Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey officially filed papers to explore the possibility to run for San Diego County Supervisor, but he told The Coronado News he hasn’t made an “official announcement” as to what his decision will be.
Currently, the San Diego County’s Third Supervisorial District is being represented by Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer, who has been a County Supervisor since 2020. Lawson-Remer ousted Republican incumbent Kristen Gaspar to give Democrats a majority on the five-member board.
However, Lawson-Remer’s district has been redrawn, and the third district now runs from Carlsbad to Coronado.
Bailey, a Republican, believes that Coronado should be a role model for the type of governance that the rest of the county should expect as well.
“By every objective measure, whether that’s homelessness or crime or housing affordability or transportation, the county is failing to provide the type of quality of life that I think San Diego County residents deserve and expect,” Bailey said in a phone interview with The Coronado News.
Official announcement in coming months
The idea to run for County Supervisor is not a new one.
Bailey says he’s been asked to consider this role for the past several months and is a consideration he is taking seriously.
And with Coronado recently making headlines for Bailey’s approach to its homelessness crisis, Bailey feels that San Diego County deserves that same attention and responsibility.
At the moment, Bailey has no answer as to whether or not he will be officially running for County Supervisor, but expects to have an announcement out in the coming months.
Mulled other offices
Bailey had flirted with running for Congress in 2022, but withdrew his bid after amassing a large campaign warchest.
In 2012, he was elected to the Coronado City Council and, in 2016 at the age of 30, Bailey was elected the 51st Mayor of Coronado, becoming the youngest mayor in the city’s history. He was re-elected in 2020 with nearly 100% of the vote.
Bailey is active on social media, and has launched the website San Diego Comeback.
He has appeared regularly on KUSI News. He made international headlines in this spring, when he appeared on FOX News to discuss homelessness.
