Four years ago, Democrats took control of a San Diego County government long directed by Republicans. Democratic Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s likely victory on Tuesday ensures progressives can continue their years-long effort to reshape the county.
Just before midnight Wednesday, Lawson-Remer was ahead of challenger and former Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer by nearly 25,000 votes in District 3, which spans most of the county’s coastal communities.
Lawson-Remer was reluctant to declare victory nearly an hour earlier at a Democratic Party gathering at a downtown hotel but excited about the initial returns.
“We know that this race matters and what happens tonight is going to have a huge impact on the future of San Diego County,” Lawson-Remer said.
Faulconer didn’t make any public statements Tuesday night.
Lawson-Remer has said her re-election will allow her to continue bolstering the county’s response to its homelessness, housing and behavioral health crises. Her victory also likely represents more restricted development in the county’s backcountry areas and more environmentally and labor-friendly policies.
Lawson-Remer’s win also dashes the hopes of Republicans who saw the District 3 race as perhaps their last chance to win back control of the county with a well-known politician backed by developers and business interests.
Instead, Lawson-Remer’s expected victory means that – barring any surprises – Democrats will enjoy at least a 3-2 majority on the Board of Supervisors until at least 2027.
Lawson-Remer has said her top priorities in a second term would be to continue to press for more funding to supply more behavioral health treatment including by increasing insurance reimbursement rates, pursue more public-private partnerships to address the region’s housing shortage and continue urging federal action on the long-running Tijuana sewage crisis.
Kyra Greene, executive director of the left-leaning Center on Policy Initiatives, said she also expects to see Lawson-Remer push for a continued focus on data-driven policymaking and analyses of county initiatives.
“I think what she has represented on the board is an understanding that you get elected by your district, but you have to govern on behalf of the entire county,” said Greene, who noted that Lawson-Remer’s broader focus represents a shift from past board members who often focused more on projects in their districts.
That broader focus also speaks to Lawson-Remer’s aspirations for her second term. Her win puts her in the running to lead the board, a role Lawson-Remer told Voice of San Diego she expects to seek in the new year to increase her impact at the county. Becoming chair isn’t a certainty. It will require support from her board colleagues, including fellow Democrat and current Chair Nora Vargas with whom she has sometimes tussled publicly.
To eke out significant achievements, she’ll also need to make the most of what has historically been a narrow and mostly ceremonial role. Former county Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who was later engulfed in scandal, previously used the chairmanship to set county priorities.
“The initiatives that have gone really well are the ones where I’m engaging with county staff like all the time. My team is talking to them. We have our hands in the weeds,” Lawson-Remer said in September. “I think you’ve gotta do that. And if you’re not doing that, stuff does not move. I think being chair will significantly help my ability to have my hands in more lanes than I can right now.”
Whether Lawson-Remer can achieve that will rest not only on her ability to convince fellow supervisors to appoint her but also to persuade county staff and others to follow her lead if she does nab that role.
Tougher budget times may also stall major initiatives. The county relies significantly on state dollars that could be in peril amid predicted budget deficits in coming years and federal dollars that could also be more unpredictable during a second Trump administration. The county also soon won’t have federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to lean on.
Crystal Irving of the Service Employees International Union Local 221, the county’s largest labor union, said her organization rallied behind Lawson-Remer’s candidacy because it wants to continue the progress made since she took office in 2021.
In a statement, Irving cheered Lawson-Remer’s likely victory as the final electoral battle over the political direction of the county board.
“Now that we have finally put the ideological anti-government era of this board behind us for good, we are optimistic that the board will pass progressive, pro-worker policies that support working families, address climate issues, increase affordable housing and work with county management team to ensure implementation,” Irving wrote.
Amy Reichert, a Republican activist who previously ran for supervisor, had a different view of what a Lawson-Remer victory would mean for a district where 27 percent of registered voters are Republicans, and a quarter are independents who have declined to share a party preference. About 40 percent of registered voters in the district that runs from Carlsbad to Coronado are Democrats.
“People feel that things are out of balance and that the county Board of Supervisors in particular has moved to the far left,” Reichert said. “There is just a point where not just Republicans, but a lot of people just don’t even feel like they’re being represented or heard at the county Board of Supervisors.”
Oh great, just what we need. More failure.
I’m Moving…… to HAWAII to avoid this. Now I know Hawaii is the 50th state, just echoing a statement last week from a “dumb as democrat” stated earlier about Trump. I hope that the GAZALLIONS we spent on this election cycle, the property owners have to pay off (20) years of debt that these children can find where they live on a map. When I went to school back in the mid-west were 10 degrees warmer than outside and i had to walk to school with feet of snow. A new breed of Kool-Aid drinkers?