Encinitas is paradise. Why can its politics get so hostile?

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Encinitas is known for its laid-back, bohemian vibe, where neighbors say hello to each other and long-haired surfers line scenic beaches. 

More recently, it’s become known for bucking California’s political trends. 

This beach enclave with 60,000 residents has almost two registered Democrats for every registered Republican, but it has a right-leaning majority on the City Council. 

That’s due in part to voters like Susan Turney.

A former Democrat who ran for City Council as an independent in 2020, Turney said she usually votes for Democrats at the top of her ballot. But she also supports Republican-turned-independent Mayor Bruce Ehlers. In 2024, he ended eight years of liberal leadership in the Mayor’s Office under Catherine Blakespear and Tony Kranz. 

“I care about what policies work and don’t work at the local level,” Turney said.

For most Encinitas residents, that list begins with housing policies. 

Opposition to dense housing has been the driving political force in the city since its founding 40 years ago, although approaches and levels of success have varied.

In the last election, the mayor and two City Council members won by promising to fight back against growth and development. On the other side are people who say that too much fighting is what led to bigger projects because the city faced court mandates to build the housing the state required. They say the city needs to work with the Legislature and developers. 

That push and pull has led to more apartment complexes and heavier traffic, but conflict over development has also led the idyllic city into a politics far more bitter than might be expected in a Southern California hippy’s paradise.

In the past few years, Encinitas has been embroiled in vicious political fights, both in person at City Hall and through anonymous online accounts. 

Heading into the next election, the city’s identity is at stake. Who will decide its future? 

From the outside, Encinitas might seem stereotypically progressive.

And it is, in some ways: 44% of registered voters are Democrats and 25% are Republicans. Houses display “equality” and “love” signs. Marketing highlights “new age meditation gardens and yoga studios.” 

It’s a city made up of organic food stores, surf shops and school board fights, including one where two Christian families successfully sued an elementary school district over lesson plans involving gender identity. 

But the city’s voters don’t always follow a straight political line.

While City Council races are technically nonpartisan, candidates’ party affiliations can play a role in endorsements and fundraising. 

Republican Kristin Gaspar was the city’s first directly elected mayor in 2014 and went on to become a county supervisor. Democrats Blakespear and Kranz were elected mayor next, with Blakespear winning in 2016, 2018 and 2020 and Kranz winning in 2022 when she left for state office. The pendulum swung again when Ehlers was elected mayor in 2024. 

In the past three presidential elections, a city majority voted for Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and also consistently voted for Democratic U.S. senators and governors. 

So why then would a majority in 2024 vote against three City Council candidates endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party?

On that, pretty much everyone agrees: housing.

A city founded on local control

Encinitas celebrated its 40th anniversary on Oct. 1. Voters chose the name over San Dieguito or Rancho San Elijo, and it incorporated as a city in 1986, in large part to stop being at the mercy of unincorporated San Diego County government housing policies. 

That issue has driven debate in Encinitas ever since. 

But resisting growth isn’t easy, and city officials haven’t been able to fend off nearly as much as residents would like. 

The growth really took off in 1965 when the Interstate 5 freeway reached an area that had only several thousand people living there and when the city exploded from 11,000 residents in 1980 to 55,000 in 1990 because of unchecked development that led to the city’s incorporation. 

The population, which has not grown much since then, now skews older and tends to be engaged politically. There remains a pervasive nostalgia for the days when there were no large apartment complexes and bike mechanics could afford to rent studio apartments by the beach for several hundred dollars a month. 

Lauren Miralle, whose family first moved to Encinitas in 1983, said housing has been at the front of voters’ minds for the past decade. She said she used to be “generally opposed to overdevelopment.” 

“I’ve seen more than four decades of change happen in front of me,” she said. “For a lot of the time, people who had been there for a long time like me had been resistant to development, all that kind of stuff, because we didn’t want it to lose its small town charm.” 

In the years since, she said she has “realized change is inevitable and that there are limitations to what city officials can do to stop development.” She also said she’s realized that having workforce and affordable housing in the city is crucial. 

Peter Stern, who arrived in 1988, described himself as left of center politically but said he’ll vote for Ehlers and Sprague because they are best equipped to fight dense housing. 

Such a split in a city’s national and local voting patterns may seem surprising in this hyperpartisan age, but Brian Adams, a political science professor at San Diego State University, called it a “throwback to the way things used to be.” 

He said when he arrived in San Diego in 2003, local politics were largely disconnected from national politics because local issues mattered more than party lines. That made sense, he said.

“Land use is the primary way that cities regulate things,” he said. “A lot of other issues are dealt with on a state level or a federal level.”

Adams said his research has found that some voters are willing to vote for candidates outside their party if they agree on homelessness and housing issues specifically. 

That can make a difference in a small city like Encinitas, which currently has about 20,000 Democrats, 11,000 Republicans, 10,500 voters with no party preference and a few thousand other registered voters split among third parties.

A January Pew Research Center study found that 74% of conservative Republicans prefer a more spread out community with larger houses while 68% of liberal Democrats prefer a more walkable community with smaller houses

But Adams said land use and housing issues don’t fall neatly along political lines because most voters have nuanced views on them. 

A war with the state 

The reality in a state battling a housing crisis is that city leaders lack the power to stop much of the housing units proposed in the city. 

Some residents say city leaders’ past resistance to state housing requirements have landed it in a weak position in which officials are forced to approve bigger projects with less city input to meet those requirements. 

Others blame former mayors and City Council members for bending the knee to developers and to the state, and say it’s worth it to fight at all costs, even if it lands city officials in court. 

For a while, Encinitas was able to fend off the state’s housing requirements. 

In 2013, Ehlers, then planning commissioner, authored the city’s Proposition A, which requires voter approval to change zoning density and height increases.

Voters blocked two subsequent housing plans, leaving Encinitas with an inadequate housing element, a state-required legal obligation showing how and where a city will build housing. 

In 2018, a Superior Court judge told the city it had to put Proposition A on hold and meet the legal requirements for its housing element. The city approved 15 locations for higher density housing. 

In 2019, the city was back in court over Proposition A, first against the citizen group “Preserve Proposition A,” and then with the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. The judge ruled with the citizens and upheld the measure’s constitutionality. 

Residents like Turney, who back Proposition A, were skeptical of claims that the city’s hands were tied by the state when it came to housing. They put up signs that said, “My Mayor Sued Me.” 

In the years that followed, the state passed a series of more aggressive housing laws aimed at making it harder for cities to deny housing projects. 

Developers used an updated density bonus law, which allowed for bigger projects with some affordable units, and builder’s remedy, which allows developers to bypass local zoning if a city is not in compliance with its housing plan. The law meant bigger projects. The remedy meant that each of Encinitas’ rejections carried the risk of something bigger in the future. 

When city leaders tried to block a large apartment project on Encinitas Boulevard, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent them a notice that Encinitas had violated the density bonus law, and failed to implement its housing element. Bonta said that if leaders did not approve the project, he was “prepared to take immediate steps to hold the City accountable.”

The City Council approved the project and its 250 units in 2022. That and other project approvals, like the nearly 200-unit Clark Avenue apartments in 2022, were lightning rods for residents who were furious about large developments. They blamed the City Council.  

In an interview, Blakespear described housing as a “major struggle” during her tenure, and blamed the delayed decision-making from previous councils for leaving the city in a bind.

She said she spent most of her time as mayor trying to work with community members to determine what kind of housing people would accept — and where — and how to make the city compliant with state laws. 

“I tried to be really honest with the community,” she said. “Ultimately that was only somewhat successful in that many people still just wanted to say no, which was not possible or practical. And at the end of the day, my job is to stay compliant with state laws.”

But some people say Blakespear betrayed them. 

Residents like Steve Golden said Blakespear supported local control and then seemed to switch as she had aspirations for state Senate. 

“She flipped a 180 on Encinitas, and all of a sudden, she’s for state control over local housing, and she supported everything any developer ever wanted,” he said.

A bad election for Democrats 

By the time of the 2024 election, several other projects had broken ground in Encinitas. The development that people had long feared was happening in front of their eyes. 

That year, Ehlers, Luke Shaffer and Jim O’Hara all beat candidates backed by the San Diego County Democratic Party, running as independents with a no party preference designation.

The San Diego County Republican Party did not endorse in those races, and it has not endorsed in the current Encinitas elections either. 

In January 2025, Encinitas councilmembers appointed San Antonio, a Republican who had been outspoken on social media in his support for President Donald Trump, to fill Ehlers’ council seat.

Kranz credits losing his mayoral reelection campaign in 2024 to Ehlers’ promise to stop development. He said that at the time he spoke to “countless” people who asked how Ehlers could block the development.

“My answer was always, ‘He can’t,’” Kranz said.

Ehlers did not respond to several requests for an interview for this story. 

In February 2025, the new Encinitas City Council denied appeals that would have stopped the largest development in the city’s history: the 448-unit Quail Meadows apartments.

During the hearing, Ehlers said the city was under significant pressure from the state, and that if the council blocked the project, the state would allow developers to build whatever they want. 

O’Hara was the sole vote against the project, which survived on a 3-1 vote. Councilmember Joy Lyndes had a conflict of interest and did not participate.

Adams, the SDSU professor, said that although cities want local control, they just don’t have it in California. 

“There’s nothing legally that says the state of California can’t legislate on housing,” he said.

Golden, who supported Ehlers, Shaffer and O’Hara in 2024, said he would have been OK with the council voting to block the project, even if it triggered lawsuits. He faulted earlier councils for the problem. 

He also noted the council’s vote last year to preserve vacant city land known as L7 as a park, which reversed its prior designation as a potential affordable housing site.

“They’re doing what they can,” he said. 

Elections have consequences 

But the way some others see it, council members are causing chaos.

Miralle said she soon regretted her vote for Shaffer, whom she had liked as a fellow local “who grew up here.” 

She said she was put off by his comment that “at some point there has to be people that are willing to pick up a rifle” to defend the city’s position on Quail Meadows and by the fact that he faced felony charges that were later dismissed for an argument he got into with a neighbor. 

Shaffer did not respond to requests for comment. 

This current council has made a series of decisions that aim to reverse efforts of previous city leadership — most notably, Blakespear. 

In November, council members sued the developers of the Clark Avenue apartments over a plan city leaders had previously approved, but the case was dismissed in August. 

Council members also voted to upend a $3 million project completed last year to redesign Santa Fe Drive and spend $3.5 million to redo it.

In the state Senate, Blakespear, believing the project makes the area safer,  pushed a bill to passage to stop the city from doing so or risk having to return money to the state. 

Encinitas residents have also felt the effects of Trump’s national crackdown on immigration. 

There have been several immigration arrests in Encinitas that have caused public outrage. In one case, federal agents arrested a man near Park Dale Lane Elementary School. 

The City Council voted to declare an emergency action in opposition to immigration enforcement actions in August 2025 then rescinded it a month later after resident Garvin Walsh, an Encinitas resident and member of the San Diego County Republican Party Central Committee, said the city had violated open meeting law.

Contentious meeting crowds spilled into an overflow room, and at least one person was kicked out of the second meeting when the council took another vote to comply with the law. 

The city also cracked down on homelessness while letting go of some services. Last year it added “enforcement” to its homelessness action plan and expanded its definition of camping, which aims to prevent homeless encampments and deter people from living in their vehicles.

The City Council also voted in June against applying for a nearly $4 million grant for eradicating homeless encampments because it was worried there were strings attached. 

The City Council did have success in securing a federal grant of $33.6 million for railroad crossing improvements. It has also worked to improve traffic and road safety, and made a range of infrastructure improvements.

An adversarial feel and threats

In general, Encinitas City Council meetings run hours longer than in neighboring cities, and often have an adversarial feel. There are arguments on the dais, and sometimes between members of the council and the public. 

Councilmember Lyndes, the sole woman and lone Democrat on the council, is retiring at the end of this term. 

She said she’s noticed a “significant change” in the past two years. She believes this council has “fallen short” of the standards with which she said they should treat each other. 

Councilmember San Antonio also said he wishes there could be more polite disagreement throughout the city. 

“We can disagree, but when it starts to turn into something that’s kind of ugly and and you know obviously kind of threatening sometimes, it’s a real bummer,” he said. “It kind of takes the spirit out of being our small little Encinitas town.”

O’Hara drew criticism after calling supporters of Safe Streets Encinitas, which formed in the wake of the death of 12-year-old Emery Chalekian, “an advocacy group,” and saying that apart from them, only a few people supported the red light cameras the council is discussing.  

O’Hara did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

San Antonio said that he received two phone calls threatening him for “being MAGA” recently from someone he identified as an Encinitas resident. He said he was reporting it to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. 

He said it’s “pretty wild to get threats like that.” 

Blakespear said she takes any threats of violence that she gets seriously and has added more security to her home.

She said a vicious battle over the Coastal Rail Trail approvals, when she’d host a public meeting and end up alone in a room with opponents telling her they’d take her down, taught her that she did not have to “be the advocate for everything.”

But even as Blakespear’s critics blame her for the city’s woes, she won her primary this year for her state Senate re-election with 61% of the vote in Encinitas.  

Social media reaches City Hall

For a town often described as paradise, the social media landscape can be toxic. 

There are several high-profile anonymous social media accounts with thousands or tens of thousands of followers that publish multiple posts a day, including videos and infographics about current and former councilmembers. 

Many of these accounts, the biggest being “Save Encinitas Now” and “Encinitas Keepin It’ Real,” post about homelessness and development. The accounts typically post positively about the current council and criticize Blakespear and Democrats. 

One recent post featured a fake video of Blakespear holding the candidates who associate with the Democratic Party as puppets. 

A more recently formed anonymous account called “Fear and Loathing in Encinitas” has posted its own videos and essays criticizing the current City Council and calling someone that aligns with them a puppet master.

Other accounts are political but not anonymous, such as “Encinitas Action,” which posts voter guides and City Council recaps and lists members’ names on a website.

Sometimes issues that began on social media have reached City Hall. 

In one case, Mayor Ehlers addressed an anonymous post made that compared homeless people to rats, calling it “inappropriate and reprehensible.” 

In another, the City Council publicly weighed removing a committee member for a post on social media that critics called racist. Two people were kicked out of that meeting. 

Josh Sebastian moved to Encinitas in 2005 and has seen it change a lot over two decades. He said most people aren’t so focused on City Hall  and that those demonstrating so much  social media hostility “need bigger problems.” 

People in Encinitas live in a “great place,” he said.

“You can leave your door unlocked,” he said. “ There’s famous surfers and skaters and all kinds of people in the community. It’s a really, really charmed place.”