San Diego Democrats Dominate in Local Contests

By Doug Porter /San Diego Free Press – OB Rag

San Diego Democrats came away with an impressive set of victories in the 2016 general elections, though you wouldn’t have known it from all the glum faces at election central on Tuesday night.

The implications of their party’s loss at the top of the ticket ruined the night for most folks. The question remaining now is how effective Democrats in San Diego and California will be in the face of a tidal wave of reaction coming out of Washington DC.

How bad is it? It’s so bad that Congressman Duncan Hunter, Jr has emerged as one of those being vetted for a position in Trump administration’s Department of Defense.

I’m taking reports about San Diego having one of the highest voter turnout rates in the nation (regardless, it was good) with a large grain of salt. The two paper ballots issued to voters because of the many contests may have caused some confusion with the Registrar of Voters.

San Diegans elected the first woman/Latina City Attorney by a large margin. Democrats maintained a majority on the City Council. Progressive Georgette Gomez will represent District 9, having fended off a Democratic challenger backed by traditionally Republican interests.

Not a happy victory party

Dave Roberts kept his seat on the Board of Supervisors, and Democrats now believe they could win a majority on that body by 2020.

Congressman Scott Peters, Congresswoman Susan Davis, and Congressman Juan Vargas are returning to Washington, and Doug Applegate scared the shit out of Darrell Issa.

Toni Atkins, Lorena Gonzalez, Shirley Weber, and Todd Gloria will be the Democratic team from San Diego in Sacramento, and they could play a large role in protecting the rights that Californians hold so dear.

Democrats took the mayor’s seat Encinitas, their first seat on the La Mesa City Council since the 1990’s and dozens of council seats in North and South County and small cities all over the region.

The most symbolic local measure, namely the attempt to get San Diegans to subsidize a sports franchise by building a stadium, was crushed at the polls.

Voting Results
(With a few comments)

LOCAL MEASURES 

Percentages listed are those relevant to the outcome. There are still votes to be counted, but it’s unusual for the final results to change significantly. I, of course, will update in the event this happens.

= OB Rag and SDFP Endorsement
= OB Rag and SDFP Said Vote No (On Measures)

We endorsed (or didn’t) contests where editors and contributors had some working knowledge of the issues and the personalities involved. There were some races where we just opted to show the candidates. Thus, out of the 638 candidates appearing on various ballots throughout San Diego County and City, we only weighed in on 130+ of them, plus the thirty odd propositions and measures.

By my back-of-the-envelope calculations, 25 of the 28 measures SDFP endorsed won. We endorsed a total of 31 candidates; 24 of those were victorious.

We’re an all-volunteer organization doing what we do because we think it’s important to share progressive values.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY

Measure A – SANDAG Sales Tax
REJECTED 56.94% (? Needed)

Measure B – Ballot Box Zoning (Lilac Hills)
REJECTED 64.18%

SAN DIEGO CITY

Measure C – Buy the Billionaire a Stadium
REJECTED 57.04%

Measure D – Briggs/ Hall Tourism Proposal
REJECTED 59.76%

Measure E – Replace the Mayor Procedure
PASSED 86.59%

Measure F – Deputy City Attorney Good Cause Protection
PASSED 68.07%

Measure G – Rename Police Civilian Review Board
PASSED 81.98%

Measure H – City Purchasing Rules
PASSED 77.29%

Measure I- San Diego High School / Balboa Park
PASSED 77.00%

Measure J – Shift Park Funding Mission Bay to Balboa
PASSED 71.23%

Measure K – All Candidate Races Finalized in November
PASSED 58.35%

Measure L – Ballot Measures To Be Moved to November Ballot
PASSED 65.53%

Measure M- Increases cap on Affordable Housing
PASSED 65.68%

Measure N – City Tax on Pot
PASSED 68.47%

OTHER LOCAL MEASURES

Measure O – Carlsbad Fire Station
PASSED 71.43%

Measure P – Chula Vista Sales Tax to fix stuff
PASSED 67.40%

Measure Q – Del Mar sales tax to fix stuff
PASSED 67.30%

Measure R – Del Mar voter approval for developments larger than 25,000 Sq ft.
REJECTED 52.66%

Measure S – El Cajon, City Council Districts
PASSED 68.11%

Measure T – Encinitas, Update to General Plan Allowing Increased Density
PASSED 55.91%

Measure U – La Mesa Medical Marijuana ordinance (Regulating)
PASSED 51.65%

Measure V – Lemon Grove Medical Marijuana ordinance (Regulating)
REJECTED 51.70%

Measure W – Poway. Allows Sunroad to build a hotel
REJECTED 52.02%

Measure X – Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Bond
PASSED 51.74%

Measure MM- Miracosta Community College Bond
PASSED 62.24%

Measure Z– Southwestern Community College Bond
PASSED 68.75%

Measure BB- Grossmont Union High School District
PASSED 57.95%

Measure CC– Term Limits for Sweetwater School Board
PASSED 85.42%

Measure HH – National City Schools $30 million in bonds for repairs
PASSED 81.67%

For information on other local ballot measures, go here.

CITY COUNCILS AND ADMINISTRATIONS

Victor in boldface. Parties, where relevant, are color coded: Red=GOP, Blue=Dems
SDFP Endorsements indicated by emoji

SAN DIEGO

Board of Supervisors
Dave Roberts 50.87%
Kristin Gaspar 49.13%

City Council, District 1
Barbara Bry 66.17%
Ray Ellis 33.83%

City Council, District 9
Georgette Gomez 52.55%
Ricardo Flores 47.55%

City Attorney
Mara Elliott 56.67%
Robert Hickey 43.33%

NATIONAL CITY

City Council (Two Seats)
Alejandra Sotelo-Solis 27.78%
Jerry Cano 19.15%
Jose Rodriguez 16.50%
Luis Nativitad 16.25%
Candy Morales 11.87%
David Garcia 8.45%

LA MESA

City Council (Two Seats)
Colin Parent 34.82%
Christine Alessio 35.57%
Ruth Sterling 30.11%

LEMON GROVE

Mayor
George Gastil 42.42%
Teresa Rosiak 15.54%
Raquel Vasquez 42.05%

City Council (Two Seats)
David Arambula 21.94%
Matt Mendoza 21.28%
Steve Brown 15.01%
Charlene McAdory 7.39%
Jerry Selby 15.27%
Michael E Summers 14.82%
Glenn A Thornton, Jr 4.30%

CHULA VISTA

City Council, District 3
Steve Padilla 55.98%
Jason Paguio 44.02%

City Council, District 4
Mike Diaz 51.04%
Rudy Ramirez 48.96%

ENCINITAS

Mayor
Catherine Blakespeare 67.30%
Paul Gaspar 32.70%

ESCONDIDO

City Council District 3
Olga Diaz 59.06%
Jose Garcia 40.94%

IMPERIAL BEACH

City Council: (Two Seats)
Mark West 27.67%
Robert Patton 25.32%
Julie Behrens 12.52%
Moises Camacho 9.76%
Tim O’Neal 17.31%
Michelle Sanchez-Huffman 7.42%

OCEANSIDE City Council (Two Seats)

Esther Sanchez 24.24%
Linda Gonzales 17.23%
Victor Roy 10.16%
Jack Heller 22.18%
Steve Hasty 13.22%
Ward O’Doherty 10.19%
Daniel Dumouchel 2.77%

OCEANSIDE City Treasurer:

Nadine Scott 47.02%
Gary Ernst R-Deceased 52.98%

EDUCATION BOARDS AND DISTRICTS

Ones we covered

CV Elementary School Board Election

Seat 2
Armando Farias 32.43%
Michael D. Jackson 31.58%
Hans d’Oleire 5.22%
Willard “Doc” Howard 14.62%
Rosa Maria Robles 16.53%

Seat 4
Laurie Humphrey 59.83%
Glendora Tremper 40.17%

Grossmont Union High School District

Trustee Area 1
Chris Fite 31.36%
Steve Babbitt 26.53%
Richard Preciado 22.53%
Rolland Slade 19.58%

Trustee Area 2
Elva Salinas 33.56%
Kevin Conover 26.99%
Jim Stieringer 29.15%
Oday Yousif Jr 10.32%

National City School Board Election

Barbara Avalos 52.96%
Brian Clapper 30.49%
Sheryl Celladora 16.55%

San Ysidro School District

Irene Lopez 69.20%
Steven Kinney 30.80%

Southwestern College Board of Trustees

Seat 3
Roberto C. Alcantar 37.56%
Casey Tanaka 20.37%
Lei-Chala Wilson 10.04%
Lander Iriarte 5.98%
Bud McLeroy 26.05%

South Bay Union Elementary

Cheryl Quinones 35.87%
Barbara Elliot-Sanders 31.00%
Tom Schaff 20.43%
Kevin Drolet 12.69%

Sweetwater Unified High School

Kevin Pike 50.81%
Andrew Valencia 25.82%
Hector Romero 23.37%

San Diego Unified School District

District A
John Evans 69.01%
Stephen Groce 30.99%

District D
Richard Barrera 100%

District E
Sharon Whitehurst-Payne 55.70%
LaShea Collins 44.30%

San Diego County Board of Education

District 5
Rick Shea 50.46%
Mark Wyland 49.64%

San Diego Community College Board

District D
Mary Graham 65.00%
Alyce Pipkin-Allen 35.00%

Poway Unified School District (Top Two)

Kimberley Beatty 19.38%
Darshana Patel 20.26%
Nick Anastasopoulos 6.05%
Debra Cooper 16.16%
Jimmy Karam 10.00%
John Moriarty 5.91%
Terry Norwood 5.97%
Stanley Rodkin 5.77%
Carol Ware 10.50%

Palomar Community College Board (Top Three)

Nina Deerfield 21.12%
John Halcon 20.42%
Nancy Ann Hensch 22.01%
Rose Marie Dishman 15.02%
Tim Fillinger 14.64%
Keith Mikas 6.79%

WATER DISTRICTS

South Bay Irrigation District

Division 2
Jose Cerda 58.95%
John Vogel 41.05%

Division 3:
Jose Preciado 58.42%
Daniel Munoz 41.58%

Division 5
Jose Calderon Scott 54.34%
Ernie Zamudio 45.66%

Otay Water District

Division 2
Mitch Thompson 56.02%
Paula Whitsell 43.98%

Division 4
Hector Gastelum 56.11%
Jose Lopez 43.89%

Division 5
Mark Robak 56.68%
David Charles 43.32%

For information on other local contests, go here.

On This Day: 1919 – A confrontation between American Legionnaires and Wobblies during an Armistice Day Parade in Centralia, Wash., resulted in six deaths. One Wobbly reportedly was beaten, his teeth bashed in with a rifle butt, castrated and hanged: local officials listed his death as a suicide. 1989 – In Germany, Melissa Etheridge and Joe Cocker entertained Germans that were celebrating the newly tumbled Berlin Wall. 1993 – In Washington, DC, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated to honor the more than 11,000 women who had served in the Vietnam War.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe to “The Starting Line” and get an email every time a new article in this series is posted!

I read the Daily Fishwrap(s) so you don’t have to… Catch “the Starting Line” Monday thru Friday right here at San Diego Free Press (dot) org. Send your hate mail and ideas to DougPorter@SanDiegoFreePress.Org Check us out on Facebook and Twitter.