The campaign in the highest-profile local election — former Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s challenge of county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer — has yet to hit full stride.
When it does, an array of local and some national issues will come into play as the two compete to define the race on their .
Lately, however, the two candidates have each zeroed in on one specific line of attack.
As he has from the outset, Faulconer is criticizing Lawson-Remer for pervasive homelessness in the county. Meanwhile, the incumbent is relentlessly reminding people of the 101 Ash St. real estate debacle under Faucloner’s mayoral istration.
For the moment, the campaign seems like a one-on-one issue cage match mostly played out on social media.
“Thanks to @lawsonremer’s incompetence, San Diego County is being punished. The state took away 10 million in funding because we’re not making progress on homelessness. No kidding. Homelessness has gone up each year she’s been in office,” Faulconer stated on X. “I’ll change that as your Supervisor.”
Faulconer leaves something crucial out, however. (Hint: He and Lawson-Remer appear to be on the same side on this matter.)
In another post, Faulconer is featured in a video as he tours a homeless encampment under a bridge, where he says “Welcome to Remerville.” That’s reminiscent of when the late Bill Walton, who was very critical of Mayor Todd Gloria on homelessness, dubbed unauthorized homeless camps “Gloria-ville.”
About the same time, the Lawson-Remer campaign sent an email to voters with the subject line “Working Our Ash Off” that urges people to contribute to “end this ‘Ash-tonishing’ corruption.” The campaign has created an “Ash cam” website that promises to post daily photos of the empty office tower that has cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars, along with links to nearly 20 news articles about the real estate transaction.
“Dive into San Diego’s biggest scandal and see the waste of your tax dollars in action. Discover what happens under Kevin Faulconer’s watch,” Lawson-Remer wrote on X, introducing the website.
The stakes are high in this election. A victory by Republican Faulconer would flip the Board of Supervisor’s current 3-2 Democratic majority with Lawson-Remer.
Polls have continually shown homelessness is a top voter concern. The 101 Ash St. transaction, meanwhile, has become an icon for those who argue incompetence reigned during Faulconer’s tenure as mayor (and for Gloria’s as well, according to his critics), particularly when it came to real estate deals gone awry.
The city of San Diego, where the bulk of the region’s homeless population lives, has been the main target of criticism. But the county has long been faulted for not doing enough. In recent years, the Board of Supervisors have stepped up policies to shelter and assist homeless people, though some attempts have fallen apart.
The $10 million Faulconer refers to is money Gov. Gavin Newsom withdrew from the county after the supervisors backed off a plan to place 150 small sleeping cabins for homeless people in Spring Valley amid community opposition.
The vote was 3-1, with Lawson-Remer the only member voting to stick with the project (Supervisor Jim Desmond was absent). It appears Faulconer would have voted the same as Lawson-Remer, and would not have affected the outcome were he on the board.
Lawson-Remer is fair game, like the other supervisors, if the criticism is the county hasn’t been more aggressive on homelessness, and shares some responsibility for some of the failed efforts. But to suggest the incumbent is solely responsible is more than a stretch. Lawson-Remer isn’t even the board chair; that would be Supervisor Nora Vargas, who led the push to scuttle the Spring Valley plan.
A key part of Faulconer’s campaign approach on homelessness is that the number of unhoused people declined while he was mayor. That’s true — after the homeless population had increased.
Faulconer was elected in 2014 and served through 2020. Homelessness grew in the city during his first years in office. The hepatitis A outbreak in 2016-17, largely attributed to unsanitary conditions in homeless encampments, resulted in 20 people dying and hundreds of others becoming ill.
That eventually got under control following tougher enforcement, stronger sanitation procedures and the addition of shelter space pushed by Faulconer. Overall, during his time as mayor the city’s homeless population fell 6 percent (and dropped 10 percent countywide), while homelessness in California during that time increased 41 percent, according to Axios.
Some of that local reduction has been attributed to a change in homeless-counting methodology. Regardless, homelessness has been on the rise in recent years.
Faulconer may be trying to thread a needle on homelessness, given his mixed record as mayor. It’s a complex issue, but campaigns tend to thrive on simple messages and it’s clear Faulconer believes blaming Lawson-Remer for homelessness will stick.
The plan for the city to take over the 101 Ash St. office building also was complex, but the conclusions are not. It was a Faulconer initiative that turned into an expensive boondoggle. Every analysis points to stunning failures of simple due diligence.
But there’s a question about how relevant 101 Ash St. will be to voters, as it already has faded from the headlines, especially when the latest ones focused on Gloria’s decisions. Homelessness will continue to be in the news, however.
As with these issues, a lot will depend on who gets the upper hand in framing their own and each other’s larger record, along with the brewing business (Faulconer) vs. labor (Lawson-Remer) political dynamic. It’s a unique election in that the challenger has higher name identification than the incumbent, according to internal polls.
Then there’s the partisan appeal coming from Democrat Lawson-Remer in a Democratic district, and the decidedly nonpartisan approach from Republican Faulconer, who leans into his moderate image. Faulconer’s past endorsement of former President Donald Trump will come up regularly.
Meanwhile, critics of Lawson-Remer have been raising questions about the supervisor’s attendance record, something the Faulconer campaign likely will talk about.
A lot more on all of this will unfold as the campaigns kick into high gear in the coming weeks.
