SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Paloma Aguirre, the current Mayor of Imperial Beach, looks poised to take the District 1 seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, a Republican, conceded the District 1 special election to Aguirre on July 2.

“Today belongs to the working class families of South County,” Aguirre posted on social media platform X on July 1. “Now, it’s time for urgent action our families need: clean up the sewage, lower costs and deliver results.”

The special election was triggered by the resignation of Nora Vargas, a Democrat who announced just six weeks after winning reelection in November 2024 that she would not serve her second term, citing personal safety and security reasons.

Aguirre is to be sworn in by the end of July. She held a 53.22 percent (37,324) election night lead. McCann received 46.78 percent (32,805) of the vote, according to unofficial election night tallies as of Tuesday by the county Registrar of Voters, with 9,500 ballots uncounted.

“I am deeply grateful to all the many volunteers who supported my campaign,” McCann said in a statement. “Their hard work and dedication mean a great deal to me.

“Despite the outcome, I am proud that my campaign presented a clear statement in support of reducing the cost of living, getting the homeless off the streets and keeping our community safe,” he said. “These are the principles that have guided me as mayor of Chula Vista and will continue to be important objectives as I work on behalf of the city I love.”

Aguirre has positioned herself on the Board of Supervisors in opposition to the Trump administration.

“Voters spoke loud and clear: clean up the sewage crisis, lower costs and stand up to the chaos, cuts and intimidation coming out of Trump’s Washington,” she said.

In an editorial for the San Diego Union-Tribune on election day, Aguirre wrote that the District 1 election was about whether or not the status quo would continue while accusing President Donald Trump of creating “chaos” and Elon Musk, former leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), of “slash and burn DOGE politics.”

Trump created DOGE upon returning to the White House in January to identify wasteful federal spending and downsize government agencies to boost efficiency and address record national debt.

Aguirre, a San Francisco native who spent most of her formative years in Mexico, added that “whether you voted for me or not, I’m ready to work my heart out to bring down costs, protect our health, and deliver results—no matter your income, political party or ZIP code.”

The Board of Supervisors is a nonpartisan governing body, though the board is split between two Democrats, Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe, and two Republicans, Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond.

Aguirre, who has called Southern California home since 2001, has served as Imperial Beach’s mayor since December 2022.

District 1 includes San Diego’s South County, also known as the South Bay region.

She views the main issue in District 1 to be the U.S.–Mexico border sewage pollution problem, resulting in beach closures and serious health issues for residents in numerous parts of San Diego, not just South County. Aguirre plans to mobilize county funds for infrastructure and work to get Superfund designation, a federal hazardous materials remediation program, from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Aguirre has also pledged to audit county homelessness expenditures.

The county recently released a budget in which expenditures equal its current operating revenue of $8.63 billion.

In an editorial for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Aguirre said that only .02 percent of the budget was earmarked towards fixing the Tijuana River toxic sewage crisis.

Aguirre plans to use some of San Diego’s $2 billion in reserve funds, saying it is above what fiscal experts recommend be kept in the general fund for crises.

“That’s our money—it should be invested in our community, not left in the bank while working families struggle,” Aguirre wrote.

In his campaign, McCann called for cuts to spending.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Aguirre led the high-risk populations subcommittee on Imperial Beach’s COVID-19 task force.

District 1 consists of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, and National City, 15 neighborhoods in San Diego, including East Village, Mountain View, and San Ysidro, as well as unincorporated communities Bonita, East Otay Mesa, and a portion of Spring Valley.