Jones, Krahel, take lead in San Diego County District 5 Supervisor seat in Tuesday primary

San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones held a commanding lead in the race for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ District 5 seat Tuesday evening, according to preliminary results from the county Registrar of Voters.

Jones had 41% of the vote, followed by Kyle Krahel, a Democratic Party official, with 20.3%, and Vista Mayor John Franklin with 19.4%.

The two remaining candidates, tribal leader Norma Contreras and former public health professor Sasha Miller, received 10.79% and 7.93%, respectively. Write-in candidates accounted for 0.32% of the vote, according to the county.

The top two finishers in Tuesday’s primary will advance to the Nov. 3 general election, with the winner succeeding Supervisor Jim Desmond.

Desmond, a Republican who is termed out of the Board of Supervisors, is running for the 48th Congressional District seat and was leading that race Tuesday night with nearly 46% of the vote.

Jones, who has served as San Marcos mayor since December 2018, grew up in El Cajon and Ramona. In an email, she identified public safety and quality of life, housing affordability and government accountability as her top priorities.

She was first appointed to the San Marcos City Council in 2007 and served for a decade before seeking the mayor’s office.

The county “needs steady, competent leadership that can navigate challenges in a balanced and productive way,” Jones wrote.

Jones said that during her tenure, San Marcos “achieved the lowest crime rate in our city’s 63-year history, ranked among the top 15 safest cities in California, and became one of America’s safest college towns.”

San Marcos also “became the only city in the region reporting a major reduction in homelessness — down 76% — by combining enforcement with real support services,” Jones added. “We banned street encampments while investing in shelter partnerships and mental health support.”

An Oceanside native, Krahel told City News Service that if elected, he’ll focus on “affordability, housing and making sure North County get its fair share of funding.”

North County has had the highest amount of housing growth over the last decade, and needs the necessary infrastructure.

Krahel said he wants more homes built, but acknowledged that’s also “a simple thing to say, but it’s more complex than that.”

One solution is to update county zoning ordinances to increase suitable housing projects, he said. In turn, more housing will ease the homeless crisis, said Krahel, who also wants more behavioral health outreach and shelters.

Krahel said his time as deputy chief of staff for Rep. Mike Levin, D- San Juan Capistrano, allows him to better identify more funding sources.

He said he helped procure $1 million for Oceanside’s first permanent homeless shelter. Krahel, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in government, said he has a good relationship with Desmond, along with his colleagues Paloma Aguirre, Terra-Lawson Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe.

When it comes to getting things done, “sometimes, the solution is finding compromise,” or “disagreeing without being disagreeable,” Krahel said.

On his campaign website, Franklin — elected as Vista mayor in 2022 after serving two terms on the City Council — said his main priorities are affordability, public safety, fire prevention, road improvements, no tax hikes and better efforts to ease the homeless problem.

“I’m a passionate opponent of higher taxes because they always fall on the backs of working families, cutting into your paycheck and your purchasing power,” Franklin stated. He also posted a pledge to stand up for taxpayers.

Franklin stated that he strongly believes “that we cannot allow people, many of whom suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, to choose homelessness.” Instead, leaders need to utilize the conservatorship law enacted by former Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1967, allowing intervention for people disabled by severe mental illness or substance use disorders, he added.

Franklin noted his role in creating a homelessness strategic plan for Vista. Franklin earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from American University in Washington, D.C. He served as a policy adviser for two congressional representatives. In 2006, he founded Franklin Communications, which caters to businesses and nonprofit organizations, and runs the company with his wife. For residents in unincorporated communities, county government is the main provider of services such as law enforcement, public health, infrastructure and animal control.

The Board of Supervisors is considered a non-partisan governing body. But the last few years have revealed sharp ideological divisions between the three Democrats and two Republicans on certain issues, such as immigrant rights.

The county’s largest in terms of size, District 5 has between 685,000 to 700,000 residents, according to recent estimates. It is noted for agricultural and considerable forest land; Camp Pendleton; and a portion of North County coastline.

The district includes four major North County cities: Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista. The district features tribal reservations La Jolla, Los Coyotes, Mesa Grande, Pala, Pauma/Yuima, Rincon, San Pasqual and Santa Ysabel.

It’s also home to numerous unincorporated communities, such as Agua Caliente, Borrego Springs, Fallbrook, Lake Henshaw, Pauma Valley, Rainbow, Valley Center and Warner Springs.

In another San Diego County race, incumbent Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Cohen led the field with 45.79% of the vote. Shirley Nakawatase was second with 34.72%, followed by termed-out Supervisor Joel Anderson with 16.01% and Victor Roy with 3.11%.

An unidentified write-in candidate received 0.37% of the vote.