Election Results Still Fluid as San Diego County Weighs Charter Reform, Sales Tax, and a Landmark Redevelopment Deal
The morning after Election Day, San Diego County finds itself in a state of suspension: a congressional race has been called for Democrats, but two consequential county-wide measures remain uncalled, new language in a massive public-land redevelopment agreement heads to City Council on Monday, and fire-weather conditions are bearing down on the region ahead of the weekend.
“the district has never built housing at scale, and the workforce housing language may be aspirational rather than operational without a specific site and construction timeline identified”
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Von Wilpert Claims Congressional Seat as County Measures Hang in the Balance
Democrat Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego City Council member and former prosecutor, is being reported as the winner over Republican County Supervisor Jim Desmond in California's redrawn 48th Congressional District. If her lead holds through certification — and reporting from KPBS and others is treating it as a confirmed win — Democrats would sweep all five of San Diego County's congressional seats.
Desmond's loss carries significance beyond the seat itself. Though he was already terming out as a County Supervisor, the redrawn district was one Republicans had genuinely targeted as competitive. The result marks a notable outcome for county Democrats heading into 2027 redistricting conversations.
Less settled is the picture at the county level. Measures A and B — a charter overhaul and a half-cent sales tax, respectively — both strengthened their leads during Wednesday's counting, with Voice of San Diego's early Thursday report placing both at majority support and each leading by a substantial margin of votes. Explicitly, neither contest has been called; the outstanding ballot pool remains large enough to matter.
Measure A would allow county supervisors to serve three four-year terms instead of the current two, and would establish an independent ethics commission, an independent budget analyst, and a program auditor. Measure B is a half-cent sales tax intended to fund health care, child care, wildfire prevention, and the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis. The May vote to place Measure A on the ballot split 3–2, with Supervisors Aguirre, Lawson-Remer, and Montgomery Steppe in favor and Anderson and Desmond opposed.
On the Board of Supervisors races, San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones led Democrat Kyle Krahel by a commanding margin in the early vote in the District 5 seat being vacated by Desmond, while incumbent Monica Montgomery Steppe held a strong early lead in District 4 over former La Mesa Councilmember Kristine Alessio. If those leads hold, the board's current 3–2 partisan split would remain intact — the same coalition that sent Measure A to the ballot would stay in place. In San Diego City Council races, challenger Martha Abraham appeared to have defeated incumbent Henry Foster III in District 4, while Nicole Crosby, Antonio Martinez, and incumbent Kent Lee also held comfortable early leads. Richard Barrera, a long-serving San Diego Unified School Board member, led in early returns for California Superintendent of Public Instruction — a race also uncalled.
City to Close Affordable-Housing Loophole in Midway Rising Arena Deal
New language in the proposed Midway Rising redevelopment agreement would close a loophole that the city's own Independent Budget Analyst identified as a significant risk — one that could have allowed up to 800 of the project's promised 2,000 affordable apartments to be claimed by units built elsewhere. The full City Council is set to hear the deal Monday.
Under the original agreement, Midway Rising could have counted affordable units that other developers were already obligated to build as part of their own projects toward its own committed total. The revised Section 15.4 would prevent that automatic transfer; any such arrangement would now require explicit city approval and state clearance. The Independent Budget Analyst estimated that between 200 and 800 units from other developments could otherwise have flowed into the Midway Rising count — a range representing 10% to 40% of the entire affordable-housing commitment.
The full scope of the project underscores the stakes. The proposed development includes 4,254 homes in total, with the 2,000 low-income units among them, a replacement arena at 16,000 seats, 130,000 square feet of commercial space, 8.1 acres of parks, and 6.4 acres of plazas and public space. The proposed lease runs 105 years, with a projected lifetime city rent of $896.3 million — though the present-value figure discounts that to $23.2 million, illustrating how far out those revenues extend.
Monday's hearing is a threshold moment but not a final vote — it is a full council consideration of a pending agreement. Whoever the new council members turn out to be after certification will walk into the November 9 hearing with a major public-land decision almost immediately before them, against a backdrop of roughly $7.8 billion in deferred city infrastructure.
Border Pursuit Ends in Shooting; Pilot Killed in Desert Crash; Halloween Candy Scare in Ocean Beach
A stolen-vehicle pursuit that began around 6:46 Wednesday evening in Jurupa Valley, Riverside County, continued south on Interstate 5 all the way into San Diego County before ending in a shooting near the San Ysidro border crossing. San Diego police were investigating as of the overnight report. Authorities detained a suspect near the international border, with multiple law-enforcement personnel and an ambulance visible in the crossing lanes. Available reporting does not confirm the suspect's condition, identify who fired, or establish whether anyone else was injured.
Earlier in the week, a light-aircraft pilot was killed Tuesday morning when the plane crashed into a hillside in Ocotillo Wells, near Borrego Springs. The pilot's identity and the cause of the crash had not been established in reporting available as of Thursday morning.
San Diego police are also investigating reports that children received packages labeled as psilocybin mushroom gummies while trick-or-treating on Halloween in Ocean Beach. Two fathers reported the packages to police. Laboratory confirmation of the contents has not been established — the investigation is ongoing.
In a separate case, authorities identified a man found dead in brush in Dehesa Valley on October 7 as Alexis Abarca Moreno, 35, of San Diego. The identification was reported November 4. Available accounts do not establish a cause of death, and authorities are not characterizing the case as a homicide at this stage. The case falls under Sheriff's jurisdiction in the unincorporated eastern portion of the county.
Santee Measures Trail in Early Returns; Steakhouse Eyes November Opening
In Santee, both a sales-tax measure and a school facilities bond were trailing in Wednesday's unofficial election returns. Measure Y, projected to generate roughly $14 million annually for city services, trailed in early counts. Measure BB, the school bond, also trailed — and faces a steeper climb than a simple-majority measure, since California school bonds require 55% approval. With Measure BB sitting noticeably below that threshold in early returns, an updated results tally expected Thursday will be closely watched.
Meanwhile, the suspicious-death investigation on Graves Avenue remains an active watch item. Deputies and firefighters responded to the 8500 block of Graves Avenue on October 30 for an injured person who later died at a hospital. Sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating because the injuries were described as suspicious. No confirmed homicide classification, identity, or cause of death has been established. The Sheriff's Homicide Unit is accepting tips at 858-285-6330, and anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
On a lighter note, The Heritage Steakhouse is reportedly targeting a November opening at Lantern Crest, 200 Lantern Crest Way, with a sixth-floor dining room. FOX 5's most recent preview confirmed an opening this month, though a specific date has not been pinned down. Earlier coverage had placed the opening in late summer; November is the updated expectation.
School Bond Leads Comfortably; Padres Extend Qualifying Offer; Aztecs Open Season
San Diego Unified's $3.5 billion facilities bond, Measure M, was sitting well above the 55% threshold required for passage in early Wednesday returns — ten percentage points above the 55% threshold required for passage. Superintendent Fabiola Bagula welcomed the early support. The district is working with buildings that average 42 years old and estimates $461 million in annual deterioration costs across its portfolio. If ultimately approved, Measure M would be the fifth bond program for San Diego Unified in 18 years, following four prior programs totaling approximately $11.5 billion. The property-tax rate associated with the bond is $32 per $100,000 of assessed value.
The bond's scope includes facility repairs and modernization, special-education facilities, campus accessibility improvements, security, athletic facilities, and potentially teacher and workforce housing. That last category invites scrutiny: the district has never built housing at scale, and the workforce housing language may be aspirational rather than operational without a specific site and construction timeline identified.
On the baseball front, the Padres extended a qualifying offer to All-Star reliever Adrián Morejón, one of eight MLB players to receive one this offseason. The qualifying offer is a one-year, approximately $21 million tender; Morejón can accept or reject it, and the team would receive draft compensation if he signs elsewhere. No decision has been reported. Separately, outfielder Alex McCoy and infielder Kannon Kemp were selected for the Arizona Fall League's Fall Stars Game on Sunday, November 8, at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale — McCoy also earned a spot in Saturday's Home Run Derby.
San Diego State's men's basketball team opened its season with a win over Cal State Fullerton at Viejas Arena, using superior size and depth to pull away, per the Union-Tribune's account. Tonight at Viejas, SDSU women's basketball hosts North Texas at 11 a.m., and SDSU women's volleyball takes on Fresno State at 6 p.m. at Peterson Gym.
Fire-Weather Conditions Arrive Friday; Coastal Advisories Through Next Week
The National Weather Service is tracking strengthening offshore flow arriving Friday and intensifying through Saturday. Inland valley gusts are generally expected to reach 15 to 25 miles per hour, with localized 30 to 40 mph gusts near mountain passes and foothills. The NWS also anticipates relative humidity falling into the teens and low 20s west of the mountains by Saturday — the combination of offshore winds, low humidity, and warming temperatures constitutes the fire-weather pattern the region knows well.
No confirmed wildfire incident or Red Flag Warning had been issued as of the research cutoff for this report, but residents in foothill and mountain communities are advised to review their preparation now given the forecast trajectory.
On the coast, the NWS San Diego office has posted both a Coastal Flood Advisory and a Small Craft Advisory, with the coastal flood advisory window reported as running from Friday, November 6 at 4 a.m. through Tuesday, November 10 at noon. Those are reported parameters — the current NWS advisory should be confirmed before making tide-sensitive beach or boating plans. The fire-weather concern inland and the coastal advisories represent separate phenomena, leaving the county managing both ends of its geography simultaneously this weekend.