Kristin Gaspar, Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, representing District 3, is running in a crowded field for Rep. Darrell Issa’s seat.
Issa plans to retire when his term expires in November and Gaspar joins a group of at least a dozen people (four Democrats and eight Republicans) competing for the seat.
Although Gaspar is Republican, in the past she has been able to reach Democrats. She has previously won in a district Hillary Clinton carried by 20 percent, was elected mayor of Encinitas (which leans Democratic) by a margin of eight percent and in her first run for Encinitas City Council, she beat out two Democrats.
“You must be feeling a lot of confidence in that constituency,” said Gene Cubbison, host of Politically Speaking.
“I feel a lot of confidence that I know and understand my constituency,” Gaspar replied. “Really, what motivated me to run the first time was, as a small business owner and mother, I just felt there was such a disconnect between elected leaders. And what we were lacking were servant leaders, people who didn’t need the job in politics, but the job needed them."
She packed up her three young kids in a Red Wagon and started going door to door talking to people and listening to what mattered to the community.
She said the cost of living in San Diego has outpaced wages, which is especially hard for those transitioning out of the military. “San Diego plays a critical role in national defense, we have thousands of military men and women who are transitioning out in San Diego each year, and they don’t have the job skills to afford to make it here, to afford to take care of their families,” she said.
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In general, families are struggling, she said. “One in six adults and one in five children are food insecure,” she stated. “Families are struggling.”
Education and job skills are a big part of the answer, according to Gaspar.
“Overall improvement to the educational pipeline is needed,” she said. “Here are a couple of examples. The veterans that we just talked about, they’re transitioning out without the job skills to take good paying jobs in San Diego. This does not need to be the case.”
She stated that some politicians don’t see the importance of education in preparing workers for skilled jobs.
“There are 70,000 available jobs [in computer science] in California alone and last year we only graduated 4,000 students in that field,” she said.
Gaspar said she can be counted on to support critical funding for the military, “not only to defend but to stay on offense and make sure that we’re thwarting off all of the threats that are on the horizon.”
The 49th District comprises Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad, Encinitas and part of southern Orange County.
