In San Ysidro, a dad told us he was scared. Locals in southeast San Diego said their neighbors wanted independence from either political party. And neighboring Imperial County, a usually reliably blue region, went for Donald Trump.
The November election saw voter shifts as fewer residents voted for the Democratic presidential candidate than in the two elections before that. And while now President-elect Trump mostly held his coalition, he saw gains in some communities where Democrats lost ground.
We wanted to know more. As part of our Public Matters partnership with KPBS and Voice of San Diego, we explored the data — and then we went out to speak with people who live in the places that saw the biggest shifts to hear what influenced their picks.
inewsource reporter Sofía Mejías-Pascoe spoke to residents in the South Bay, an area that is predominantly Latino. One Chula Vista resident told her that he’s a lifelong Republican who has become more conservative since becoming involved in politics — and he thinks other Latinos will do the same.
“Most Latinos go to church. Most Latinos are conservative. But they’re not Republican yet,” said Hector Gastelum, who was a member of a local water board and ran for mayor in 2018.
Read our partners’ stories for more.
San Diego’s Democratic blues: How voters slipped away from the party
From Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis: Trump didn’t just benefit from lack of turnout for Kamala Harris. Some areas of San Diego and Imperial counties turned out for him in greater numbers than before.
Southeast San Diego’s long-time pillars of the Democratic Party turned away in November
From KPBS’ Amita Sharma: Democrats lost slightly fewer than 11,000 votes in southeast San Diego between the November election and four years ago.
After decades of voting blue, Imperial County chose Donald Trump
From KPBS’ Kori Suzuki: The last time the county, a largely working-class farming region, chose a Republican candidate was George H. W. Bush in 1988.
South County shifted right in November, highlighting Democrats’ vulnerability
From Voice of San Diego’s Jim Hinch: Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one in South County. But November’s surprising shift suggests Democrats’ hold on the region may be slipping.
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