Councilmember Georgette Gómez launched this weekend, with the support of Supervisor Nora Vargas, a door-to-door election campaign among voters in Chula Vista and other areas of the South Bay.
Both leaders toured with a large group of volunteers areas in San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, National City, and western Chula Vista.
Georgette Gómez, in a special election in April , seeks to fill the vacant position left by now-former Assemblywoman Lorena González by accepting the general direction of the California Labor Federation starting in July. González has has already given her support to Georgette Gómez for the position.
Gómez told Chula Vista Today that at the start of the campaign, she had found an excellent reception from the voters of District 80.
"Usually, they immediately show us excellent support. I feel that the campaign's priorities are precisely those of the district's voters, and that is an advantage. We have the same priorities," the candidate said.
Gomez explained that her campaign priorities include "the critical challenge of affordable housing" in the district's cities, Chula Vista, National City, San Ysidro, and Otay.
The candidate also seeks to attract better jobs with better salaries to the region.
"The rent is going up, the cost of housing is going up, but what we earn is not going up, so we have to try to improve the economy, improve jobs, that people are not just surviving," she said.
An environmental leader for decades in San Diego County and even in Baja California, Gómez includes among his priorities the regulation of climate change, "because if we don't solve it, it will impact our health and quality of life."
Access to affordable health is also part of her priorities.
Gómez also wants "to redefine the relationship with Tijuana; we need a relationship that is not limited to economics because we have many people living in Tijuana because their income is not enough to live in San Diego."
"I want the California Assembly to understand the importance of living by the border, recognizing we community that lives in Tijuana, improving their daily border crossing, our bilateral relations, and that we are not going to improve the environmental health of one side. If we don't improve it in the other," Gómez said.
County Board of Supervisors Vice President Nora Vargas, who represents the border area of the county, told Chula Vista Today that Councilor Gomez's priorities coincide with those on her agenda.
"I think there is no one who has as much experience as her to work for the community in District 80," said Supervisor Vargas, "I am sure that we will see that commitment from her first day of work," if she wins the election.
Both leaders have worked together since the 1990s, when Gómez led the Environmental Health Coalition in San Diego.
Governor Gavin Newsom recently appointed Supervisor Vargas to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which develops guidelines to preserve environmental health and measures against climate change in the state.
Among Vargas' priority areas are the communities of San Ysidro and Otay, where tens of thousands of vehicles daily waiting for hours to cross the border at the ports of entry impact the health of residents.
