The San Diego County Board of Supervisors today elected Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer as Chair of the Board, placing the recently re-elected Supervisor at the helm during a year of growing federal chaos, authoritarian threats, and historic budget cuts from Washington. Her appointment cements San Diego’s role as a bulwark against federal chaos — standing up for families and rights at a time when national institutions are failing.

“I’m honored to serve as Chair at this pivotal time,” said Chair Lawson-Remer. “We’re going to protect what matters most: healthcare, public safety, clean air and water, housing, and the basic rights and freedoms that define who we are.”

Building a Forcefield Around San Diego

Lawson-Remer takes on the Chair role as the Board begins to implement the agenda outlined in her April State of the County Address: a clear commitment to stand up for working and middle-class families and protect San Diego from the worst impacts of federal disinvestment and rising authoritarianism:

• Doubling mental health and addiction care capacity through the Care Before Crisis plan, expanding treatment slots to 32,000.
• Taking Big Polluters, Big Pharma, and Big Tech to court — targeting toxic waste and “forever chemicals”, ghost guns, youth mental health exploitation, and opioid profiteering.
• Defending access to healthcare and food assistance, protecting Medi-Cal and CalFresh eligibility so San Diegans don’t lose healthcare or food security because of paperwork backlogs and political attacks.
• Upholding constitutional rights for everyone in San Diego County, including an expanded Immigrant Legal Defense Program that ensures due process applies to all residents, regardless of where they were born.
• Fighting to clean up the environmental disaster in the Tijuana River Valley — cleaning up the toxic mess and securing long-term infrastructure fixes to protect clean air and safe water for San Diego families.
• Launching a County-run Medicaid health plan to protect access to care for nearly one million residents while reducing insurance profiteering.
• Creating a County Consumer Protection and Corporate Accountability Watchdog Unit to protect working families and small businesses as federal oversight collapses.
• Reforming outdated County reserve policies to provide a stability bridge through federal cuts, keeping public health, emergency response, and safety net services operating.
• Securing long-term and locally-controlled funding to safeguard healthcare, housing, clean air and water, public safety, and care services from political gridlock in Washington.

“Our government isn’t a tool for the powerful, it’s a shield for the people,” said Chair Lawson-Remer. “San Diegans stood up, demanded a government that works for us, and they won. As Chair, I promise we will do everything in our power to protect healthcare, housing, clean water and air, public safety — everything we are building together.”

About Chair Terra Lawson-Remer: Chair Lawson-Remer is a third-generation San Diegan — economist, attorney, community organizer, and educator. She has worked alongside local communities to expand healthcare, protect clean air and water, defend civil rights, hold corporate power accountable, and deliver for working and middle-class families. As Chair, she will lead San Diego’s defense of basic dignity and a future where public power serves the public good.