Rancho Bernardo residents and others in San Diego’s City Council District 5 will be heading back to the polls early next year to select a new council representative.
City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who has represented District 5 for the past six years, was elected on Nov. 3 to represent California’s 48th Congressional District. She is halfway into her second council term.
As of Monday evening, in the San Diego County portion of voting results, von Wilpert had received 73,392 votes (60.62% of the votes) over County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who received 47,672 votes (39.38% of the votes). As for the Riverside County portion, von Wilpert had received 57,124 votes (59.04%) while Desmond had received 39,632 votes (40.96%).
Von Wilpert is a Democrat and Desmond is a Republican.
“When I first decided to run for office, I was scared,” von Wilpert told supporters during an Election Night celebration in San Marcos. “It’s a big deal to put your name out there. I don’t come from a political family or big wealth or worked for a big corporation. But I thought maybe this hometown girl can make a difference. I chose love over fear the night I decided to run.”
Von Wilpert, 43, is a native San Diegan who grew up in Scripps Ranch, which is in the council’s District 5. In addition to Rancho Bernardo, the district includes Black Mountain Ranch (Del Sur and Santaluz), Carmel Mountain Ranch, Miramar Ranch North, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs, San Pasqual and Torrey Highlands.
According to City Council President Joe LaCava, the city will hold a special election early next year. Once von Wilpert resigns and the district is officially declared vacant, there will be a two-week candidate filing and nomination period. Then the council will schedule a special election within 90 days of the vacancy announcement.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held.
In the interim, von Wilpert’s chief of staff, Justin Garver, will lead the District 5 office, according to LaCava.
“District 5 can rest assured that they will continue to be well-served, and I commit to a timely and transparent election process,” LaCava said last week.
With von Wilpert’s win, all five of San Diego’s congressional seats are held by Democrats. Re-elected were Reps. Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin, Scott Peters and Juan Vargas.
The 48th Congressional District was among those with its boundaries redrawn and approved by voters through Proposition 50 in November 2025. It was held by longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa who chose to not seek re-election following the state redrawing district boundaries to make them more likely to elect Democrats in 2026 after several states redrew their congressional district boundaries to improve Republican chances of retaining control of the House.
Von Wilpert’s win helped Democrats retake control of the House.
The 48th Congressional District previously comprised most of conservative East County. But now it consists of more Democratic areas in North County such as Escondido, San Marcos and Vista. The district’s new boundaries also extend up to Riverside County, even reaching the Palm Springs area.
Prior to redistricting, Republican voters outnumbered Democrats in the district by 12 percentage points. Under new maps, Democrats outnumber Republicans by five points.
San Diego Union-Tribune staff writers David Garrick and Lucas Robinson contributed to this story.