![\"Vista](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-Franklin-BoS-Candidate03.jpg\")
Vista Mayor John Franklin at the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club in Solana Beach on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Hayne Palmour IV \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nMore than a year out, campaign cash and political clout are already coalescing around a pivotal 2026 race in North County for an up-for-grabs seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n
The field of candidates could already be set in the contest to choose a successor to Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond, who faces term limits.<\/p>\n
Only one Democrat is running: Kyle Krahel-Frolander, a staffer for Rep. Mike Levin and former chair of the local Democratic Party. On the Republican side, two neighboring North County cities\u2019 mayors \u2014 Vista\u2019s John Franklin and San Marcos\u2019 Rebecca Jones \u2014 have declared their candidacies.<\/p>\n
District 5 stretches east from Oceanside through San Marcos and Vista out to desert communities like Borrego Springs. Republicans hold considerable influence in the district\u2019s inland cities and unincorporated areas, and Desmond, an outspoken conservative, cruised to re-election in 2022 with 60% of the vote.<\/p>\n
But districtwide, Democrats have steadily built a registration advantage over Republicans over the last decade.<\/p>\n
In 2018, there were nearly 17,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in the district. Just two years later, Democrats had a 2,000-voter advantage. Today, there are about 143,000 registered Democrats, versus 129,000 Republicans \u2014 but another 90,000 voters did not declare a party preference.<\/p>\n
The election gives Democrats an opportunity to break the \u201cold boy network\u201d of Republicans that has reigned in North County for decades, said Carl Luna, a political science professor at Mesa College.<\/p>\n
Democrats have never had a fourth vote on the Board of Supervisors. With a chance to score their first-ever supermajority, much of the party has lined behind Krahel-Frolander, including Democratic supervisors and every Democrat in San Diego\u2019s congressional delegation.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not surprising, Luna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Democrats can turn District 5, that solidifies their hold on the Board of Supervisors for the foreseeable future,\u201d Luna said. \u201cHistorically you\u2019d have an election, and then you\u2019d wait a couple years before you\u2019d worry about it. This is stuff that normally wouldn\u2019t happen until January.\u201d<\/p>\n
A four-vote Democratic majority at the county would have major implications for how Democrats could steer the county\u2019s vast bureaucracy and $8.6 billion budget.<\/p>\n
Because four votes are needed to amend the county\u2019s budget, Democrats currently must win over one of the panel\u2019s two Republicans to make changes to county spending. And a recent overhaul of the county\u2019s reserves policy requires four votes to spend any of the hundreds of millions of dollars freed up by the policy.<\/p>\n
Unexpected vacancies have also denied Democrats the ability to sustain their majority. Twice in recent years, the board spent months facing regular partisan deadlocks \u2014 first after Nathan Fletcher resigned in 2023 and again after Nora Vargas left office early this year.<\/p>\n
Republican rivals<\/p>\n
On the Republican side,\u00a0Vista Mayor John Franklin already has much of San Diego County\u2019s Republican establishment behind him.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s notched endorsements from key current and former Republican elected officials, among them former Supervisor Bill Horn, Desmond\u2019s predecessor, who spent 24 years on the board before leaving once the county instituted term limits.<\/p>\n
Vista Mayor John Franklin at the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club in Solana Beach on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Hayne Palmour IV \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Franklin has had a long presence in North County politics, first elected to Vista\u2019s City Council in 2014 before becoming mayor in 2022. But he owes his original foray into politics to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa.<\/p>\n
The Kansas native began working in Issa\u2019s office in 2003 while studying at American University in Washington, then climbed his way through the congressman\u2019s staff from a legislative aide to eventually a senior adviser.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the leadership John brings to public service, and I believe there\u2019s no one better positioned to deliver for District 5 or more prepared to lead on the Board of Supervisors,\u201d Issa said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Those deep ties to Issa and others in Republican politics has helped Franklin raise considerable sums of money for an election that\u2019s still over a year away \u2014 at least $616,000 as of June.<\/p>\n
San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, the other Republican in the race, is backed by state Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, the firebrand conservative who traded bitter attacks with Issa when both were running for a congressional seat in 2020.<\/p>\n
Jones did not agree to repeated requests for an interview. As of June, her fundraising totaled $225,000, according to disclosures.<\/p>\n
Jones has served on the San Marcos City Council since 2007 and is now in her second term as mayor; on her campaign website, she touts her city\u2019s homeless encampment ban and the low insurance premiums residents pay despite wildfire risks.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also a member of the board of the San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, and has been a chief opponent<\/a> of the regional planning agency\u2019s failed efforts<\/a> a few years ago to charge drivers a per-mile fee.<\/p>\n In an interview, DeMaio said Jones fits the \u201csame mold\u201d as Desmond. He called Franklin \u201cthe epitome of what\u2019s broken about our political system \u2014 a bunch of rich insiders.\u201d<\/p>\n Desmond has not yet endorsed a candidate and did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Franklin is focusing much of his campaign on homelessness. North County has long struggled with a lack of shelter space. But in recent years, Vista has expanded its shelter bed availability and homelessness services.<\/p>\n Those efforts include a 12-bed facility<\/a> opened in August for young people at risk of homelessness, the first of its kind in North County. And last year, Vista and Encinitas collaborated<\/a> to open a 48-bed shelter.<\/p>\n Franklin chides county government for not having more and better data on the long-term impacts of the homelessness programs on which it spends millions.<\/p>\n![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sut-l-csusm-groundbreaking109.jpg\")
San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony at Cal State San Marcos on Thursday, July 31, 2025, in San Marcos. (Michael Ho \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SUT-L-Frolander-_002.jpg\")
Kyle Krahel-Frolander stands outside the county administration building downtown on Friday, July 25, 2025. (Sandy Huffaker for The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n