NEWCOMERS TO OCEANSIDE COUNCIL WILL FACE CHALLENGERS IN 2022

Rodriguez plans run for 49th; Jensen seeks full term

Two Oceanside City Council seats, both held by freshman politicians who survived recall attempts in their first few months in office, will be on the ballot in 2022.

One is the District 2 seat held by first-term Councilmember Christopher Rodriguez. Opponents of the outspoken conservative served him with a recall notice in late 2019, but the onset of pandemic restrictions hampered signature collections and they suspended the effort in 2020.

Rodriguez announced earlier this year that he intends to run for the 49th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Mike Levin, D-san Juan Capistrano.

“While serving on the Oceanside City Council, I’ve seen first-hand the destruction that left-wing Democrat policies have brought to California and how badly our country needs a return to conservative leadership,” Rodriguez said by email Wednesday.

“While our quality of life continues to get worse, our current representative in Washington has been nothing but a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi’s leftist agenda,” he said.

Rodriguez faces at least one other candidate in the Republican primary, former San Juan Capistrano Mayor Brian Maryott. If Rodriguez loses in the June primary, he can still run for re-election to a second term in Oceanside’s District 2.

The official filing period begins in mid-summer for city council candidates to declare their intention to run for office and file nomination papers. Much could change by then, but a number of people have filed the paperwork that allows them to begin fundraising for a political campaign.

So far, only one other potential candidate has filed for the District 2 seat, Fernando Garcia, a retired Marine and community volunteer who also ran unsuccessfully for the Oceanside mayor spot in 2020.

District 2 is the northeast quadrant of the city, generally east of the municipal airport and mostly north of state Route 76. Also on the ballot will be District 1, the quadrant from Camp Pendleton south to Oceanside Boulevard, and from the ocean east to about Douglas Drive.

District 1’s appointed Councilmember Kori Jensen, who survived a recall effort in 2021, is certain to face a number of challengers in her November 2022 bid for a full four-year term.

Jensen’s fellow council members appointed her in January from about 36 applicants for the second half of the term, which was left vacant when the former officeholder Esther Sanchez was elected mayor in November 2020.

Allegations that Jensen’s primary residence is in Carlsbad made her two-year term a tough one. However, the county District Attorney’s Office investigated and found no violations, and a citizens’ effort to force a recall election failed to get enough signatures for the ballot.

“I feel like I’m just getting started, and I’m very hopeful that my district will have confidence in me and elect me to a full term,” Jensen said in a text message Tuesday.

She hopes to continue working with the City Council on important issues such as homelessness, sand replenishment, and neighborhood programs for children, she said.

“I intend to continue to support our community services and see that funding goes to these programs,” Jensen said.

Five people so far, including Jensen, have filed City Hall paperwork to indicate they intend to be candidates for the District 1 seat.

Others are Andrew Andrioff, an Oceanside businessperson and an appointee on the city’s Downtown Advisory Committee; Eric Joyce, a teacher and Oceanside Unified School District board member; Darin Selnick, an independent business consultant and retired Air Force officer; and David Turgeon, a lineman and ornamental horticulturalist.

Andrioff and Selnick were among about 36 people who submitted their names for the appointment that Jensen was picked for in January 2021. Turgeon was one of the 12 candidates for mayor when Sanchez won in November 2020.

“Homelessness and public safety are the top priorities with me,” Andrioff said by telephone Wednesday. “Another key item is trying to keep the authenticity of Oceanside, while figuring out how we progress as a city and account for the population increase.”

“I am running to serve my fellow residents and make a positive contribution to the future of my city by bringing my private sector business experience, government, and community involvement to move the city forward and solve current and future challenges,” said Selnick, a 10-year Oceanside resident, in an email Wednesday.

“There is much work to do with regards to challenges in homelessness, public safety, roads, parks and recreation, housing, and attracting and supporting a diversity of businesses,” he said.

So far, no one has spent much money on the Oceanside election.

Jensen filed a candidate intention statement April 16, 2021, and a single fundraising committee statement Aug. 2 that showed her committee had received a single $100 contribution and spent just $27.50 between Jan. 1 through June 30.

None of her four challengers filed statements showing any money raised or spent.