It’s ‘Official’: Democrats Saldana, Day, Havlik and Republican Lukacs to Take On Campbell in District 2

New District 2 boundaries. PB was removed and eastern Clairemont was added.

It’s all official now. We’re reached the filing deadline for San Diego City Council races and we now know who is running for District 2.

In what the San Diego Union-Tribune is calling “a major showdown in District 2”, former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña “is mounting a late Democrat-versus-Democrat challenge to incumbent Councilmember Jennifer Campbell ….”

Saldana is joined in the Democrat field trying to unseat Campbell by former city administrator Joel Day and neighborhood leader Mandy Havlik. Dentist Linda Lukacs is the sole Republican challenger in the district.

The U-T:

The Campbell-versus-Saldaña battle in District 2 prompted the county Democratic Party to decline, for the first time in at least two decades, to endorse an incumbent San Diego City Council member who is a registered Democrat.

U-T reporter David Garrick surmised:

• Day has a large fundraising advantage over the other challengers,
• Saldaña has name recognition and support from party leaders. She served in the Assembly from 2004 to 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for mayor, county supervisor and Congress.
• Havlik’s anti-development message could resonate with coastal voters;
• Lukacs could benefit from being the only registered Republican in the race.
• Campbell has been endorsed by Mayor Todd Gloria, Rep. Scott Peters and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.

In each race, the candidates who finish first and second in the June primary will advance to a November runoff — even if the first-place finisher in the primary receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

Apparently figuring she is the frontrunner against Campbell, Garrick summarized Saldaña’s criticisms of Campbell:

• the incumbent hasn’t been responsive enough to requests and concerns from her constituents;
• because of the new redistricting, Saldaña has represented all of the new District 2 in the Assembly, while the district Campbell has been representing since 2018 is significantly different from the new District 2;
• vacation rental rules crafted by Campbell have not satisfied many residents;
• the pathway to achieving a street vendor compromise included Campbell and other San Diego officials stirring up lots of angst across the city.