Politics of San Diego County

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voter registration
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, 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

Gay rights

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

References
  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. "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. 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. "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)
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