Daily Business Report: Thursday, April 17, 2025
South County Report: The Race Is On (Again)
By Jim Hinch| Voice of San Diego
In the race to determine South County’s most powerful elected leader, voters now face a clear, and revealing, choice.
Last week’s primary vote in the special election to replace former District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors whittled down a field of seven candidates to two decisive victors: Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Chula Vista Mayor John McCann.
Both Aguirre and McCann far outdistanced their competition, together garnering almost three-quarters of all votes cast. McCann, a Republican, finished first with 28,065 votes, or 42 percent. Aguirre, a Democrat, won 32 percent of votes, easily besting two Democratic challengers, Chula Vista City Councilmember Carolina Chavez and San Diego City Councilmember Vivian Moreno.
Now that votes are counted – and the flood of election ads is (thankfully) over – what can we learn from last week’s results? And what can we expect as Aguirre and McCann begin their sprint toward the July 1 general election?
New 2026 Gubernatorial Poll Finds Waning Support for Possible Kamala Harris Run
By Evan Symon | California Globe
According to a new Politico/UC Berkeley Citrin Center poll, there is waning support for a Kamala Harris Gubernatorial bid, with 47% of independent voters saying that Harris running made them feel “irritable” or “hopeless”.
The poll, conducted earlier this month, asked both registered voters and political insiders how they felt about a possible Harris run for Governor, with listed poll emotions including “joyful,” “mostly excited,” “indifferent,” “irritated,” “outraged,” “hopeless,” or other. Amongst registered voters, Harris received a lukewarm response, especially in comparison to earlier polls. The poll released on Tuesday found that, amongst Democrats, only 33 percent were “joyful” about a possible Harris run, with 41 percent feeling “mostly excited.” While negative feelings were under 10%, about 25% were indifferent.
And the numbers go sharply down in other demographics. The overwhelming top picks amongst GOP registered voters were “irritated” and “outraged”, while independents, a key demographic for any candidate, clocked in 47% saying that her running made them feel “irritable” or “hopeless.” Even more worrying for Harris was the low support figures from non-black voters. While black voters wanted a Harris run, with 35% of them saying they were “joyful” and 38% saying “mostly excited,” other races were more mixed, with white voters being polarized with Harris.
Violent Crime is Not Down in California Despite What Sanctuary State Governor Gavin Newsom Says
By Katy Gimes | California Globe
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom claims that crime is down.
Spoiler alert – crime in California is not down. This is Gov. Newsom gaslighting, trying to look good to a national audience, and trying to get ahead of his budget which does not properly fund voter-approved Proposition 36.
Making crime illegal again, Prop. 36 increased penalties for certain drug crimes by increasing sentence lengths and the level of crime, added fentanyl to the list of drugs (cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine) that warrant a felony charge, increased sentences based on the quantity of certain drugs sold illegally, and increased penalties for certain theft crimes.
The left-leaning Public Policy Institute of California gave Newsom an assist with a blog post: “Crime in California Is Trending Downward, New Data Suggests.”
“Preliminary data suggests property and violent crimes in California were down in 2024,” Gov. Newsom’s press release says.
