Incumbent Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez campaigned against Deputy Mayor Ryan Keim in her effort to secure a second term. As of mid-Thursday, the race was down to less than 1,000 votes.
Shawn Ambrose owns Real Surf, a business in Oceanside. He knows what he wants from the next mayor — whoever it turns out to be.
“Someone who cares about smart growth," Ambrose said. "Oceanside is growing, and there’s no stopping progress, but I think we can do a lot better than we are."
While the results so far could hardly be closer, there is distance between the candidates on development, one of the main issues in this race.
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NBC 7 asked Sanchez about why she was less enthusiastic about development than some of her colleagues when she sat down for an interview before the election.
“All of a sudden, we're really talking about housing. Not for Oceanside residents, but for folks outside of the city,” Sanchez said, adding she was pro-affordable housing.
Decision 2024
Tigist Layne, a North County reporter at the Voice of San Diego, said homelessness is another critical issue in this race.
“Residents are also noticing how much Oceanside is changing, and not just with housing, but also homelessness,” Layne said. “So people are also just wanting to see that get better, especially because they've seen it only get worse over the past several years.”
Oceanside has one of the highest rates of unsheltered homelessness in North County. Keim, whom NBC 7 also spoke to ahead of the election, said that is a matter of public safety.
“I mean, and this is as a former police officer, I would talk to people 10, 15, 20 times to try to get them services and they would refuse. And so at a certain point, we have to enforce our laws,” Keim said.
Ambrose hopes the next mayor offers a swell of support for local business owners like him.
“They have to reach out to the local businesses and keep supporting us and realize that we’re the foundation of this town,” Ambrose said.
