South County Report: Democrats Seek to Regain Momentum
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‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ Party leaders weigh in on how Dems can make progress on the region’s most pressing problems.
Last summer, South County Democrats were on a roll.
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre’s victory in the race to fill a vacant seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors cemented Democrats’ control of the Board and put South County issues at the heart of San Diego’s political agenda.
The future looked bright.
Until all of a sudden, it didn’t.
As Democrats turn their attention to this year’s local elections, they find themselves facing a more complicated electoral landscape than they expected.
Not a single South County city currently has a Democratic mayor. The mayor of the region’s largest city, Chula Vista, is a popular Republican who, so far, is running unopposed for re-election.
In National City, where a messy personal feud at one point seemed to threaten the political future of the city’s veteran independent mayor, Democrats’ hopes of an upset now appear sidetracked by a deepening schism between two Democratic city councilmembers.
No high-profile Democratic mayoral candidate has emerged in Imperial Beach, where Aguirre’s ascension to the Board of Supervisors handed control of the City Council to a conservative-leaning majority following a series of appointments.
Even the region’s school districts, where strong teachers’ unions traditionally favor Democrats, have posed a challenge.
After one Democrat on the Chula Vista Elementary School District Board of Trustees unseated a fellow party member in a controversial electoral move in 2024, a quirk in the district’s appointment process wound up doubling the number of Republicans on the board.
The board’s two Republican trustees have become thorns in the side of the district’s Democratic leadership, peppering officials with questions at board meetings and criticizing how the district is run.
“Our party missed the boat,” said San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy of Democrats’ recent fortunes in South County.
The problem, Rodriguez-Kennedy said, is twofold. Infighting between Democrats cost the party seats that should have been easy wins, he said.
And, in many cases, voters did not see Democrats making progress on the region’s most pressing problems.
“What people aren’t feeling is that the problems that they’re facing in their day-to-day lives are getting better. What we have to do is mitigate the economic impacts people are feeling. It’s the economy, stupid.”—San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy
Rodriguez-Kennedy had blunt advice for South County Democrats: “Stop the drama and do the work. ICE is terrorizing our communities. We have major issues of the cost of living. That has to be our focus beyond who gets to be mayor or king.”
Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one in South County. In coming weeks, I’ll be taking a closer look at elections in each of our region’s three cities to see whether that electoral advantage translates into victories in November.
Already, candidates are emerging, labor unions are weighing endorsements and fundraising is ramping up.
Jason Bercovitch, the Democratic Party’s South Area Vice Chair, said his party is in better shape in South County than naysayers think.
“People can talk about doom and gloom. We still control an overwhelming majority of seats in the area.” —Jason Bercovitch, Democratic Party South Area Vice Chair
Bercovitch said his party’s candidate “pipeline is up and running…We are going to have a robust slate of candidates up and down the ballot. I’ve spoken to at least a dozen people who are thinking about which race to run for.”
That includes, he said, three people considering a run to unseat McCann in Chula Vista.
“Two of them are currently elected officials in South Bay looking at that race,” Bercovitch said. He declined to name the prospective candidates.
Bercovitch said he expects Democrats to make South County a high priority this year.
“Anything that happens in South Bay will have a regional impact. We still see the vast majority of South Bay residents and voters want Democrats to be in charge. And we expect that trend to continue.”—Jason Bercovitch, Democratic Party South Area Vice Chair
by Jim Hinch | January 29, 2026 | Voice of San Diego
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