Today is the day — the last day to vote in California’s Primary election — Tuesday, March 5.
Here are the OB Rag Primary recommendations. You won’t find a lot of material or text to read here but there are links for a number of the lesser-known candidates to their interviews or statements with the U-T.
City of San Diego
Mayor * Genevieve Jones-Wright
Geneviéve Jones-Wright is an attorney, criminal justice reform advocate and Democrat who is challenging Mayor Todd Gloria for re-election. She has been endorsed by newly-elected County Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe. The OB Rag also endorses Jones-Wright.
City Council District 3 * Kate Callen or * Coleen Cusack
Both Kate Callen and Coleen Cusack are worthy challengers to current Councilmember Stephen Whitburn for his seat representing downtown and the neighborhoods around Balboa Park in District 3.
Callen stated:
District 3 has become collateral damage in the city’s zeal to overbuild housing and shortchange infrastructure. I’m running to turn that around. I’m a second-generation District 3 community activist, a founder of a District 3 community nonprofit and a planning group member. I am a former journalist who has published numerous news commentaries about District 3 challenges. I have name recognition across the district.
Cusack stated:
I am running as a 25-year resident of the district and 34-year resident of the city who never before aspired for political office. But lacking all faith and confidence in my elected representative, I am stepping up to do the job myself. I’ve been a trial attorney of 31 years. I’ve taught undergraduate criminal justice courses and experiential law courses for an overlapping 18 years, and after a recent shortage due to COVID, I became a K-12 substitute teacher. This helps fund my ability to continue to represent homeless persons pro bono.
City Council District 4- Special Election * Henry Foster
Henry Foster III served as chief of staff to the district’s most recent representative on the City Council, Monica Montgomery Steppe, until she left to become a county supervisor. Now he’s seeking her old job.
City Council District District 9 * Terry Hoskins
Terry Hoskins, a retired community relations officer with the San Diego Police Department, is challenging incumbent and City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, a fellow Democrat, in District 9.
Hoskins has made these statements:
We need additional housing, but not by increasing housing through unrealistic efforts that neglect infrastructure. The waiving of developer impact fees (DIFs) is a mistake and has favored outside large developers, and the residents of District 9 are left paying for this deliberate action by our City Council. …
Specifically in District 9, there are vacant lots all along University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard that would be logical locations for density. The goal of Complete Communities developer incentive programs is a façade in an attempt to confuse the public.
The balance between public safety and civil liberties regarding the unsheltered and behavioral health policy must be transparent and honest. Being unsheltered is not a criminal act; everyone in law enforcement understands this element. It is deliberate nefarious behavior that becomes criminal. … The city needs to provide a better equity policy regarding infrastructure. … The ideologies and priorities of elected officials and advocacy groups should not be placed above the will of the people.
San Diego City Attorney * Heather Ferbert
Heather Ferbert, a chief deputy city attorney for the city of San Diego, is one of the two Democrats running for the top job in that office.
San Diego County
County Supervisor District 3 * Terra Lawson-Remer
Lawson-Remer is being challenged by San Diego’s former mayor, Kevin Faulconer.
San Diego County Superior Court judge, Seat 41 * Jodi Cleesattle
San Diego Superior Court judge, Office 43 * Koryn Sheppard
US Congress
US Senate * Katie Porter
48th Congressional District * Stephen Houlahan
Stephen Houlahan is a Democrat, registered nurse and former Santee council member challenging Rep. Darrell Issa to represent California’s 48th Congressional District. In the 2022 race, he was one of the top two primary finishers for the seat but lost to the Republican incumbent in November.
49th Congressional District * Mike Levin
Rep. Mike Levin, a three-term Democrat, is running for re-election to his coastal North County and Orange County congressional district, considered one of the region’s more competitive.
50th Congressional District * Scott Peters
Rep. Scott Peters, a Democrat, is running for a seventh term in Congress, now representing a stretch of coastal San Diego and inland North County. Before his election to Congress, he spent time on the San Diego City Council, chairing the region’s port district and working as an environmental lawyer.
51st Congressional District * Sara Jacobs
Rep. Sara Jacobs, a San Diego Democrat, is seeking a third term in Congress representing a district that stretches from Lemon Grove north to Mira Mesa and from Clairemont east to El Cajon. Jacobs, 35, became the youngest member of House Democratic leadership in 2022.
52nd Congressional District * Juan Vargas
Six-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Juan Vargas is running for re-election to his seat representing southern San Diego and South County. Prior to his election to Congress, he spent time on the San Diego City Council, in the state Assembly and Senate and as an insurance executive.
California
Proposition 1 * Yes
39th State Senate District * Akilah Weber
Dr. Akilah Weber, an OB-GYN and current Assembly member, is running in the open race for the 39th state Senate District, representing most of the city of San Diego. The seat is currently held by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, who faces term limits.
74th Assembly District * Chris Duncan
Chris Duncan, the Democratic mayor of San Clemente, is challenging Republican incumbent Laurie Davies for the 74th Assembly District, representing North County and southern Orange County.
75th Assembly District * Christie Dougherty
Christie Dougherty, a teacher and a Democrat, is one of six candidates running in the crowded race for the open 75th Assembly District, representing a vast swath of inland San Diego County. Carl De Maio is one of the Republican candidates.
76th Assembly District * Darshana Patel
Darshana Patel, a Democrat, scientist and Poway Unified school board member, is running for the open seat in the 76th Assembly District, representing northern San Diego neighborhoods, Escondido and San Marcos.
77th Assembly District * Tasha Boerner
Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, a Democrat, is running for re-election to her seat representing a stretch of coastal San Diego County from Carlsbad south to Coronado.
78th Assembly District
Incumbent Chris Ward is running for re-election unopposed.
79th Assembly District * Racquel Vasquez
Racquel Vasquez, the mayor of Lemon Grove, is running for the open seat representing the 79th Assembly District, which stretches from southeastern San Diego into Lemon Grove, La Mesa and El Cajon. Vasquez was the first African-American mayor of a San Diego County city and is a local person with grassroots support.
LaShae Sharp-Collins, a community engagement specialist with the county office of education, is also running for the 79th Assembly seat and is favored by the Democratic Party. Colin Parent, another Democrat, the CEO of Circulate San Diego, a developer-aligned lobbying group is running and also sits on the La Mesa City Council.
California’s 80th Assembly District
Incumbent David Alvarez has one challenger Michael Williams and both will move to the General Election.
Great list! Thanks!
This is very helpful. Thank you, Frank!
Do you want two candidates that are not afraid of hard work and interacting with the homeless to get compliance and relocation? Both work with them every day, have ideas that will work and get them off the streets, and in permanent housing. If you want to change the way the Community Planning Groups are now not listened to, or represented. Both are in favor of bike lanes, but not removing parking places for the businesses. Neither want to be career politicians. Larry has 23 yrs. of USMC leadership and now works for SDPD as a Community Resource Officer, and assigned to the downtown area. Ellis is a native San Diegan, born in Balboa Hospital, went to school at Hoover, made a regrettable huge decision, and went to prison as a 19yr. old kid. He’s not that kid any more and made use of his time in prison helping others get their GED’s, their legal paperwork, and learn computer skills. He was a manager for Bird scooters, so understands the small business world. Currently working as an environmental inspector. They both are task and people oriented, fully understand they will be working FOR the people and look forward to hearing from the people, make changes and not just go along to get along. San Diegans are more than ready for a common sense approach to City business, and both want a full audit of City revenue incoming and outgoing, to stop the waste. Vote for Larry Turner Mayor and Ellis California Jones for City Council District 3.
Mayor Todd could be worried about Larry Turner. And after my research, I will vote for him.
Prop 1 is a $6 Billion boondoggle waiting to happen. DO NOT SUPPORT IT!
Prop 1 does nothing to expand and provide behavioral health services training and an adequate pay structure to staff these “sanitariums”. Does not clearly define evaluation thresholds to commit Californians, nor does it even adequately address who gets to determine who gets committed and who does not.
California has about 40% of the mental health service providers psychologists, psychiatrists, and ancillary staff that the State’s population currently requires. The pay is awful, the job mind numbingly redundant, with an extremely high turnover.
The money flow from the construction is what the Central Democratic Committee, the DNC and the DNCC are looking for the pipe union, electricians union, construction union dues to flow into the Dmocratic Party coffers.Most importantly, by committing those in abject poverty to sanitariums they’ll be able to more conveniently keep the evicted flowing into the streets to die. The endgame result of callous, greedy, self-serving Politico-Corporate Real Estate Complex.
Mateo, you sound so anti-Democrat that you sound like a Republican.
Frank,
With all due respect, holding “the Party” accountable makes me sound like a Republican? I am disappointed you further this BS narrative that if you disagree with “the Party’s” pro corporate policies, then that somehow that makes me a Republican ny default, or worse yet a MAGA Republican. My dissent is well founded and it seems that you are guilty of perpetuating the very same “groupthink” mentality that is hindering real democracy, our unity and continues to victimize all of us.
I have voted in every single San Diego election since I turned 18 in 1985. I am a hippie-live-and-let-live- liberal progressive, a proud Donna Frye Democrat. But that ended when the Oligarchs took over in the 2000’s and all the Democratic candidates were hand-selected by the new corporate sycophants who’s only goal is to enrich themselves and will sacrifice human life for profit.
Democrats used to respect the “appearance of impropriety” now they’re just getting their’s, no matter what the cost to society. Dianne Feinstein enriched her husband’s Coldwell Banker Real Estate some $4 Billion in U.S. Post Office Real Estate holdings. Nancy Pelosi has profited nearly one hundred million dollars in insider trading deals and gone from rich, to uber-wealthy, as a public servant. Democrats have weakened anti-trust protections and facilitated the formations of monopolies for their own profit. California Democrats legislatively accelerated the Human Rights homeless catastrophe and solely OWN the shameless homelessness misery that they have brought on all of us.
Look around Frank, you cannot tell me that when you walk down memory lane in this city that it doesn’t seem like a parallel universe from what we once were, America’s Finest City. The change is so absurd it would not have even been fathomable in 2008.
I once stood behind the Democrats, volunteered to help get some folks elected, but no more. There isn’t a shred of integrity, honesty, or a wanton ability to produce candidates to address San Diegan’s challenges, only bleed more profit from the corporations with no endgame, no plan. THEY”VE BURNED ALL OF US!
With all due respect, holding “the Party” accountable makes me sound like a Republican? I am disappointed you further this BS narrative that if you disagree with “the Party” that somehow makes me a Republican, or worse yet a MAGA Republican. My dissent is well founded and you are guilty of perpetuating the very same “groupthink” mentality that is hindering real democracy, our unity and continues to victimize all of us.
The California Democratic Party and Republican Party are nothing more than lying grifters and more than 72% of the country considers themselves Independents as a result.
If you cannot distinguish between the corporate Dems and the grassroots, progressive Dems, then you just lump them all together. Calling for the recall of Newson on the eve of the Calif primary is very Republican, in fact, I understand they want to do it again. I’m very disappointed that you have taken up this mantle. BTW, we here at the Rag disagree with “The Party” ALL the freaking time – have you not read that? So, who are you voting for for Prez? JFK Jr? The Peace and Freedom candidate? Jill Stein?
You do go outside right? Travel around the state much? You wrote that Homelessness, CA would hypothetically be the 23rd most populous city in the state.
Frank, I served on trauma teams for 17 years, airway is critical but not if the patient is just bleeding out. Stop the bleeding!
We just acknowledged the 20th anniversary of Newsom’s 10 year Plan to End Homelessness in San Francisco. Instead exponential growth in homelessness in not only Sand Francisco but all of California.
If for no other reason, the State arbitrarily witheld the CARE act benefits that were supposed to be a lifeline to Californians directly affected by Newsom and Atkins shut and cut pandemic response. (We could get into the particulars of how Newsom left medical responders hangin by not using State monies to secure PPD for hospitals and instead waited for Fed money when demand and supply were at their worst, but I digress.)
The State EDD somehow lost $31.1 Billion with a “B”. Our Attorney General Javier Bacerra is derelect and conveniently took a cabinet position. Rob Bonta’s office can only account for $120 million attributting it to prison organized crime. To date only two Directors at EDD have been subjected to resigning, so $31 Billion just up and disappeared like a fart in the wind. No actions by the justice department, Bupkis.
How about the high speed train wreck? Several municipalities forked out their own local tax base bond money to build expensive platforms and overpasses and they all got burned.
We roasted Republicans during the invasion of Iraq, when they abided by the “good Republicans don’t criticize Republican leadership”. How’d that weapons of mass destruction thing work out for us?
Newsom is a corrupted corporate syccophant, not a leader worthy of the Great State of California. How much money has he hauled in since first becoming Mayor in SF? “It’s good to be the King”
PPE, typo meant Personal Protective Equipment. My bad.
Okay, Mateo – you’ve stated your views. And if one stretched out all your comments here over the last few months, I agreed with many of them. But to lambast Dems on the eve of the Big Tuesday Primary where Trump will probably cement his nomination, is to not properly understand the context we’re in. When we’re up against a fascist dictator-to-be, we must make alliances even with corporate Dems and 5-star generals; it’s been called a United Front Against Fascism over the decades and we must for our very survival as a flailing democracy do the same.
And you didn’t answer my question – who you voting for as Prez?
Lambast is a stretch, you only have one reputation. I cannot in good conscience cast a vote that further perpetuates detatching the silenced, voiceless and other-ed segment of the population from their most basic physiological need of shelter and safety, purely so that those that could care less can hoard wealth.
My vote must be earned, it is literally my God given right as an American, and I hold that right very dear. Donald Trump is not going to win California. There is no eminent threat to democracy coming from the outcomes of the California primaries, and I am a registered Dem.
As far as the general election goes? The Electoral College decides that outcome and has contradicted the popular vote a few times now. But to clarify and put you at ease, I do not ,nor have I ever advocated, nor supported Donald Trump and have no intention to. But the California Democratic backed candidates have all forfeited my vote altogether.
Tell me one thing Scott Peters has ever accomplished in his life, yet alone the years he’s bled the public and done nothing. He’s been competely unable to secure expanded Section 8 housing voucchers and has never even visited the Housing and Urban Development Office in his entire tenure.
Okay, we agree to disagree. There were many ‘holier-than-thou’ leftwing Germans who voted their conscience all the way to the gas chambers. They refused to make alliances with the social democrats because they were so pure. And we know what the outcome was.
Purity? This isn’t an ideology, this is real life genocide, for profit, albeit gas chamber free and it’s been sent into hyperdrive since 2008 by the California Democratic Party, not a bad apple or two but by an agenda mandated by “the Party.”
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.
So, I am expected to be a good little registered Democrat and elect Party Democrats that continue to legislate and support policies intentionally intended to evict more Californians on the 5th of every month and send them into the street, then driven insane by the cruelty of complete, total social detachment, and sentenced to die in the element?
Otherwise Donald Trump may or may not get out of all of his 91 indictments, and he might come and get you.
If Trump does come to get us here in San Diego, the Democratic Party installed 500 dragnet license plate readers, cameras, and microphone surveillance systems will serve him well. (Fun fact: San Francisco voters get to decide whether or not to deploy surveillance equipment, whereas the San Diego Democratic Party elected officials dictated the surveillance mandate without any public vote)
I sleep well at night knowing that each day in some way I make every effort to try and end the actual genocide being committed in the open, right before our very eyes everyday at the direction of the California Democratic Party leadership.
By your past comments and expressed views, you’re expected not to contribute one vote to the fascist movement coming to America. You’re expected to assist in crafting coalitions to resist this fascism. That’s what reality politics is all about. You can sleep well at night until Trump is elected — then it’ll be too late.
Mateo, very well said. You wrote eloquently exactly what I know and believe to be true, and what all Dems should they choose to open their eyes and see what the party especially here in California has become. Thank you.
Prop 1 is a boondoggle that throws more money after the 20+ billion dollar failed attempts by Newsome. We are in a deficit because of Newsome. How much money is enough to give this failed governor to waste? How much higher do you want your taxes? Dismissive categorizing is not a constructive conversation.
One good thing about the United States is that one’s vote is (still) private.
Having told friends how I have voted in the past and been lambasted by some, I am not about to tell again.
But – suffice it to say – I can no longer in good conscience vote for corporate Democratic candidates, for the most part. Nor do I vote for Republicans, for the most part. It is okay to pick and choose, do research, etc.
As for the general in November, let’s see who is left standing at the end of October.
Yes, you’ll vote for Katie, GLTY, but may have to make a different choice come November between a moderate Dem and a clueless manipulated GOPher.