Polls will close on April 8 for the special election to fill an empty seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, left by the abrupt departure of former Chairwoman Nora Vargas.
Weeks after winning her position to serve a second term as the supervisor for District 1 in the November elections, Vargas announced she was stepping down for personal safety and security reasons.
While the election is technically nonpartisan, Vargas’ departure left a split board in its wake – with two Democrats and two Republicans on the dais. Now that majority control is at stake, the partisan backing of whoever fills the empty seat holds significant weight.
To replace Vargas, seven candidates are in the running.
Four of those candidates currently hold office in South County: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, Chula Vista Council member Carolina Chavez, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann and San Diego Council member Vivian Moreno.
Aguirre, a Democrat, was elected mayor of Imperial Beach. Since then she has been active in confronting the Tijuana sewage crisis alongside Coronado’s elected officials and environmental advocates. She was recently named vice chair of the California Coastal Commission.
Chavez, a Democrat, was elected to her first term in office in 2022 and currently serves as a representative on the South County Economic Development Committee, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System and the San Diego Association of Governments.
McCann, a Republican, was elected mayor of Chula Vista in 2022 and completed half of his first term this December. He is a decorated Iraq war veteran and continues to serve as a commander in the United States Navy Reserves, according to his biography. He has also been a crusader for public safety and has worked to prioritize neighborhood infrastructure improvements.
Moreno, a Democrat, was elected to represent San Diego’s District 8 in 2018 and won her re-election in 2022 for a second term. She currently serves as chair of the city’s Audit Committee, is Vice Chair of the Budget and Government Efficiency Committee and a member of the Committee on Land Use and Housing and Rules Committee, according to her campaign website.
The other three candidates, who don’t currently hold office, are Elizabeth Efird, Louis Fuentes and Lincoln Pickard.
Efird and Pickard have not previously been in office, but Pickard has had a few unsuccessful runs, including the state legislature and San Diego City Council.
Pickard, a Republican, is an associate at Mannatech, a marketing firm that sells dietary supplements.
Efird, an energy consultant, told the San Diego Union Tribune she respects the values of the Democratic party, but her approach is not driven by partisan politics. She is a Chula Vista resident and does not have a campaign website.
Fuentes, a Republican, is the former Imperial County Board of Supervisors chair. He is the president of Air Conditioning Guys, Inc. and previously served as a co-chair of the Southern California Association of Governments.
The District 1 position will be a 3½-year term as Vargas stepped down at the beginning of her second term.
District 1 has a population of more than 630,000 residents. It includes the cities of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and National City; several south San Diego neighborhoods, including Barrio Logan, Otay Mesa and San Ysidro; and five unincorporated communities, such as Bonita and La Presa.
The results of the election will be certified by May 8.
However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the primary election on April 8, there will be a general election held on July 1. The two primary candidates with the highest votes will be on that ballot.
A newly elected supervisor could be sworn in as soon as the results are certified, which may be earlier than May 8.
