The 2025 San Diego County Board of Supervisors special election was held on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 to fill the 1st Supervisorial District seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors vacated by Nora Vargas, who resigned on January 6, 2025, for "personal safety and security reasons." The primary election was held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in which Chula Vista mayor John McCann and Imperial Beach mayor Paloma Aguirre advanced to the runoff election. Aguirre defeated McCann and is expected to be sworn in on July 22, 2025.
Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, and although most candidates do identify a party preference, their party affiliations do not appear on the ballot. As no candidate won a majority of votes in the primary, a runoff election was held between the top two vote-getting candidates.
Background On December 20, 2024, Chair Nora Vargas announced that she would not take the oath of office for a second term, despite having won 62.5% of the vote just weeks beforehand in the 2024 San Diego County Board of Supervisors election, citing "personal safety and security reasons." Vice chair Terra Lawson-Remer became acting chair of the board, and on January 14, 2025, the board voted to hold a special election to fill the vacancy left by Vargas' resignation.
Top election issues include the Tijuana River sewage crisis, homelessness, immigration, and housing affordability, part of a broader housing crisis statewide.
Candidates Advanced to general Paloma Aguirre, mayor of Imperial Beach (2022–present), former member of the Imperial Beach city council (2018–2022) (Party preference: Democratic) John McCann, mayor of Chula Vista (2022–present) (Party preference: Republican)
Eliminated in primary Carolina Chavez, member of the Chula Vista city council from district 1 (2022–present) (Party preference: Democratic) Elizabeth Efird, energy consultant Louis Fuentes, former mayor of Calexico (2008–2009), former Imperial County supervisor (2010) (Party preference: Republican) Vivian Moreno, member of the San Diego City Council from district 8 (2018–present) (Party preference: Democratic) Lincoln Pickard, perennial candidate (Party preference: Republican)
Declined to run David Alvarez, member of the California State Assembly from the 80th district (2018–present), candidate for mayor of San Diego in the 2013–2014 special election, former member of the San Diego City Council from district 8 (2010–2018)
Primary election Endorsements
Results
General election Results
References
External links Official campaign websites Paloma Aguirre for County Supervisor Carolina Chavez for County Supervisor John McCann for County Supervisor Vivian Moreno for County Supervisor Lincoln Pickard for County Supervisor