Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
If you read my election prediction, you will see that I got things wrong… very wrong. Joe Biden is doing better than I expected and places like Minnesota are seemingly unconcerned by the fact that they were on fire just a few months ago. Things look bad for President Trump, but it’s still far from over given pending litigation over voter fraud.
Trump made serious gains among Latino and black voters, culminating in a wide margin of victory in Florida. In addition, far blue states like New York did not go for Biden nearly as much as they did in 2016. With regard to the current map, Arizona was called far too early and is still in play. There are also many allegations of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin that will in all likelihood go to the Supreme Court. That is the current state of things nationally.
At the state level, I didn’t expect anything—and we didn’t get much. No real wins in the State Legislature, but the propositions are going fairly well. It looks like Prop 16 will be rejected and Prop 22 will be passed, both of which are extremely positive results and huge losses for Democrats.
For San Diego County, the results are very concerning. Major Republican candidates like Kristin Gaspar, Brian Maryott, June Cutter, Melanie Burkholder, Joe Leventhal, and Noli Zosa all lost their races. Each of these appeared to be winnable races, but we all knew it was an uphill battle. Gaspar, Leventhal, and Zosa were the most harmful losses because the County Board of Supervisors has flipped to a Democrat majority and the San Diego City Council now has only one Republican in Chris Cate.
While there is good news in cities like Carlsbad, San Marcos, Poway, and Escondido, the broader results spell trouble for San Diego. Overall, not a good year. While some results are still pending, one thing is clear: the fight is not over.
