Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton joins Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis, Jakob McWhinney and Bella Ross at Politifest 2026 for a wide-ranging conversation. Topics include his path to winning, immigration enforcement, housing, environmental review, energy and climate, and AI policy. The session ends with audience and student questions.

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San Diego City Council District 2 candidates Nicole Crosby and Richard Bailey debate at Politifest 2026, moderated by Voice of San Diego's Scott Lewis. Each opens with a presentation on housing, homelessness, infrastructure and the city budget. They then take on short-term rentals, where to build, Midway Rising, the Ocean Beach Pier, trash collection and pensions.

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On this week's episode of the VOSD Podcast, we were joined by state Assemblymember Chris Ward to discuss a host of issues we are facing today.

Also, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria announced this week that he is hiring a chief operating officer. His choice is Bethany Bezak, the city’s chief of analytics and performance. The decision reverses months of insistence that he would run city operations himself.

A Conversation with Chris Ward

Midway Rising, the proposed redevelopment of 50 acres of city land at the sports arena site, seems to be one step closer to reality.

Assemblymember Ward explained why he supported state legislation shielding the project’s environmental review from lawsuits, which he said could otherwise delay it by years.

The episode also covered a story that broke the morning of the recording. Public records show a development firm floated a 400-megawatt data center on the Navy’s NAVWAR property near Midway. It would be the largest in California.

Ward also discussed his surveillance pricing bill, which he plans to reintroduce in December, and a renewed push for the City Council to cancel the city’s Flock license plate reader contract amid privacy concerns. Ward also outlined the challenge of regulating artificial intelligence at the state level, and he highlighted a new journalism tax credit he helped pass.

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