Politics of San Diego County

United States presidential election results for San Diego County, California[1] Year  | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies)

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No. | % | No. | % | No. | %
2020 | 600,094  | 37.46%  | 964,650  | 60.21% | 37,399  | 2.33%
2016 | 477,766  | 36.43%  | 735,476  | 56.07% | 98,376  | 7.50%
2012 | 536,726  | 44.95%  | 626,957  | 52.51% | 30,266  | 2.53%
2008 | 541,032  | 43.79%  | 666,581  | 53.95% | 27,890  | 2.26%
2004 | 596,033  | 52.45% | 526,437  | 46.33%  | 13,881  | 1.22%
2000 | 475,736  | 49.63% | 437,666  | 45.66%  | 45,232  | 4.72%
1996 | 402,876  | 45.57% | 389,964  | 44.11%  | 91,311  | 10.33%
1992 | 352,125  | 35.69%  | 367,397  | 37.24% | 267,124  | 27.07%
1988 | 523,143  | 60.19% | 333,264  | 38.34%  | 12,788  | 1.47%
1984 | 502,344  | 65.30% | 257,029  | 33.41%  | 9,894  | 1.29%
1980 | 435,910  | 60.81% | 195,410  | 27.26%  | 85,546  | 11.93%
1976 | 353,302  | 55.74% | 263,654  | 41.60%  | 16,839  | 2.66%
1972 | 371,627  | 61.82% | 206,455  | 34.34%  | 23,055  | 3.84%
1968 | 261,540  | 56.26% | 167,669  | 36.07%  | 35,654  | 7.67%
1964 | 214,445  | 50.31% | 211,808  | 49.69%  | 33  | 0.01%
1960 | 223,056  | 56.41% | 171,259  | 43.31%  | 1,106  | 0.28%
1956 | 195,742  | 64.47% | 106,716  | 35.15%  | 1,147  | 0.38%
1952 | 186,091  | 63.50% | 105,255  | 35.92%  | 1,688  | 0.58%
1948 | 101,552  | 49.43% | 98,217  | 47.80%  | 5,690  | 2.77%
1944 | 75,746  | 45.42%  | 89,959  | 53.94% | 1,059  | 0.64%
1940 | 55,434  | 43.27%  | 71,188  | 55.57% | 1,488  | 1.16%
1936 | 35,686  | 35.04%  | 64,628  | 63.45% | 1,540  | 1.51%
1932 | 35,305  | 41.46%  | 45,622  | 53.58% | 4,223  | 4.96%
1928 | 47,769  | 67.14% | 22,749  | 31.97%  | 633  | 0.89%
1924 | 22,726  | 48.99% | 2,944  | 6.35%  | 20,721  | 44.67%
1920 | 19,826  | 63.78% | 8,478  | 27.27%  | 2,783  | 8.95%
1916 | 16,978  | 46.47% | 16,815  | 46.02%  | 2,744  | 7.51%
1912 | 63  | 0.29%  | 9,731  | 44.79% | 11,934  | 54.92%
1908 | 5,412  | 57.56% | 2,393  | 25.45%  | 1,598  | 16.99%
1904 | 4,303  | 59.52% | 1,398  | 19.34%  | 1,529  | 21.15%
1900 | 3,800  | 54.91% | 2,678  | 38.69%  | 443  | 6.40%
1896 | 3,631  | 46.86%  | 3,908  | 50.44% | 209  | 2.70%
1892 | 3,525  | 45.71% | 2,334  | 30.26%  | 1,853  | 24.03%
1888 | 4,661  | 56.88% | 3,189  | 38.92%  | 344  | 4.20%
1884 | 1,120  | 57.00% | 800  | 40.71%  | 45  | 2.29%
1880 | 743  | 56.80% | 546  | 41.74%  | 19  | 1.45%
San Diego County vote by party in gubernatorial elections Year  | GOP | DEM

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2022 | 44.2% 455,107 | 55.8% 574,121
2018 | 43.1% 499,532 | 56.9% 658,346
2014 | 48.9% 331,942 | 51.1% 346,419
2010 | 49.8% 452,205 | 44.0% 399,845
2006 | 65.5% 509,059 | 30.2% 234,938
2003 | 59.5% 485,563 | 23.6% 192,605
2002 | 51.7% 342,095 | 40.6% 268,278
1998 | 46.3% 340,834 | 49.5% 364,169
1994 | 63.4% 477,439 | 32.0% 240,937
1990 | 57.1% 383,959 | 36.4% 244,759
1986 | 65.2% 381,094 | 31.5% 184,395
1982 | 52.8% 330,037 | 44.6% 279,113
1978 | 35.9% 197,167 | 57.5% 316,223
1974 | 54.2% 249,444 | 42.8% 196,930
1970 | 60.1% 253,378 | 37.5% 158,098
1966 | 63.8% 252,070 | 36.2% 142,890
1962 | 55.8% 201,969 | 42.4% 153,389

Before 2008, San Diego County historically had been a Republican stronghold. The Republican presidential nominee carried the county in every presidential election from 1948 through 2004, except in 1992 when Bill Clinton won a plurality. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win a majority of votes in San Diego County since World War II; he won a majority of county votes again in 2012. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the county by almost 20%, the largest margin for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1936. In 2020, Joseph R Biden, Jr. won by an even larger 22.7% margin.

The city of San Diego itself is more Democratic than the county's average and has voted for Democrats Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama twice, Clinton, and Biden respectively, in the last eight presidential elections. With a few exceptions, areas close to the Mexican border tend to be more Democratic, while North County tends to be more Republican. In the 2004 presidential election, San Diego, Encinitas, National City, Del Mar, and some other areas voted for John Kerry; San Marcos, Escondido, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Coronado, Santee, Poway, El Cajon, and Vista overwhelmingly backed George W. Bush. Chula Vista, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Solana Beach, and Imperial Beach are considered swing areas of the county – Chula Vista and Imperial Beach narrowly backed Al Gore in 2000 but narrowly voted for Bush in 2004, while Solana Beach switched from Bush in 2000 to Kerry in 2004. La Mesa narrowly voted for Bush both times, and Lemon Grove narrowly went Democratic both times. However, all of these swing areas, along with Oceanside and Carlsbad voted for Obama in 2008 (Carlsbad voted for Obama by a plurality).

Notably, the city of Coronado supported every Republican presidential candidate from 1964 to 2016,[2] and likely earlier given the voting patterns of the county in that era. However, in 2020, the city of Coronado broke its decades-long Republican voting streak by selecting the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.[3]

## Election Central

[edit]

San Diego County uses Golden Hall, a convention facility next to San Diego's City Hall, as "Election Central." The County Registrar of Voters rents the hall to distribute election results. Supporters and political observers gather to watch the results come in; supporters of the various candidates parade around the hall, carrying signs and chanting; candidates give their victory and concession speeches and host parties for campaign volunteers and donors at the site; and television stations broadcast live from the floor of the convention center.[4] The atmosphere at Election Central on the evening of election day has been compared to the voting portion of a political party national convention.[5]

### Federal and state representation

[edit]

In the United States House of Representatives, San Diego County is split between five congressional districts:[6]

* California's 48th congressional district, represented by Republican Darrell Issa
* California's 49th congressional district, represented by Democrat Mike Levin
* California's 50th congressional district, represented by Democrat Scott Peters
* California's 51st congressional district, represented by Democrat Sara Jacobs
* California's 52nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Juan Vargas

In the California State Assembly, San Diego County is split between seven legislative districts:[7]

* the 74th Assembly district, represented by Republican Laurie Davies
* the 75th Assembly district, represented by Republican Carl DeMaio
* the 76th Assembly district, represented by Democrat Darshana Patel
* the 77th Assembly district, represented by Democrat Tasha Boerner
* the 78th Assembly district, represented by Democrat Chris Ward
* the 79th Assembly district, represented by Democrat LaShae Sharp-Collins
* the 80th Assembly district, represented by Democrat David Alvarez

In the California State Senate, San Diego County is split between five legislative districts:[6]

* the 18th senatorial district, represented by Democrat Steve Padilla
* the 32nd senatorial district, represented by Republican Kelly Seyarto
* the 38th senatorial district, represented by Democrat Catherine Blakespear
* the 39th senatorial district, represented by Democrat Akilah Weber
* the 40th senatorial district, represented by Republican Brian Jones

### Voter registration

[edit]

Registered Voters (2023)[8][note 1]

Eligible Voters  | 2,342,325  | –
Registered voters  | 1,929,903  | 82.39%
Democratic  | 803,065  | 41.61%
Republican  | 518,458  | 26.86%
No party preference  | 470,627  | 24.39%
American Independent  | 80,439  | 4.17%
Libertarian  | 24,340  | 1.26%
Peace and Freedom  | 9,671  | 0.50%
Unknown  | 8,581  | 0.44%
Green  | 7,911  | 0.41%
Other  | 6,811  | 0.35%

As of February 2023[update], there are 2,342,325 eligible voters, in which 1,929,903 are registered voters in San Diego County. Of those, 803,065 (41.61%) are registered Democratic, 518,458 (26.86%) are registered Republican, 470,627 (24.39%) declined to state a political party, 80,439 (4.17%) are registered American Independent, 24,340 (1.26%) are registered Libertarian, 9,671 (0.50%) are registered Peace and Freedom, 8,581 (0.44%) are unknown, 7,911 (0.41%) are registered Green, and the remaining 6,811 (0.35%) are other.[8]

#### Voter registration by city

[edit]

Cities by population and voter registration

City  | Population[9] | Registered voters[10]
[note 1] | Democratic[10] | Republican[10] | D-R spread[10] | Other[10] | No party preference[10]
Carlsbad | 112,008 | 62.7% | 30.6% | 37.0% | -6.4% | 5.4% | 27.0%
Chula Vista | 260,598 | 50.6% | 42.5% | 22.3% | +20.2% | 4.4% | 30.8%
Coronado | 24,852 | 41.6% | 25.4% | 43.3% | -17.9% | 5.2% | 26.1%
Del Mar | 4,312 | 71.5% | 36.2% | 32.6% | +3.7% | 4.8% | 26.4%
El Cajon | 102,894 | 40.7% | 33.3% | 34.2% | -0.9% | 6.0% | 26.5%
Encinitas | 62,160 | 65.0% | 37.9% | 29.1% | +8.8% | 5.7% | 27.4%
Escondido | 149,912 | 42.8% | 31.8% | 34.7% | -2.9% | 6.0% | 27.5%
Imperial Beach | 27,180 | 45.1% | 38.0% | 23.1% | +14.3% | 6.9% | 31.4%
La Mesa | 59,125 | 56.9% | 39.3% | 28.3% | +11.0% | 6.5% | 25.9%
Lemon Grove | 26,421 | 53.1% | 43.8% | 22.7% | +21.0% | 6.0% | 27.5%
National City | 60,349 | 38.0% | 47.3% | 14.8% | +32.5% | 4.6% | 33.3%
Oceanside | 173,829 | 50.8% | 33.4% | 33.4% | -0.0% | 6.1% | 27.1%
Poway | 49,675 | 58.4% | 26.9% | 41.5% | -14.6% | 5.3% | 26.2%
San Diego | 1,374,812 | 52.6% | 41.3% | 22.9% | +18.4% | 5.3% | 30.6%
San Marcos | 91,479 | 46.5% | 32.3% | 34.5% | -2.2% | 5.6% | 27.6%
Santee | 56,839 | 59.2% | 27.2% | 42.0% | -14.8% | 6.3% | 24.5%
Solana Beach | 13,312 | 64.5% | 34.9% | 33.2% | +1.7% | 5.2% | 26.8%
Vista | 98,560 | 43.2% | 33.6% | 31.4% | +2.2% | 6.2% | 28.8%

## Gay rights

[edit]

On Nov 4, 2008 San Diego County voted 53.71% for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, thus restoring Proposition 22 which was overturned by a ruling from the California Supreme Court. However the city of San Diego, along with the North County coastal towns of Del Mar, Encinitas, and Solana Beach, voted against Proposition 8. La Mesa was a virtual tie for the proposition, while Carlsbad only supported the proposition by a 2% margin.[11]

## Notes

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1. ^ a b Percentage of registered voters with respect to eligible voters. Percentages of party members with respect to registered voters follow.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org.
2. ^ "Supplement to the Statement of Vote Political Districts within Counties for President" (PDF). CA.gov. p. 24. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
3. ^ "Coronado Voters Pick Biden over Trump in Early Results - Republican Candidate Picked in 1992-2016 Elections". 7 November 2020.
4. ^ Libby, Sarah (November 5, 2012). "Where to Find Us on Election Day". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
5. ^ Amid the celebrations, farewell | The San Diego Union-Tribune
6. ^ a b "Final Maps". California Citizens Redistricting Commission. CAWeb Publishing Service. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
7. ^ "State Assembly Districts (San Diego County Portion)". December 26, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
8. ^ a b Weber, Shirly N. (2023). Report of Registration Odd-Numbered Year Report (PDF). California Secretary of State.
9. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. U.S. Census website. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
10. ^ a b c d e f "Report of Registration - State Reporting Districts" (PDF). sdvote.com. County of San Diego. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
11. ^ "404 Not Found | Jim's Blog". www.jamesewelch.com. Retrieved 2022-09-23. `{{cite web}}`: Cite uses generic title (help)