1-minute voter guide: Poway's 2024 election
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Five candidates are competing for two council seats in Poway, and voters there will decide whether developers can build a gym on the site of a former country club.
The big picture: Poway is home to nearly 50,000 residents, its council controls a $120 million annual budget and the city has pivotal seats on the boards of regional agencies.
State of play: Poway has an open council seat in District 2, and Deputy Mayor Caylin Frank is up for re-election in District 4.
- Jenny Maeda, who teaches at the homeschool co-op Christian Family Schools of Poway, is challenging Frank.
Between the lines: The District 2 seat has become a source of heated division within the San Diego County Republican Party.
- Carl DeMaio, the former San Diego council member and current state assembly candidate who runs the conservative political action committee Reform California, endorsed Tony Blain, a military officer and physician.
- The county Republican Party endorsed Jared Wilson, an SDPD officer and president of the police union.
Friction point: The party says DeMaio broke an agreement to not support candidates who don't have its endorsement.
- That agreement was negotiated to settle a dispute after the party backed DeMaio's opponent in his assembly race, Voice of San Diego reported.
What we're watching: Wilson and Blain are also facing Vanessa Springett, a mortgage broker, for one of five open council seats.
Ballot measure
Zoom in: Measure H asks voters to approve the development of a 30,000 square foot gym with indoor and outdoor facilities on nearly seven acres of an area called The Farm in Poway.
- In 2020, the city passed a development plan for The Farm allowing 160 homes and other uses, and in 2024 amended that plan to allow for the project, which is bigger than the initial plan allowed.
- That change requires voter approval.
By the numbers: Democrats and Republicans are nearly even in voter registration in Poway, with both just over 11,000 registered members.