Reaction to primary night

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Joining us now to discuss tonight's primary is the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Chris Kate, and San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Agiri. Thank you both for joining us late on this election night. And I'm going to start with you, Chris, because we just heard from Steve Hilton. Um, and let's look at this. He's definitely headed toward November. Um a British political consultant and he was saying it again tonight if you he's a plan of change and he said you you haven't seen anything yet. What has resonated with the voters that he has gotten this far?

[00:00:38]>> I think there's just definitely a disenchantment with the status quo and that works for incumbents all the way down where folks are just feeling uh that status quo is not working for them.

[00:00:48]And you're seeing that in a lot of the polling as well too leading up to today where folks were thinking that all levels of government are on the wrong track and they're going in the wrong direction. So I think uh Steve Hilton along with other candidates up and down the ballot are tapping into that um frustration with the current establishment and how government is working for them. The folks that are tapping that best I think have the best opportunity to win in November. And Clement, what do you think Javier Basera needs to do to kind of counter that and and act like he's the man to for change as well?

[00:01:22]>> Well, first and foremost, I think he needs to consolidate the vote, right?

[00:01:26]So, we had a number of different Democratic candidates. So, at some point, you know, once this is all finalized, they're going to coalesce behind him and he's demonstrated the ability to do that when he uh consolidated the vote that Swallwell had at a certain point. So to your question about what sets him apart, he it's experience. He brings a lot of experience from having been attorney general. He demonstrated he's able to counter the Trump agenda uh fight back and he brings also national level experience by having worked with President Biden. So I think that is resonating with people and it's also a factor of excitement, right? I mean, technically, he would be in modern time the first Latino governor of a state uh that is has a very sizable Hispanic Latino population. So, I think there's a lot of factors that are in his favor and you know, we said this earlier in the segment uh you know, we have a Democratic majority almost 2 to1 here in the state. So, it's very likely that it'll be Governor Rair in the fall. And and you know I Chris I do have to ask you because uh any Republican candidate going forward will face the headwinds.

[00:02:37]Uh he'll be hit with Iran. He'll be hit with maybe Jeffrey Epstein. Uh you know they they try to tie in a MAGA in a negative connotation. How does he fight that?

[00:02:49]>> Absolutely. And Supervisor Argiri is correct. I mean we the Republicans do have an uphill battle from a registration advantage. We haven't had a constitutional officer in decades uh at the state. So, there's going to be a lot of things to overcome to get there. And uh I think Hilton's going to have to uh showcase why he's different and maybe not aligned so much with with the national agenda, national Republican brand and the party and what can he do for California that's different than uh a trajectory that maybe others will try to tie to to Trump. So, I think that's going to be the path to do it. It's going to be definitely going to be an uphill battle because of the regration disadvantage that Republicans have and there have been crazier stories in politics. So, uh, but obviously we'll we'll see in November.

[00:03:32]>> Yeah, people are definitely watching.

[00:03:34]I'm going to ask you both, but uh really what has the biggest impact on voters in your mind going into November? Uh obviously cost of living and affordability is the number one issue by and large uh up and down whether you're talking Republicans, Democrats, independents and as I mentioned earlier that just disdain for status quo and I think you see it saw it here locally uh with measure A as example which is a citywide uh measure that was trounced uh today and I think people are are are frustrated with being asked for for more taxes and fees even though it may not necessarily go to them. They're just disenfranchised with where the money is going, how it's being spent on their behalf. And I think you saw that and with with measure A tonight.

[00:04:15]>> What do you think the biggest impact will be that people will really vote on issues >> cost of living and what they're seeing and experiencing every day? They're struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their head. We're being stripped of health care. We're being stripped of food for children uh because of this administration. So, I think that's going to be top of mind for voters going into this this fall election. And I'll just add that it was interesting there was a poll that was ran recently of city of San Diego residents and u to your point that was true right that's correct it's it's it's it's disappointment with the status quo but what I found interesting is when they were asked if they would favor uh billionaires and corporations being taxed uh 55% approved uh said yes so or favored that stance so I think it's also a factor of people feel like um they're not getting their fair share and their return on investment in their taxes and especially big corporations and people who are ultra wealthy which are very few in the state um are not paying their fair share. So I think that uh we'll see where this fall election goes. Uh and I think that's the sentiment across the board >> and it's nice. Thank you both for coming in this evening and it's great when we can all come together like we did tonight and and we all agree on what is important to voters and to residents and to all of us to to give us the lives that we all want for the future and we agree on that. Thank you both for your time. Appreciate it. Chris Kate al Gary.