S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. As the ballots continue to be counted , we'll go over the results for federal , state and local races , then dive into propositions. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Americans woke up this morning to big news. Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States by winning in the key states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. He is projected to claim over 270 electoral votes to secure the presidency. But there are a number of local and statewide races that will impact listeners as well. Joining me now for the breakdown is Brian Adams. He is professor of political science at San Diego State University. Brian , thanks for being here.
S2: Good to be. Here.
S1: Here. The biggest news of the morning is the outcome of the presidential race. Here's the chairman of the local Republican Party , Corey Gustafsson , celebrating Republican victories last night.
S3: We're going to finally start solving problems rather than creating problems. Republicans believe in common sense solutions. And you're going to see all of our candidates when they get into office , start solving problems with common sense again.
S1:
S2: Um , and Donald Trump has promised mass deportations. Whether he'll actually be able to do that as an open question. Um , he hadn't really talked much about logistics , and it's a little bit unclear , like how that would actually play out. And it's possible that any efforts to do that will be tied up in the courts , and he'll be stymied in efforts. So it's a little bit unclear. During his first term , he didn't really accomplish a lot of what he said he was going to accomplish. Um , and it's not it may happen again of where a lot of the promises end up not being fulfilled.
S1: When it comes to the balance of power. In Washington , Republicans also gained control of the Senate , and the U.S. House is still up for grabs. But walk us through why the balance of power matters here.
S2: Yeah , well , definitely for the Senate. You know , you have a couple of us Supreme Court justices who are like , who may possibly retire over the next four years , um , in the Senate , does the confirmation. So with the Republicans controlling both the white House and the Senate , they'll be able to appoint whoever they like to the US Supreme Court. Um , and also , obviously , the Senate has a lot of control over , um , confirming other cabinet appointments and other , uh , you know , efforts that the president undertakes. If Democrats are able to control the House of Representatives , however , they'll effectively , effectively be able to block any type of legislation that Trump proposes. So the House of Representatives is really key. So at least Democrats would have one institution in the national government that they control. Hmm.
S1: All right , well , let's narrow in on the race for the 49th district seat in the House of Representatives. That includes parts of northern coastal San Diego County and south Orange County. Democrat Mike Levin is leading against his challenger , Republican Matt Gunderson. But it is not a large lead.
S2: First , you have to remember about a third of the votes still have to be counted. Um , however , the late the votes that come , the votes that come in late tend to lean Democratic. Um , so I suspect that that leads going to narrow. Excuse me. It's going to , uh , widen a little bit in the upcoming days. Um , you never know. Um , and every election is different , and it certainly is possible that Gunderson could make up that ground. Um , but I think that it's most likely that that leads going to broaden a little bit.
S4: All right.
S1: Well , I want to move along to the race for the State Assembly 75th district , where Carl Demayo has won against Andrew Hayes. Demayo appears to have overcome opposition from his own party in this race.
S2: Um , a lot of elected officials in the Republican Party really do not like Carl DeMaio. He's burned a lot of bridges , but he's able to pull it off. And I think it tells you something about the mood of Republican voters , about how unhappy they are with the current state of affairs. And someone like DeMaio , who comes in and promises radical change , promises to completely remake the Republican Party. And for a lot of Republican voters in this very heavily Republican district , that was an appealing message.
S1: And , well , in the district three County Board of Supervisors race , incumbent Tara Lawson Riemer has a significant lead over challenger Kevin Faulkner. Let's hear what Lawson Reimer had to say last night.
S5: We've just been out in the community talking to people about what's important to them and making sure that we can show up for the next four years to keep fighting on the issues that matter.
S1:
S2: I think a lot of local Republicans really thought they had a good chance of winning. I mean , it's a really important race because control , the balance of power in the county Board of Supervisors is at stake right now. There's without the seat , there are two Republicans , two Democrats. So if Faulkner was able to win , Republicans would actually regain control of the of the county Board of Supervisors. But , you know , I think it's this district does lean Democratic and is hard to unseat an incumbent. And even though Faulkner has name recognition , he just wasn't able to pull it off. And it really shows how how much the Republican Party in San Diego has really struggled , even on a night where Republicans nationally have done well. Um , in San Diego , the Republican Party is really struggling to gain their their footing and be able to win close races.
S1: Well , let's talk about the San Diego mayoral outcome. Todd Gloria established a strong early lead against challenger Larry Turner. Here's Gloria at a Democratic Party event downtown last night. I have a.
S6: Very simple message this evening. Let's get back to work. Let's fill those potholes. Let's house the homeless. Let's keep our city safe. And let's build more housing that working and middle class people can afford in this great city.
S1: Well , talk to me about the mayoral race here. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So Larry Turner ran as an independent. Um , and which is a smart move in the city of San Diego , where running is a Republican is basically a death knell. Um , so he is an effective campaign in that way. But he's a political unknown , and I think for a lot of voters are just really hesitant to support somebody who they don't know much about. Um , and it's hard to unseat an incumbent generally. And that's particularly true in these down ballot races on a local level. And , you know , Turner just wasn't able to convince enough voters to take a shot on someone who is really a complete unknown.
S1:
S2: Um , I don't think , you know , Todd , Gloria really made any indication during the election that he was going to fundamentally change his approach to governing. Um , he wasn't he didn't really , you know , do any pivots. Um , so you're really not going to see much difference. And I think for a lot of voters , that's going to be disappointing. Disappointing. I think for a lot of voters , they do want to see major change. It's just that , you know , Larry Turner wasn't the person who they were going to willing to entrust to do that. Mhm.
S4: Mhm.
S1: Well , the race for San Diego city attorney has also gained a lot of attention. Heather Herbert is leading over challenger Brian Moonshine. And that person will fill the role of current city attorney Maura Elliott. Break that down for me. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Soon you get down to a race like city attorney. Most voters aren't paying any attention to it at all , and they're going to base their vote on a cue that they receive an endorsement , a TV commercial they saw , or something along those lines or mail or they received , um , and or they may vote based on the ballot designation. Right. Ferber was listed as a deputy , uh , city attorney. Um , and and so I think that could have potentially helped her. Um , so it's really hard to know exactly what went on here. Um , because voters just really aren't casting a very informed , uh , ballot. Um , but it , you know , for , uh , excuse me , meantime , had the endorsement of the Democratic Party , which I'd thought was going to really help him , but it turned out not to be that big of a help. Um , and he also had the endorsement of a lot of local officials. But it turns out that those types of endorsements really don't matter all that much. And we've certainly seen that in this race and in the haz de Mayo race as well , where you can have all the local officials endorsing your opponent , and it's not going to really matter because voters really aren't paying attention to those endorsements.
S1: All right. Well , I want to get to some of the the measures. Now , San Diego had a number of sales tax measures on the ballot this year. It seemed like the measures extended , uh , extending rather sales tax increases are on the path to passing , whereas the new sales tax increases are failing in initial results. Is this pretty.
S4: Typical ? Yeah , I.
S2: Think a lot of these are a little bit too close to call. And especially the city of San Diego one and the uh , countywide transportation , uh , sales tax increase , they're still very close. And again , with a third of the votes still to be counted , the results could flip on those. I you know , I think voters are really concerned about cost of living. Um , and , you know , so sales tax , um , uh , measures it may not be the best year to do a sales tax increase. Um , but if you think historically , voters do sometimes vote to increase their taxes , um , you know , they've done it multiple times in San Diego and elsewhere. Generally , to have it happen , though , you you have to make sure there isn't an organized opposition , because if there is an organized opposition , you often kill a sales tax increase. And also to that you voters need to trust the government will actually spend the government wisely. You have a little bit of trust in there. And I think particularly in the city of San Diego , and this may also play a role with Sandag , is that there may not be that trust to actually spend the money wisely , and it may give some pause to some voters to actually support sales tax increases. Right.
S1: Right.
S2: If it doesn't pass , they're going to have a really tough budget year next year and probably a tough budget year for many years going forward. Um , it's probably going to mean that the city workers are not going to be getting pay raises going forward. There'll be cuts to city services , um , and so forth. And in terms of sandag , you know , they still have they still have a previous sales tax increase that was passed. Um , the transit tax that they're getting money from. Um , but it's not enough to do all the projects that they want to do. So there's going to be some really tough decisions about what transit projects or highway projects are going to be funded and which ones will not.
S1: This is KPBS Midday Edition. We're back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Bryan Adams and Sdsu political science professor talking about the election results. Well , moving on to some statewide propositions. Let's go over just a few here. California voters shut down prop 33 , a ballot measure that would allow local jurisdictions to pass rent control ordinances , break down the significance of that for me.
S2: So this is the third time rent control has been on the ballot. Um , and obviously it failed the first two times and it failed again. And , you know , just even among many liberal voters , they're not convinced that rent control is a way to deal with the housing crisis. And it doesn't help that there have been some Democratic leaders who also came out against rent control. So that coupled with the fact that massive amounts of money have been put into the opposition to that particular initiative , that , you know , it just it was really hard to get control passed. So I think that it's hopefully this will be the last time it's on the ballot because it's now tried three times , and it's pretty clear that you're not gonna be able to convince Californians that rent control is a way to solve our housing crisis.
S1: Well , prop 36 passed by an overwhelming majority , which , uh , would increase criminal penalties for property theft.
S2: Um , then early indications and then the early indications , um , the fact that it went so big , I think will give , um , uh , incentives to elected officials , particularly Republican elected officials , to keep pushing this tissue and to keep having more legislation on , you know , tough on crime legislation. We could potentially see another tough on crime ballot initiative , you know , in the next election. Um , you know , when you have a proposition win by this margin , um , it does embolden those people who support , um , those policy prescriptions. So you're likely to see more of this. And I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the Republican Party really focused on this issue in California , seeing it as a way to try to gain a foothold into the , uh , you know , gaining back some of the losses they've seen over the past , you know , 10 or 15 years.
S1: Well , and a reminder that prop 36 rolls back a previous proposition , prop 47 , which was considered a breakthrough criminal justice reform thing.
S4:
S2: It's a different time. You know , I think for prop 47 , the that itself rolled back some earlier laws and earlier propositions , tough on crime ones. And I think there was a feeling at that time that maybe we went too far in that direction of , uh , of loosening up or criminal justice laws. But now we're in a position where I think people said , well , maybe prop 47 went too far in the other direction. Right. So I think voters are , um , you know , uh , trying to find that , that appropriate balance between them. And , you know , California voters are trying to have enough tough on crime measures. Um , but not too much. Um , and so I think that's going to play out as we go forward. Um , this , this issue certainly hasn't ended. There'll be a lot more proposals for getting tough on crime and a lot more , you know , debate about the merits of those and how far we want to go in that direction.
S1: And another criminal justice measure , prop six , would prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude in prisons.
S2: Um , unlike prop 36 , is winning overwhelmingly. Um , um , this one I think is fairly close , and the results may change. Um , but , you know , this really didn't get a lot of attention. Um , voters really weren't paying with all the other things going on in this election , the presidential race and all the local races and other statewide propositions. I think a lot of voters weren't really sure what this was. Um , so I'm not sure we can really read too much into the result on this particular , uh , proposition.
S1: Well , Brian , you've , uh , you've been studying and covering elections for a long time.
S2: Right. I mean , the. If you look at the vote totals from , you know , last night , um , and you compare them to four years ago or eight years ago , it's pretty similar , right ? I mean , I mean , the , the , the states that the swing states have been decided by very small numbers of votes. Um , and I think you've seen that , you know , in California , um , while there may , you know , Donald Trump did well nationally in California , Republicans did not have a particularly good night , although we still have a number of outstanding House races that may change that. Um , but certainly in San Diego , Republicans didn't have a good night. Um , and so you have a situation where blue , uh , places or staying blue and red places are staying red , and it's hard to see how we're going to get out of that division , how who's going to be able to come along and find a way in which to assemble a voting coalition of more than 51 or 52% of voters.
S1: I've been speaking with Bryan Adams. He is professor of political science at San Diego State University. Professor , thank you so much for joining us , and thanks for your insight today.
S4: Thank you.
S1: And a reminder , you can find live election results and analysis at pbs.org throughout the day. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose. Everyone.
