By Arturo Castañares
Editor-at-Large

Democrats and labor unions, which are usually united in campaigns, are facing off against each other in a contentious special election to replace San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas, who resigned unexpectedly just weeks after winning a second term. 

Three elected Democrats are among the seven candidates who qualified to run in the April 8th Special Election called by the four remaining County Supervisors. 

Vargas, 52, who was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ District 1 in November 2020, won her re-election in November 2024. 

District 1 includes the South Bay areas of San Ysidro, Nestor, Otay Mesa, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City, Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, and areas of San Diego to North Park. 

But on December 20th, just two weeks before the date to assume her second term, Vargas announced she would not attend the January 6th meeting to be sworn in. 

Within days of her announcement, several potential candidates emerged to run for a seat that has only been open for election without an incumbent once before in more than 50 years. 

Three Democratic elected officials have emerged as leading candidates, and labor leaders and some high-profile Democratic politicians have already weighed in with competing endorsements for a seat that will determine which political party maintains the majority control of the Board of Supervisors for the next few years.

The four remaining Supervisors are split evenly with two Democrats; Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe, and two Republicans; Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson.

THE CANDIDATES

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre was the first candidate to announce her candidacy and has secured the endorsement of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, the largest labor group in the region representing 136 labor unions. Aguirre’s campaign consultant is Dan Rottenstreich, husband of the Labor Council’s leader, Brigette Browning. 

Aguirre also has the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which represents the majority of county employees, the United Domestic Workers (UDW) union representing contract in-home workers paid by the county, and La Voz Demócrata, a local Spanish-speaking Democratic Club.

Local Congressman Mike Levin, State Senator Steve Padilla, and the five members of the City Council of National City have also endorsed Aguirre.

But, another candidate, San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno, has been endorsed by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 89, one of the most powerful unions in San Diego. 

LiUNA’s Local 89 last year spent more than $600,000 to elect members to the San Diego County Democratic Party’s governing Central Committee, giving the union a dominant voice in Party endorsements. 

Other local elected officials, including County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe and former Chula Vista Mayor Mary Salas have endorsed Moreno. 

Moreno was elected to the San Diego City Council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. 

The third candidate, Chula Vista Councilwoman Carolina Chavez, has the endorsement of two of her colleagues, Michael Inzunza and Cesar Fernandez, who were both recently elected in November 2024. Chavez, Inzunza, and Fernandez were all endorsed by the Labor Council and the Democratic Party in their respective campaigns.

Chavez, who was elected in 2022, has not announced any institutional endorsements. 

The San Diego County Democratic Party has not held any meeting to consider endorsing in the race, but Party insiders predict no candidate will reach the 60% vote threshold to win an endorsement. The Party is expected to consolidate support behind a candidate in an expected runoff in July.

The leading candidate in the Special Election is Chula Vista Mayor John McCann who has received the endorsement of the Lincoln Club, a bipartisan business group, as well as the Republican Party of San Diego County.

As the only major Republican in the race, polling experts predict McCann will lead the field of candidates in the Special Election by claiming a large part of the Republican and independent votes. 

McCann, a Commander in the US Navy Reserves, previously served four terms on the Chula Vista City Council and one term on the Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees before winning a contentious race for Mayor in 2022. McCann's opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, had the endorsement of the labor unions, Democratic Party, and several high-profile elected officials.

SPECIAL ELECTION

The remaining Supervisors voted on January 14th to call a Special Election to fill the vacancy.

Under the County Charter, the Supervisors had the choice of appointing someone to fill the entire four-year term of the vacant seat through 2028, appointing someone to fill the seat until an election could be consolidated with the 2026 election, or call a Special Election.

With the Board being divided two-to-two between the Democrats and Republicans, political experts predicted they would chose to hold a Special Election.

The San Diego County Registrar of Voters estimates that the Special Election could cost $6.6 million.

The last special election to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors was in 2023 to replace Nathan Fletcher after he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. That election cost taxpayers $4.8 million.    

The Special Election will be on April 8th. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election between the top two Special Election candidates will be held on July 1st.

HISTORY OF DISTRICT 1 ELECTIONS

Since 1968, the only election in which no incumbent ran was when Vargas defeated then-State Senator Ben Hueso for the open seat in November 2020.

Prior to Vargas’ election in 2020, Greg Cox held the seat after being appointed in 1995 to fill a vacancy created when Brian Bilbray was elected to Congress in November 1994. Cox was re-elected in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 before retiring in 2020. 

Bilbray had held the seat since beating incumbent Supervisor Tom Hamilton in 1984. Bilbray was re-elected in 1988 and 1992 before winning election to Congress in November 1994. 

Hamilton had defeated two-term incumbent Supervisor Jack Walsh in 1976. Walsh was first elected in 1968 and re-elected in 1972.

The previous election where no incumbent was on the ballot was in 1968 when Walsh replaced retiring Supervisor Frank Gibson who had represented District 1 from 1951 to 1968.