After almost 20 years in office, Congresswoman Susan Davis is retiring from representing California’s 53rd District. NBC 7 political reporter Priya Sridhar spoke with the two women who are looking to take her spot in the House.
More than a dozen candidates wanted to fill the vacancy left in the 53rd Congressional District after Rep. Susan Davis announced her retirement but two Democrats rose to the top.
Current San Diego City Councilmember Georgette Gomez and Policy Advisor Sara Jacobs will face off in the 2020 General Election to take the open seat.
The 53rd Congressional District is a mostly Democratic district that covers La Mesa, Lemon Grove, parts of El Cajon, Chula Vista and central San Diego neighborhoods like Hillcrest and North Park.
Like most places in the United States, one of the top priorities for the people who live here in financial survival during the pandemic.
The two women facing off for the 53rd Congressional seat will be replacing the longest-running member of San Diego's congressional delegation.
Gomez says her top priorities are immigration reform, climate change and affordable housing, but her main focus is going to be on economic relief for residents in the 53rd who have been impacted by the pandemic.
"Knowing that because of our economic crisis, I knew that folks that were already struggling before COVID that were going to struggle even more, we moved very quickly on making sure that utilities weren't going to be shut off because of lack of resources. We have now established a rent relief program," Gomez said.
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Sara Jacobs is a policy advisor who also worked for the Obama administration. It's hard to mention her without noting that she's also the granddaughter of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs. She says her top priorities are gun control, affordable housing and climate change. Like Gomez, she believes the next congress will have a tough road ahead in passing stimulus bills to help people struggling during the pandemic.
"I've actually worked with small business owners to put out a small business plan about how I think we should do our relief for small business owners to make it easier for them," Jacobs said. "I think the initial stimulus checks that went out were an important first step, I think its clear we need a lot more of that."
Sara Jacobs won the primary with 29% of the vote. Georgette Gomez got 20% of the vote in the primary, but with 90,000 votes spread among the other 13 candidates - the race could go in either direction.
Rep. Davis did not endorse any candidate.
