2018. She mentioned her report within the legislature exhibits that she was forward of the curve in supporting progressive points akin to same-sex marriage and the ban on the open carrying of firearms.

“I believe, because the state modified, I actually pushed, pushed, pushed on these points — if not for me to get them by with my title on them, for others in future classes to get them by,” Saldaña mentioned.

San Diego voters have traditionally favored incumbents, although newer elections have damaged that development. Campbell herself unseated Zapf in 2018, driving the “blue wave” backlash in opposition to Republicans. She has a significant benefit by way of fundraising and endorsements from elected officers, and he or she efficiently quashed a recall try final 12 months.

Notably absent from the checklist of her endorsements is the San Diego County Democratic Get together, which hardly ever denies assist to incumbent Democrats.

The 2 candidates with probably the most votes within the main will compete in a runoff on November 8.