Five Races to Watch as San Diego County Heads Into Tuesday's Election

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and several contests on the ballot in San Diego County carry outsized significance. They range from the race for California governor to a county supervisor seat and a city council contest centered on vacation rentals.

In the governor's race, Democrat Xavier Becerra faces Republican Steve Hilton. Current Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, leaving open an office that holds considerable influence in California and nationally. Becerra served as secretary of health and human services in the Biden administration and was previously California's attorney general. Hilton is a former Fox News host who advised former British prime minister David Cameron.

In US House District 48, Republican Jim Desmond is up against Democrat Marni von Wilpert. It is among the most closely watched House races and is the San Diego County district most affected by Prop 50, which redrew California's congressional map in an effort to flip up to five Republican seats and help Democrats regain the House majority. The district was once a Republican stronghold and now has more registered Democrats than Republicans. Even so, the race is tight, and flipping the seat may prove harder than Democrats had hoped.

Desmond's run for Congress helped open the District 5 seat on the county Board of Supervisors, since he has been termed out. Republican Rebecca Jones and Democrat Kyle Krahel are competing for it. The district covers much of the northernmost part of the county and stretches east to the Anza-Borrego Desert. The board is meant to be nonpartisan, but party politics have long influenced its decisions. It was a conservative stronghold until 2020, when Democrats flipped two seats, and they now see this open seat as a chance to build a 4-1 supermajority.

County voters will also decide Measure A, a charter reform package. Among other changes, it would raise term limits for county supervisors from two four-year terms to three.

In Chula Vista, the county's second-largest city, incumbent Mayor John McCann, a Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Francisco Tamayo. McCann has served on and off on the City Council for two decades. Tamayo is a trustee on the Chula Vista Elementary School District Board. Both have faced scrutiny in recent years. Tamayo drew questions over his successful effort to oust a fellow Democrat from the district board, while McCann was criticized for his advocacy on behalf of a South Bay business owner convicted of fraud.

Four San Diego City Council seats are on the ballot this year. In District 2, former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, who has no party preference and was a Republican until February 2026, faces Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby, a Democrat. The two have clashed over how to regulate vacation rentals, a central issue in a mostly coastal district that includes popular destinations such as Mission Beach and Pacific Beach.

Voters who have not yet cast a ballot can find election explainers, voting information and a video breakdown of the local ballot at the KPBS Voter Hub.