It’s a new year—and, just like that, an uncertain political future for South San Diego County. 

Supervisor Nora Vargas’ abrupt – and, so far, unexplained – resignation last month threw her South County district into political tumult. (Our coverage is here in case you missed it.) As chair of the five-member Board of Supervisors, Vargas was the most powerful elected official in San Diego County and the symbolic political leader of her district, which stretches from downtown San Diego to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Vargas attributed her resignation to unspecified “safety and security” reasons. She had faced an unrelenting barrage of vitriolic personal attacks online and in person from political opponents from the moment she was elected. Rumors are flying about other possible reasons—but rumors aren’t news, and I’m not focusing on them. 

Instead, I’m starting my coverage of this race by talking at length with each of the candidates vying to replace Vargas on the Board. So far, four local politicos have jumped in: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Councilmember Carolina Chavez, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno. 

I’ll also be digging into what’s at stake in the race and identifying the major interest groups supporting each candidate. My goal is to give voters the information they need to make an educated decision. I need your help. Email me at jim.hinch@voiceofsandiego.org with tips, questions or just to tell me what matters most to you in this race. 

One more thing. This race is important. In California government, county supervisors wield immense power. Supervisors in Los Angeles County have been called the “five little kings” because they exert vast influence over wide territories. It’s the same here in San Diego. Every aspect of your life—housing, healthcare, public safety, the environment—is affected by county government. With the board currently split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, South County voters hold the county’s partisan future in their hands. Your vote matters. 

Immigration Leaps to Forefront 

My first conversation, with Paloma Aguirre, will appear tomorrow. Today, the race to replace Vargas is already making news. Both Aguirre and McCann are out of the gate declaring their opposition to one of Vargas’ final signature policies: A controversial new rule, adopted last month, that limits county cooperation with federal immigration authorities. 

Both candidates told me this week they consider the law a “mistake” that could compromise public safety by making it harder for federal authorities to deport undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes. 

“I do not support mass deportation. I do not support stripping naturalized citizens or asylum seekers from their rights,” Aguirre said. “But I think you also have to be realistic.” 

Said McCann: “If you support law enforcement, you want to make sure murderers, rapists and violent criminals are taken out of your community.” 

The policy drew national attention and was widely seen as a preemptive response to a possible anti-immigrant crackdown promised by incoming President Donald Trump. That Aguirre, widely considered the most progressive candidate seeking to replace Vargas, is already voicing skepticism suggests the policy’s future may be in doubt. You can read all about it here. 

Fast Start for New Councilmembers 

Chula Vista’s two new City Councilmembers are wasting no time acting on their campaign promises. 

“It’s the honeymoon period,” said Cesar Fernandez, newly elected to represent District 4 in the city’s southwest. “I will be releasing a 100-day plan…this week.” 

Fernandez said he expects his initial efforts on the council to focus on “workforce development, a walkable Chula Vista and all of it with constituent engagement behind it.” 

He said he plans to meet with local school districts and community college leaders to discuss developing training programs that could position students to land jobs at the new Chula Vista Bayfront project currently under construction in and adjacent to his district. 

“I want our constituents in all of Chula Vista to have first access to training and to be able to apply to those jobs and work in the city they live in,” Fernandez said. 

Fernandez said he’ll also be seeking to improve streetlighting and sidewalk conditions in his district. And he’s planning a series of community forums that would enable residents to meet with city leaders to ask questions and share concerns. 

Fernandez said he’s also gearing up for one of the less pleasant aspects of public service: Facing angry or just opinionated members of the public who lash out at elected officials during public meetings. “As disrespectful as it gets, you’ll find me with a pen in my hand ready to write down a problem that needs to be solved,” Fernandez said. 

More Police, Possible New E-Bike Rules 

City Councilmember Michael Inzunza, whose District 3 encompasses the city’s southeast corner, said his initial focus would be on what he termed “public safety.” 

He said he would seek to boost the number of police officers patrolling Chula Vista’s streets by up to half a dozen officers. “How we do it is yet to be determined,” Inzunza said. “Either by hiring new officers or increasing the number of” officers on patrol. 

Inzunza said he spoke with thousands of residents during his campaign, and a top concern for many was crime and police response times. “The idea is to increase police presence citywide from east to west,” he said. 

Inzunza said he would also advocate for a new police substation to be built in his district. And this week he said he planned to ask City Manager Maria Kachadoorian to consider researching possible new rules governing young people’s use of e-bikes. 

Inzunza said he had heard concerns from residents about students riding the bikes after school at high speeds on sidewalks and getting into accidents. He said Chula Vista could consider new rules similar to a policy in Poway, where students under age 18 and their parents are required to take an online safety course before receiving permission to bring their e-bikes to school. 

“The goal is to educate youth,” Inzunza said. “We want to make sure students are safe.” 

Possible Tenant Protections Advance in Imperial Beach 

Paloma Aguirre let slip one piece of non-campaign news during my conversation with her on Monday. She said she and Imperial Beach Councilmember Jack Fisher followed through on their promise last month to hold a series of listening sessions about a possible new tenant protection ordinance in the city. 

The issue arose after residents of an aging apartment complex packed a City Council meeting to beg for help after a new corporate owner bought the building and threatened to evict tenants to make way for a comprehensive remodeling project. (That story is here in case you missed it.) 

Aguirre said she and Fisher had spent much of the Christmas holiday meeting with tenants, landlords and others with a stake in city housing policy. She and Fisher then drafted a new tenant protection ordinance (“right on Christmas Eve, I think,” Aguirre said) and plan to present it to the City Council next week for discussion. 

“We had a number of tenants that were suffering and being affected,” Aguire said. “And we had a large number of landlords, small mom and pop landlords, that had concerns as well.” Aguirre declined to give details about the proposed ordinance, citing disclosure rules. But she pointed to similar ordinances in San Diego and Chula Vista, where officials in recent years tightened rules governing evictions in an effort to keep lower income tenants in their homes. 

“We need to do a little bit of all of the above,” Aguirre said. “We need to keep people housed and we need to be able to put people in affordable housing.” 

The San Diego Wave FC needed to find a new boss, and for the second time in as many hires, their search took them overseas.

Jonas Eidevall takes over the National Women’s Soccer League club after spending three seasons with Arsenal FC. He is the long-awaited successor to Casey Stoney, who also came to San Diego after coaching in England’s Women’s Super League for Manchester United.

“I am honored and proud to be named the head coach of San Diego Wave FC,” Eidevall said in the team’s announcement. “This is a club with a clear vision for success, both on and off the field, and I am grateful for the trust placed in me to lead this talented team by the Leichtman-Levine Family and Camille Ashton. San Diego is a city with passionate fans and a vibrant fútbol culture, and I’m eager to contribute to building a winning legacy here. Together with the players, staff, and supporters, I look forward to achieving great things and making unforgettable memories for this club.”

Like Stoney, Eidevall heads to San Diego after resigning from his previous gig. The 41-year-old from Sweden managed Arsenal for three full seasons. He stepped away in October after coming away with just one win in the first four matches of their new campaign.

His decision came amidst mounting pressure. Arsenal’s slow start led to cries for his removal and an atmosphere described by The Guardian as “toxic.”

Eidevall did show promise during his tenure, most notably back-to-back Leagues Cups. His teams finished second in the WSL in his first season, then placed third in 2023 and 2024.

He went 80-18-22 across all team competitions, stepping away as the club’s all-time leader in wins.

NBC 7’s Derek Togerson caught up with San Diego Wave FC defender Naomi Girma. She’s an Olympic gold medalist, but she also came back from the Paris Games with another title.

Eidevall now takes the reins of a team that endured a tumultuous year. The Wave missed the playoffs for the first time in its three-year history, firing Stoney in June. The 2022 NWSL Coach of the Year and 2023 Shield winner was replaced by a pair of interims – Paul Buckle and Landon Donovan.

The club also saw its biggest star step away from professional soccer. United States icon Alex Morgan announced in September her decision to retire.

Off-field issues emerged as well, with allegations of a toxic workplace. Five former employees filed a lawsuit against the organization. Then-team President Jill Ellis bore the brunt of the allegations but was not named in the lawsuit. Ellis stepped away for a role with FIFA in December.

Eidevall’s new club does feature star power. Two-time NWSL Defender of the Year and MVP finalist Naomi Girma won Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and was named the second best player in the world by ESPN. Forward Jaedyn Shaw is also a USWNT fixture and part of the Gold Medal winning squad. Kailen Sheridan was the 2022 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, and also a Gold Medal winner with Canada in 2021.

Each January brings many reports of varying authenticity of ageing superstars being “eyed” (or a a similar transfer cliche) for a move to Major League Soccer. Often, these links lean into the “silly” portion of the silly season.

At times, these are thinly veiled attempts to bolster a veteran’s negotiating position as they hope to stay among Europe’s highest levels. Other times, there’s far more weight to the links than merely keeping the transfer rumor mill in operation. The latter scenario is true of Kevin De Bruyne as he nears the end of his contract with Manchester City.

In May, The Athletic first reported on the mutual interest between San Diego FC and De Bruyne. At the time, it was clear that the modern Belgian legend preferred a move to MLS over the Saudi Pro League, with the midfielder considering the California market among his preferred destinations should he come Stateside.

Since then, De Bruyne has walked back potential disinterest in the Pro League, telling Belgian outlet HLN this summer that “at my age, you have to be open to everything. You’re talking about incredible amounts of money in what may be the last stage of my career. Sometimes you have to think about that.”

In late November, he tried to push speculation about his future off the radar, saying he was “not worried” about whether a new deal in Manchester would manifest. Now, six months from the end of his contract, De Bruyne is free to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with any club outside of England.

San Diego is on the shortlist of his possible next destinations, with the MLS upstart and many suitors closely monitoring how much he has left to offer. De Bruyne missed most of the fall due to, as he said in late November, an abdominal issue that caused pain in his groin whenever he shot a ball. De Bruyne turns 34 in June, having logged 34,318 minutes in league action (to say nothing of cups, continental and international play) since debuting in 2009.

De Bruyne is an ambitious target for a club that will make its professional debut in 2025. As we await a decision about his future, here’s how San Diego could bring the Belgian to Southern California.

A bureaucratic courtship

MLS is infamous for its labyrinth of roster rules that make the league nearly unplayable in the Football Manager video game series. In the real world, the process is only a bit less convoluted — albeit with some oddities unique to the league.

As a single-entity circuit, all players who join an MLS club need their rights to be assigned. For a player such as De Bruyne who has never before played in MLS, teams must lodge priority claims on his “Discovery Rights,” which is functionally a web portal where teams can hold squatter’s rights over up to five players at a time. Teams will drop players from their list to make room for another target and another club can freely claim the rights of the nominally undiscovered player.

As an expansion franchise, San Diego’s discovery list holds up to seven players until the 2025 season’s roster compliance date, which comes just before the season kicks off on February 22. If San Diego has De Bruyne on their seven-man shortlist, they can move forth freely to negotiate with the player’s camp. If another team has a discovery claim on him that pre-dates San Diego’s interest, the new club will need to acquire his rights via trade (often $50,000 of general allocation money).

If this sounds like a way for conniving teams to profit off a player’s movement without intending to sign him themselves, fear not: MLS’s official rules forbid it. For players such as De Bruyne who would obviously be a designated player, MLS has the right to “determine whether the club has the necessary intent, means, and ability to sign such a player.” The rule goes on to clarify that MLS may contact a player’s current club or his representative to gauge how likely the player would come to that specific club.

“If the league determines that there is no realistic chance of signing the player at that time, he will not be discoverable.”

How much could De Bruyne make?

In short, whatever San Diego is willing to pay him.

In 2007, MLS launched the designated player rule so teams could sign players to high wages while remaining in compliance with the league’s salary cap. The first DP, of course, was David Beckham, who left Real Madrid for the LA Galaxy to kick off MLS’s modern era. No matter his salary, a Designated Player hits the salary cap at the senior maximum budget charge. In 2025, that figure is $743,750. The salary cap for the upcoming season sits at $5.95 million annually.

Last season, nine players earned guaranteed salaries in excess of $5million. Lionel Messi led the way with his $20.4million guaranteed compensation, while Italian winger Lorenzo Insigne is second on $15.4million. Sergio Busquets ($8.8million), Xherdan Shaqiri ($8.2million) and Sebastian Driussi ($6.7million) rounded out the top five highest earners.

Currently, San Diego has one designated player: Mexico international Hirving Lozano, who signed a four-year contract with the club along his home nation’s border in June. MLS teams can sign up to three DPs,or opt to limit themselves to two DPs in exchange for an additional Under-22 Initiative signing and $2million of general allocation money.

Does San Diego’s newcomer status play a role?

Not directly. Any club can theoretically sign any player in the world regardless of market or the player’s status if they make the right sales pitch.

However, San Diego does have one of the cleanest salary cap situations of any MLS club given the nascent state of their roster. The expansion side had 17 players on its roster as of January 3, including just four true midfielders. As they’re still cobbling together their first roster, signing De Bruyne would require fewer moving parts to fall into place than a side with an established core already up against the salary cap.

Often, new MLS clubs have tried to sign a clear leading figure. Los Angeles FC launched with Carlos Vela at the fore, while Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC), Driussi (Austin FC) and Lozano (San Diego) show clubs have continued to skew a bit younger compared to more aged frontmen of a bygone decade such as Kaka (Orlando City), David Villa and Frank Lampard (New York City) or Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders).

Of course, only so many players in the world can match De Bruyne’s pedigree. While his signing would almost certainly be a shorter-term partnership, it’s a rare opportunity for clubs operating beyond New York, Los Angeles or Miami.

Is this different to Messi’s Miami move?

In spirit, yes, but functionally, no.

To borrow a term from modern collectables parlance, Messi’s deal with Miami is a “one-of-one” scenario. He, too, arrived on a free transfer, allowing the club to negotiate directly with him rather than Paris Saint-Germain.

What truly made Messi’s deal singular was the considerations beyond salary that lured him to South Beach. Messi was given equity in Inter Miami, while he also sees a cut of increased income associated with league partners Apple, Adidas and Fanatics. Although Beckham’s deal involved the rights to launch an MLS club (which he did with Miami), it’s rare for a player to command that kind of lucrative perk.

Strip away the side revenue streams and the deals look far more similar. Both players began negotiations as they neared the end of their contract with their previous club — a Bosman transfer (the 1995 Bosman ruling states that clubs from other countries can discuss and finalise pre-contract agreements with players in Europe up to six months before the expiry of their current deals). Both were earmarked for a DP slot, ensuring they would hit the salary cap at a predetermined rate. Both would require an international slot and a senior roster slot, far easier factors to sort out in the grand scheme of things.

Does this make sense for San Diego FC?

Yes.

…

I’m sorry, apparently I need to expand on that.

De Bruyne may not have the same marketability as Messi, but he has been at the heart of one of Europe’s all-time dynasties for a decade. His longtime friend and international teammate Christian Benteke has spoken in glowing terms about what moving to MLS has done for his career and his mental health. The Belgian striker beat Messi and Luis Suarez to win the 2024 MLS Golden Boot with 23 goals.

GO DEEPER

A look at San Diego FC’s roster after the MLS expansion draft

Even in his mid-30s, De Bruyne would be a massive signing for a club entering its first season. The midfield is awfully thin as currently constructed, lacking even two players who are clearly capable of being regular starters in MLS. That depth would need to be bolstered even if De Bruyne signs given the likelihood he won’t be a “90 minutes, twice a week” option during the MLS season’s busiest stretch. That said, the Belgian has started five of City’s seven matches since December 4, including full-90 shifts against Leicester City and West Ham in the span of seven days.

For nearly a year, the flirtation between player and club has been public. Only time will tell if they can forge a partnership from their mutual interest. His leadership acumen and draw for neutral viewers would also represent a bombastic shot in the arm as the club works to make a strong first impression. Even in his mid-30s, he remains a danger for any opponent in the world’s most competitive league.

If they can sign him, it’ll ensure San Diego remains in the broader MLS discourse from day one.

(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)