Gina Jacobs is running for District 2 San Diego County Supervisor against incumbent Supervisor Joel Anderson. Jacobs, D, 42, was born and raised in San Diego, growing up in University Heights. Her father is a small business owner, and her mother worked for the Department of the Navy. She attended SDSU for her bachelor’s in communications and earned her MBA at Allian International University in Sustainability. Jacobs said she has spent the past 10 years working in public service. For almost seven years, Jacobs worked for the Airport Authority and has worked for the Port of San Diego for two years as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager. Jacobs lives in Del Cerro.
“I have been volunteering in my community as long as I can remember. Things my family has been very active in. My dad is a Vietnam veteran, and I used to go with him to Stand Down in Balboa Park where he would volunteer offering his services to the veterans,” she said.
Jacobs said her professional background is a blend of program management, business operations, and small businesses.
“With my dad owning a small business, I understand the challenges that small businesses encounter in the marketplace. I have spent a big part of my career dedicated in looking at those challenges and what are the barriers small business owners experience in contracting with government entities, large corporations, and worked collectively to reduce those barriers,” she said.
Jacobs oversees the small business program at the Port, and equal opportunity employment in contracting.
“I handle contracting in the small business side and equal opportunity options on the workforce side. Seeing that everybody has equal opportunities to resources and the things they need to be successful in their organization, as well as the Port’s five member cities,” she said.
Jacobs said she has a love for public service, and it comes naturally for her to want to help her communities.
“The reason I decided to run for office is that District 2 has about 690,000 people, and there are unincorporated areas, incorporated areas. You have the city of San Diego which is about 50% of the electorate. Then you have Poway, El Cajon, Lakeside, Santee and many other smaller communities throughout the district. I realized that most people there are like me. They are working professionals, parents, wanting to make sure they have a good life here in San Diego with the high cost of living, all our transportation issues, homelessness. I decided to run to represent those like me and to make sure collectively we have a voice at the county level. And, that we can gain access to that $1 billion county budget and to ensure we get our fair share of those resources,” she said.
Jacobs said though she lives in Del Cerro, her family owned a cabin in Pine Valley and grew up with her dad camping and traversing the entirety of District 2 in the backcountry and rural areas, and hiking on all the trails.
“I am passionate about protecting our open spaces in East County. The Cleveland National Forest is beautiful. Even though I do not live in the unincorporated and rural areas in the district, I am very familiar with those communities with my family’s property out there,” she said.
Jacobs said one of her priorities is housing/homelessness issues.
“We have the largest population of unhoused in District 2. On the homelessness side and also the rising costs of housing, it is pushing people further out because it is where reasonable housing exists. We get secondary issues because of that such as massive congestion on all the highways and throughfares that go from East County to central cities where people work. The other large issue in District 2 is fire safety and the rising costs and availability of homeowner insurance. Wildfires are becoming more common and more destructive in East County. With recent legislation coming down from the state level, it is hard to get insurance for your house,” she said.
Jacobs said her third priority is the fentanyl drug crisis.
“It is happening all over, but there are pockets in East County that have gotten out of control,” she said, adding she has a friend in El Cajon who talks about homeless individuals openly using drugs in the streets. “That is a huge issue from a public safety standpoint, and something that we need to focus on. We need to find financing for programs that have been successful from the county in the east areas to address that. It is a much bigger problem, but we can tackle pieces of it to make it better for the residents here.”
Jacobs said the migrant crisis has been a challenge for East County because it has several communities on the border.
“The Border Patrol’s air facilities in Jamul, Jacumba, it was a big burden on the community. The communities rose to the occasion, but I do not feel like that should have had to do that.”
