In what figures to be the most hotly contested of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors races, District 3’s one-term incumbent, Terra Lawson-Remer, faces former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer — with the board’s left/right alignment potentially at stake.
Though supervisor seats are nonpartisan, Lawson-Remer, the board vice chair, is a Democrat, and Falconer a Republican.
Currently, the board’s makeup is three Democrats (Lawson-Remer, Nora Vargas and Monica Montgomery Steppe) and two Republicans (Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond). Vargas (District 1) and Anderson (District 2) are also up for re- election.
If the District 1 and 2 incumbents hold serve on election night, the District 3 battle between Lawson-Remer and Faulconer could prove the difference- maker in shaping future board policy.
As highlighted in a September debate, the homeless crisis is the biggest issue of contention between the two candidates.
Lawson-Remer — an economist, attorney, former senior adviser in the Obama administration and a self-described “grassroots organizer” who lives in Encinitas — espouses “tackling the homeless crisis with innovative thinking to clean-up streets, clear encampments, and get people the help they need and into supportive housing.”