DISTRICT 3: Early votes put Lawson-Remer in lead for supervisors seat over Gaspar

Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer claimed an early lead over incumbent Republican Supervisor Kristin Gaspar in the race for the District 3 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, according early unoff icial returns released Tuesday night.

The Democrat appears to have built a signif icant lead thanks to being the favored candidate among those who voted early. However, much of the remaining vote is still uncounted.

The supervisorial district, which includes coastal San Diego, Solana

Beach, Encinitas and Escondido, is considered the swing seat on the county board, which has been dominated by Republicans for decades. Although super visor is technically a nonpartisan post, the board dictates important public policy and spends billions of public tax dollars each year, so political parties are often involved in supervisor campaigns.

Currently the board consists of four Republicans and one Democrat.

Reached by phone Tuesday night, LawsonRemer said she was not surprised by the early results, but noted it’s still early and it is important “to

wait until all the votes are counted.”

She added that she is excited, though, and she’s looking forward to hopefully serving the district and the county.

“I am so grateful for the support of so many thousands of San Diegans who want leadership in our county that ref lects the vision and values we share,” Lawson-Remer said.

Through a spokesperson, Gaspar declined to comment on the early returns Tuesday night.

The District 3 race has been a premiere contest for years, but this year the winner of the race will determine the balance of the board. Because of that, Lawson-Remer or Gaspar also will have an inf luential role in the future of housing, transit, environmental policy and mental health transit in San Diego County.

District 3 has f lipped in the last two elections it has been on the ballot, and it long has been among the top priorities for local Republican and Democrat party operatives.

During the primary,

Gaspar, a small business owner from Encinitas first elected to the board in 2016, was the top vote-getter, capturing 42.8 percent of the vote. She was followed closely by Lawson-Remer, an Encinitas-based economist with 31 percent of the vote, and Escondido City Councilwoman Olga Diaz, who captured 28 percent of the vote.

Despite Gaspar’s lead in the primary, there was little doubt the race would be more competitive come November because Gaspar would no longer have the advantage of running against a divided Democratic field.

With only two candidates in play, millions of dollars f lowed into the the race and independent groups like organized labor and the conservative Lincoln Club began to invest heavily.

Gaspar, who originally ran as a moderate in 2016, tried to label her opponent as too liberal for the district and attempted to sell herself as someone “who would work with anybody,” be it President Donald Trump or Gov. Gavin Newsom.

However during her time on the board Gaspar has not behaved like a moderate in a swing district.

While on the board Gaspar has twice traveled to Washing ton, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump, and she has cast several votes that aligned with Trump’s priorities. Most notably, Gaspar urged the county to join Trump’s unsuccessful lawsuit against California over its sanctuary polices, she voted in opposition to a local voting rights access issue, and she was the lone supervisor to oppose San Diego County suing Trump over his administration’s handling of asylum seekers.

Meanwhile Lawson-Remer, an economist who served in Obama’s Treasury Department, ran a campaign that promised change for the county while also attempting to label Gaspar as a fierce partisan and Trump loyalist.

If early results hold, it appears Lawson-Remer’s call for change and attacks on Gaspar were effective, and a new Democratic board majority may feel more emboldened to aggressively push more progressive spending priorities.