As the insurrection at the Capitol dominated the news this week, VOSD podcast hosts Scott Lewis and Sara Libby surveyed what San Diego’s congressional delegation was up to.
Newly minted Rep. Sara Jacobs that day called for the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump and for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office. She, along with other San Diego representatives, all voted against the objections to electoral votes for president from Arizona. But Rep. Darrell Issa voted to throw those votes out, keeping with his recent history of embracing far-right ideals.
Take a hard pivot to the state and local levels, though, we have some more traditionally dramatic political news. Like the good old days.
Gov. Gavin Newsom set off a domino effect at the tail end of 2020. By appointing Secretary of State Alex Padilla to the soon-to-be vacant Senate seat left by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, then tapping San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to replace Padilla, a ton of possibilities were made. Dr. Akilah Weber — a La Mesa city councilwoman and Weber’s daughter — may have a wide path to higher office. And a bunch of other locals are interested in the position. Lewis spoke with a lot of them and broke down some very early possibilities in this Politics Report you should check out.
Scaling down to city business, VOSD’s Ashly McGlone reported this week that advocates worry domestic violence may be more common during the pandemic while the San Diego city attorney’s office is prosecuting a fewer cases of domestic violence. And the center created to serve those victims of is closed.