A Quick Study for Picking Your New County Supervisor on July 1, 2025

Susan Heavilin
6 days ago
3 min read

Paloma Aguirre and John McCann were the top vote getters in the April San Diego County Supervisor race. John finished with 42.38% of the vote and Paloma followed with 32.33%. One of them needed 50% to win the Supervisor position.

Only 17.8% of the population voted. See the information at the bottom of the page about voting. This is a very important election and we need everyone's vote!

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Chula Vista Mayor John McCann are running for the position of San Diego County Supervisor, District 1. The position has been vacant since January when ex-Supervisor Nora Vargas unexplainably and abruptly walked from her duties. Photos taken by San Diego Union-Tribune.

Below is a quick study of the two candidates from various articles written about them. Sources with links are at the bottle of the page in case you'd like to research it for yourself.

Candidate's Full Name	Manuela Paloma Aguirre	John McCann
Parent(s)	Raised by Mexican migrant parents who waited tables for a living	Raised by single mom who worked for Rohr/Goodrich Aerospace Factory
Childhood	Born in San Francisco, California. Family moved back to their hometown in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico when Paloma was 8. She moved back to the United States when she was 20.	Born and raised in Chula Vista, California. Third generation Chula Vistan.
High School Education	Graduated High School in Mexico	Graduated Bonita Vista High School
College Education	Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (USD), Master's Degree in Marine Biodiversity & Conservation (UCSD)	Bachelor's Degree in Economics (SDSU), Master's Degree in Economics (SDSU)
Work History	Mayor of Imperial Beach, 18th largest city in San Diego County (25,897 residents), 1-term City Councilmember, California Coastal Commission vice chair, worked for non-profit Wildcoast, began as a Community Organizer	Mayor of Chula Vista, 2nd largest city in San Diego County (274,485 residents), 4-term City Councilmember, 4-time Deputy Mayor under 3 different Mayors, School Board Member and 2-time School Board President, successful Small Business owner & Technology Professional in worldwide environments for 30 years
Military Duty	None known	Navy Officer & Decorated Iraq War Veteran, presently a full Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve
Volunteer work	None known	Served on the Board of Directors for the South Bay YMCA, the Chula Vista Boys & Girls Club, AYSO youth soccer, and the Bonitafest Committee.
Political work	2016 NOAA Sea Grant Knauss fellowship in Washington D.C. working for U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)	Worked at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
Awards	2014 Woman of the Year for her outstanding leadership in environmental conservation and for her work restoring the Tijuana River Valley***	San Diego County Local Elected Official of the Year in 2008, Star News reader poll as one of the best South Bay elected officials multiple times.
Endorsements from Local Leaders & Organizations	Paloma Aguirre for Supervisor	John McCann for Supervisor
Sexual orientation	Bi-sexual	Heterosexual
Spouse	Delio	Myllissa
Children	None	4 Children and 1 grandchild
Pets	Two dogs	Two dogs
Bio	Mayor Paloma Aguirre	Mayor John McCann

***I'm confused about this award that Ms. Aguirre received. It credits her with solving the Tijuana River Valley crisis and restoring the valley. This problem and the sewage in the Pacific Ocean is still an active one with many residents, all the way to Ms. Aguirre's Imperial Beach, having to stay inside and use air purifiers.

In recent days, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has been in San Diego accessing the issue and conducting high-level meetings with Mexican officials.

Ms. Aguirre was not invited to the press conference with Mr. Zeldin but her opponent Mr. McCann was. Read "EPA Visits Tijuana River" by Jim Hinch, Voice of San Diego, for the full story.

Here's some voting information put out by the County of San Diego Registar of Voters. Let's try to get that voter turn out a lot higher than 17.8 percent!