By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — In the Democratic primary election battle to succeed U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, we are now in the stage where the candidates are collecting endorsements from their fellow politicians as well as from big-name influencers.
So, let’s see where it currently stands with candidates Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee, and Katie Porter, all members of Congress. Schiff represents the Burbank area, Lee represents
Oakland, and Porter represents Orange County.
Schiff has the endorsements of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 19 other members of California’s congressional delegation. Those endorsers include Mike Levin, Scott Peters, and Juan Vargas, who all represent portions of San Diego County, as well as Schiff’s fellow Jewish member of Congress, Brad Sherman.
He has been endorsed by six Jewish former members of Congress from California, including Susan Davis of San Diego, and Howard Berman, Henry Waxman, Jane Harman, Mel Levine, and Alan Lowenthal.
Among Jewish state legislators, he has bagged the endorsements of Laura Friedman, Jesse Gabriel, and Josh Lowenthal, and among local Jewish San Diego County officials, Schiff has the backing of Jewish County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. He also has the endorsements of Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, both of whom are fellow Jews.
Barbara Lee on Wednesday released her endorsements so far. Mayors Karen Bass of Los Angeles and London Breed of San Francisco headline the list along with such statewide officeholders at state Attorney General Rob Bonta, Controller Malia Cohen, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Another notable endorsement for Congresswoman Lee is Dolores Huerta, cofounder with the late Cesar Chavez of the United Farmworkers of California. No San Diego County officeholders were mentioned on Lee’s initial list.
Katie Porter has announced her endorsement by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but has yet to put out a list of California public officials who are backing her.
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El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells to Challenge Congresswoman Sara Jacobs
Republican Mayor Bill Wells of El Cajon has announced he will oppose Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs for reelection in the 51st Congressional District. He has served as mayor since 2013, and in a 50th CD primary election in 2018, he placed third behind Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar. Jacobs was elected to Congress in 2020.
“I don’t think she [Jacobs] represents the hard-working people of this district,” Wells told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “I think they can relate to me much easier.” The part-time mayor is an executive with Broadwell Health and Fidare Health.
In a statement, he said: “I am running for Congress because I believe that our country needs bold, assertive leadership. Urgent action is needed to address the catastrophe of homelessness and the untreated mentally ill and to demand real border security and roll back the suicidal border policies of the Biden administration. I’ve observed our current congresswoman long enough to know that she is unwilling to act to protect our community.”
Wells was perhaps emboldened by the fact that in the 2022 election, when he was running for mayor, and Jacobs was running for Congress, he outpolled her in El Cajon by a vote margin of 14,649 to 10,213, according to my quick calculations.
However, Stan Caplan, Jacobs’ Republican opponent in the 2022 election, did nearly as well against her in those 46 El Cajon precincts, but lost the district-wide election by 55,300 votes. So even if Wells were to receive a 4,000-vote surplus from El Cajon – and, of course, there is no guarantee that he would – he would need to find many thousand more votes elsewhere in the 51st District to overcome Jacobs’ incumbency and campaign war chest. The congressional district includes in addition to El Cajon, the cities of La Mesa and Lemon Grove, as well as eastern and some northern suburbs of the City of San Diego.
Democrats have a slight registration advantage in El Cajon with 17,493 voters registered in their party compared to 17,100 registered as Republicans and 12,751 as independent voters. In contrast, in the 51st Congressional District, as of February 2, the breakdown was 187,386 Democrats, 110,954 Republicans and 110,066 independent voters.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com