San Diego 101: A Short History Of San Diego Politics

By Maya Srikrishnan, the Voice of San Diego

December 21, 2021

To get involved in local government, it’s helpful to understand why local politics are the way they are.

That’s why in our latest San Diego 101 podcast episode, we’re bring you a short history of San Diego politics. We go back about 18 years – roughly when the region’s newest voters were being born.

Hosts Adriana Heldiz and Maya Srikrishnan walk us through some of San Diego’s biggest scandals, policy changes and shifts in power and influence that shaped local politics. It’s also during this period that the Democratic Party has slowly taken control of local government.

To tell the story, Heldiz and Srikrishnan talked to VOSD’s CEO Scott Lewis, who was just beginning to cover city hall in the early 2000s. They also talk to Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, whose work with the labor movement helped shape the region’s politics, and City Councilman Chris Cate, now the only Republican on San Diego’s City Council.

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