Chair Nora Vargas to step down from San Diego County Board of Supervisors

On Friday, San Diego County District 1 County Supervisor Nora Vargas, who also serves as board chair, made a shocking announcement: The supervisor, who represents constituents in the South Bay, including National City, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach, will be stepping down next month.

Vargas said she would not occupy her seat, which she recently won, because of security and safety concerns, for a second term and would, instead, be leaving office in January.

NBC 7 spent Friday looking into more details behind her decision. For its part, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office released a statement to NBC 7 stating that it was not aware of any active threats toward Vargas or any other county supervisor, but that deputies have noticed an “increase in contentious meetings and less civility in general.”

Local data backs that up: Rachel Locke, who is with the University of San Diego’s Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, surveyed local elected officials for a recent study about the hostile political environment.

"Between 66% to 75% of our elected officials have received some form of threats or harassment during the last five years of their tenure," Locke said, "most of them on a regular basis."

Vargas didn’t provide any details on what security issues she was facing, but data shows the last four years have been especially hostile across the nation.

“It was 2020 when most people said the levels went from low or for many negligible to real, strong increase," Locke said. "Fear, chaos, anxiety, uncertainty, combined with national rhetoric that was hostile and abusive."

Vargas, the first immigrant and Latina to serve on the board of supervisors, has had her fair share of controversy and disapproval. In October, a longtime county official, Michael Vu, filed a claim alleging he was overlooked for a job because of his racial background. Vargas has denied this claim.

Also, her district is at the forefront of a decades-long cross-border sewage pollution. Recently, she voted to delay a move for an EPA superfund designation of the Tijuana River Valley, upsetting many of her constituents.

“The community must be engaged and fully informed on the long-term consequences of a superfund designation including potential impacts of property values and local investments,” Vargas said at a board of supervisors meeting.

Laura Wilkinson Sinton, who cofounded the advocacy group Stop the Sewage and works closely with Imperial Beach's mayor, Paloma Aguirre, has taken the sewage crisis fight to Capitol Hill.

“We really need everyone on board for this," Wilkinson Sinton said. "And I think there were some missteps that may have happened with her office regarding this policy. That doesn't mean that she doesn't want to get it fixed immediately," adding, "You know, there are a lot of problems and they're not fixed in four years. They're not fixed under anybody who's watching for years. But you do the best you can to move the ball forward.”

It’s unclear if the sewage crisis or any other policy disagreements had anything to do with Vargas' reasons for stepping down.

Wilkinson Sinton said Vargas made a difference in the mental health and public health fields. And the data supporting Locke's study cannot be overlooked, either.

"Regardless of what you think about individual politicians, when our elected leaders govern from a place of fear, that is not a good place to be in,” said Locke. "Close to half of all of our survey respondents said that they had considered leaving public office as a direct result of the abuse that they were facing."

The county has been paying for Vargas private security since early last year. That, coupled with transportation rentals, cost taxpayers more than $38,000 this past October.

It’s unclear if this is the standard security protocol for every county supervisor.

Before the election, Vargas said she was running for a second term because "San Diego County needs bold, effective leadership. As your supervisor, I've delivered real results for our community."

She said her top priorities would be "to address housing, behavioral health, environmental justice, and economic prosperity to ensure a healthier, more equitable San Diego County."

What happens next is not entirely clear with her no longer being sworn-in to the board in January. The two Democrats and two Republicans remaining on the board may be hard-pressed to agree to a temporary candidate to fill Vargas' seat, which could cause a snap election in 2025.

"I greatly appreciate Chair Vargas' service to the county and our community, and I hope she finds resolution to the challenges with which she is grappling," said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. "As vice chair of the county board of supervisors, let me assure you that the work and new direction of the county will continue moving forward.

"We will continue advancing our agenda to uplift all of our communities. I'm confident in my fellow county supervisors, executive team, and employees, and we will keep tackling the major issues facing our region, just as the public expects and deserves."

Supervisor Jim Desmond, the most conservative member of the five-person board, did not release an official statement on Vargas' announcement, but on the social media platform X, he posted, "Never a dull moment at the
county ...''