South San Diego County politics are different. Rougher. More personal. And far less predictable than elsewhere.

That’s especially true in two key mayoral races this year.

In Chula Vista, long-serving Republican Mayor John McCann faces a challenge from Chula Vista Elementary School District Trustee Francisco Tamayo, a Democrat.

In National City, two Democrats with very different priorities – city councilmembers Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez – are battling with the city’s basic fiscal solvency on the line. Two other candidates, political organizer Jacobb Castrejon and National City Treasurer R. Mitchel Beauchamp, are also in the race.

In both cities, business interests are squaring off against organized labor. Though a majority of voters in both cities are Democrats, most of those voters are Latinos – whose political allegiances are fluid and hard to predict.

This year, Voice of San Diego is hosting a special South County edition of our annual Politifest public affairs gathering.

Come hear National City and Chula Vista mayoral candidates present their solutions to their cities’ pressing problems, including budgets, homelessness and housing.

The South County Solutions Showdown takes place at 6 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center in National City.