Morning Report: Races Too Close To Call And A School Board Surprise

By Voice of San Diego

November 7, 2024

One of the San Diego Unified school board’s most defining qualities over the past decade has been its near-perfect unanimity. Important decisions almost always sail through with 5-0 votes and few dissenting opinions. That could be about to change.

Sabrina Bazzo, an incumbent board member backed by the teachers union, leads Crystal Trull by a little more than 300 votes. When the first updates came from the Registrar of Voters that gap was wider. But as new ballots have been counted, Trull — who lost to Bazzo by more than 20 points in 2020 — has narrowed the gap.

Should Trull eke out a victory she would be the first person to topple an incumbent on the board since 2014, as our Jakob McWhinney wrote. Trull would also almost certainly bring a dissenting voice to some of the board’s decisions.

Two major tax measures are also too close to call. The city of San Diego is set to face a roughly $200 million deficit next year. City leaders had set their sights on a one-percent tax increase that would have closed the deficit plus given officials more added money that they had promised to spend on infrastructure improvements.

That tax measure, Measure E, hangs dangerously close to the edge. It trails by roughly 1.5 percentage points.

Measure G, a countywide half-cent sales tax increase, faces an even steeper climb. The “No” vote is currently ahead by more than two points. Measure G would have generated roughly $350 million that would have been earmarked for public transit and infrastructure.

Our Tigist Layne wrote about some voters who weren’t very excited about the tax measures on Tuesday. They said the cost of living in San Diego is already high and they don’t want to add to it with an additional tax burden.

“Rent is high, everything is high and now they want us to pay more?” one voter said. “What more do they want from us?”

Reminder: In the coming days, the Registrar of Voters will continue to update its webpage as it counts mail-in ballots. The next vote dump is scheduled for Thursday at 6 pm. You can check countywide results here.

In Encinitas and Oceanside, two incumbent mayors are trailing in races that are still too close to call, Tigist Layne writes in her biweekly newsletter North County Report.

In Oceanside, a councilmember and former cop, Ryan Keim, is ahead of incumbent Mayor Esther Sanchez by just one point.

In Encinitas, incumbent Mayor Tony Kranz faces a bigger gap. He is down by four points to councilmember Bruce Ehlers. Even though the gap is bigger in Encinitas, it’s still small enough that it could flip as more ballots come in.

Layne also ran down the latest on other races and tax measures.

Read the full North County Report here.

While we’re waiting for more results, here’s what some candidates are saying. Some have a clear path to victory and others are still waiting.

75th State Assembly: “I look forward to delivering on the mandate you are giving me to shake up our state’s broken political system and demand action to fix the problems that are causing so many to flee California,” Republican Carl DeMaio wrote in a statement.

County Supervisor: “I am grateful for everyone who supported me in this election, and I invite those who did not, to join me in working together over these next four years to make our county better for every single resident,” Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said.

San Diego Mayor: “With the final votes rolling in, I’m cautiously optimistic. It’s like we’re at halftime, down a few touchdowns—but the second half is here, and independent voters are joining the game,” candidate Larry Turner wrote on X.

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