Runoff for Mayors John McCann, Paloma Aguirre in SD County Supes Special Election

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann (R) and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre (D) were selected to move onto the July 1st primary election in the San Diego County Board of Supervisors Special primary election held on Tuesday, defeating five other candidates in the race.

With over 57,000 ballots tallied as of Tuesday afternoon and only 11,000 to go, McCann has a huge lead with 24,901 votes, or 43.6% of the vote. Aguirre is roughly 7,000 votes behind with 18,070, or 31.6% of the vote. In a distant third and fourth were San Diego City Councilwoman Vivian Moreno (D) and Chula Vista City Councilwoman Caroline Chavez (D), who clocked in with 7,427 and 4,317 votes respectively, or 13% of the vote and 7.5%. Rounding out the top five was former Calexico Mayor Louis Fuentes (R) with 962 votes, or 1.68% of the vote.

Campaign have been running since December of last year, when the seat first became vacant following then Supervisor Nora Vargas (D) because of vague “personal safety and security” issues, despite winning reelection the month before. It was later shown that she received severe backlash over her support of sanctuary legislation in the County, and also set up her own consulting firm six weeks before her resignation.

“Due to personal safety and security reasons, I will not take the oath of office for a second term,” said Vargas in December. “It has been my honor to serve in public office during unprecedented times, including the past four years on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.”

With Vargas out, several local candidates entered the race. However, two front runners soon emerged: McCann and Aguirre. During the election, McCann highlighted his swift wildfire response as Mayor of Chula Vista, his support of increasing funding for law enforcement and his opposition to new taxes as strong points. Aguirre meanwhile rallied hard on homeless reform and reducing energy rates. Both McCann and Aguirre both tackled the Tijuana River sewage crisis while campaigning, it being a cornerstone issue for both of them. While Supervisor Jim Desmond announced yesterday that Mexico has now redirected waste towards Mexican waste treatment plants instead of the ocean, the issue nonetheless remained prominent on Tuesday in the minds of voters.

As the Board of Supervisors is now in a 2-2 deadlock following the Democrat Vargas leaving office, both Republicans and Democrats have fought hard to get the seat. This all led to the election results on Tuesday, where no candidate received 50% of the vote, thus moving it to a run-off.

McCann, Aguirre move on

Even with a runoff, both McCann and Aguirre praised voters on Tuesday night.

“I am thankful for the hundreds of volunteers who have worked on my campaign and the thousands of voters that cast their vote for me,” expressed McCann. “They know I will bring common sense back to San Diego County by supporting law enforcement to keep our streets safe, getting homeless off the streets, working to get real solutions on the Tijuana sewage issue and opposing the mileage tax. I want to bring my budget expertise to the county to make sure that we’re not having any cuts in services and fully funding our police department and sheriff’s department.”

“The results send a clear message – voters want a supervisor who fights on the side of working people who are struggling, gets results on the sewage crisis, and pushes for the more affordable San Diego County we need,” countered Aguirre. “Now, the stakes couldn’t be higher. This runoff is a clear choice between Democratic values that put working people first, and a Trump Republican agenda that would be a complete disaster for all of San Diego County. We deserve leaders who fight for economic security for everyone, no matter how much money you make or what neighborhood you live in.”

While McCann came in first on Tuesday night, the Jul 1st run-off is expected to be much more close between the two candidates. With all Democratic candidate votes combined, Democrats were ahead with a combined 52.2% of the votes. However, this is also a much lower total than the 56.6% total Vargas won with in the November 2024 election. And with the GOP strongly wanting to take majority control away from Democrats, it is still anyone’s game in the three months ahead, especially with many Moreno supporters vowing not to support Aguirre in any capacity.

“This is just the beginning,” added Aguirre on Tuesday night.