Gloria Allies Elevate Sole Republican in Mayor Race in Hopes of Sidelining Other Democratic Candidates

Pro-Gloria PAC sent this mailer out promoting Jane Glasson, the only Republican in the mayor’s race.

Editordude: Here’s two different articles just published by local media in how Mayor Gloria’s friends are promoting the sole Republican in the race in order to sideline the other two Democratic candidates running against him. The first is by Michael Smolens in today’s U-T and the other is by Alberto Garcia at La Prensa.

Pro-Gloria committee elevates GOP opponent

By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / Feb. 14, 2024

Jane Glasson wasn’t really considered in the mix among viable mayoral primary election candidates — until now.

The special education assistant is being promoted in a mailer financed by the New San Diego committee, which supports the re-election of Mayor Todd Gloria.

The flyer has an anti-crime theme and claims to be a “Republican Voter Alert.” The piece features photos of and quotes from former President Donald Trump, U.S. Senate candidate and former baseball star Steve Garvey, and Glasson, the lone GOP candidate in the mayor’s race.

Replete with the heading “Team MAGA,” the piece could be mistaken for a generic Republican slate mailer. They were sent to households of Republican voters. They carry the legally required information that they were paid for by New San Diego, though there’s no description of what that is. The committee is headed up by attorney Gil Cabrera, whom Gloria appointed chair of the San Diego Airport Authority

The goal is clear: to boost the little-known candidate into second place in the March 5 primary, which would send Glasson to the November election where she would face the Democratic incumbent.

That would knock out candidates who are perceived to be bigger election threats to the mayor — Geneviéve Jones-Wright, a Democrat and social justice advocate, and Larry Turner, a San Diego police officer who is registered as “No Party Preference.”

What kind of challenge Turner and Jones-Wright pose remains to be seen. They have raised a fraction of the money Gloria and the independent committees supporting him have. In the one public poll of the campaign so far, they trail the mayor by wide margins, as does Glasson.

But they have higher profiles than Glasson, who ran for City Council in 2022, and have attracted more media attention, while gaining some notable endorsements.

If either advanced to November, they would need a lot more to upset Gloria. Still, Turner and Jones-Wright have established visible campaigns and, whatever the odds of their potential for victory, at the very least could give the mayor a political headache into the fall.

It’s questionable whether Glasson could even do that, running in the heavily Democratic city with minimal resources and not much of a campaign so far, or even a website.

Maneuvering to face the candidate believed to be easiest to defeat in the general election is a time-honored, if disputed, campaign tactic. It happens in elections at all levels, including City Council, U.S. Senate and governor.

A San Diego political establishment clique involving some of the same players successfully did that to help Councilmember Jennifer Campbell win re-election in 2022.

Campbell faced a tough challenge from Lori Saldaña, the former Democratic Assembly member. An independent campaign not only attacked Saldaña, but promoted Republican Linda Lukacs, who finished second in the primary. The election essentially was over in the primary, and Campbell’s easy November win a mere formality.

More recently, there was some hue and cry over Rep. Adam Schiff’s U.S. Senate campaign ads that state there are “two leading candidates,” him and Garvey.

That set off Schiff’s Democratic opponents, Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter, the latter of whom accused Schiff of “boxing out qualified Democratic women candidates.”

Garvey, the former Los Angeles Dodger and San Diego Padre, is well-known, but likely would be viewed as weaker than any of the three major Democrats in a November showdown in deep blue California. The Schiff ad criticizes Garvey as a conservative who has voted for Trump.

In the local 75th Assembly District race, radio talk-show host Carl DeMaio, a Republican, is running positive ads about the Democratic Party-endorsed candidate, Kevin Juza. The ad ignores Kevin Hayes, who is endorsed by the Republican Party, and Republican Jack Fernandes, along with three other Democrats.

The strategy may vary, but there have been countless examples over the years of candidates trying to pick their general election opponent.

The Glasson piece does not mention any of the other mayoral candidates. The closest it comes to criticism is a general comment attributed to Jessica Patterson, chair of the California Republican Party, who is quoted railing against “pro-criminal policies” and that “under failed Democratic rule, there will be no end in sight.”

Tommy Hough, who has run twice for San Diego City Council, posted photos of the mailer on X and chastised Gloria.

“I’m a long-time #Democrat, so it’s disappointing to see local Dems. behaving badly. In this case, the mayor is apparently petrified of running against @GJonesWright , so his #NewSanDiego #PAC is elevating a GOP mayoral candidate with a #Mailer that also promotes Trump. Not classy.”

Actually, Turner seems more the target. A poll last month by SurveyUSA showed Turner draws notable support from Republicans. (Further, the New San Diego committee is challenging whether Turner has valid residency in the city of San Diego, according to Scott Lewis of the Voice of San Diego.)

In a head-to-head matchup, Gloria had support from 46 percent of likely voters compared with 28 percent for Turner, according to the poll. Forty-nine percent of Turner’s voters were Republicans, 14 percent Democrats and 35 percent independents. Gloria’s backers were 69 percent Democrats, 22 percent Republicans and 27 percent independents.

Against Jones-Wright, Gloria led 44 percent to 28 percent overall. The mayor’s voters were 64 percent Democrats, 24 percent Republicans and 28 percent independents. Jones-Wright’s supporters were 19 percent Democrats, 38 percent Republicans and 38 percent independents.

There was no direct matchup with Glasson.

In the primary lineup, the poll has Gloria with 34 percent and four people with 4 percent — Jones-Wright, Turner, Glasson and Thomas Nguyen. Nguyen was included in the poll though he was disqualified from the ballot. Candidate Daniel Smiechowski received 2 percent.

The New San Diego campaign appears to be attempting to siphon more Republican votes from Turner and, to a lesser degree, perhaps Jones-Wright.

Though the poll shows Gloria with strong support from liberals, the mayor lately has taken a harder line on fighting crime and touted his support for police.

If Glasson doesn’t emerge as a top-two finisher, Gloria would seemingly have a clearer contrast with Jones-Wright, who has advocated changes in police practices. On his website, Turner contends “poor policy, not poor policing is at fault for much of our problems on the street.”

Jones-Wright has been critical of both.

In any case, a lot of voters may be just now starting to make up their minds about the mayoral primary. Nearly half of those polled by SurveyUSA were undecided.

***

Gloria Supporters Send Out Pro-Republican Mailer to Game Election

By Alberto Garcia / La Prensa / Feb. 13, 2024

Political flyers hitting mailboxes this week ask Republicans to vote for Donald Trump for President, former baseball player Steve Garvey for US Senator, and Jane Glasson for San Diego Mayor, but the pieces were sent out by a pro-Todd Gloria political action committee seemingly trying to game who ends up in the General Election against the current Mayor.

New San Diego, a political group headed by San Diego lawyer Gil Cabrera, was set up in 2021 after Gloria became Mayor. Cabrera was appointed by Gloria to serve on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

The group has raised money from Democrats, labor unions, and developers with interests before the City and is now spending money to promote a little-known Republican for Mayor to drive votes away from another challenger Gloria’s team may think is more dangerous to his re-election: San Diego Police officer Larry Turner.

The mail piece, titled “Team MAGA”, features Trump, Garvey, and Glasson, and highlights Glasson as “the only Republican for San Diego Mayor.”

New San Diego reported spending $89,580.84 on a “direct mailer, including costs of polling” benefiting Glasson on February 9th.

Glasson is the only Republican in the field of seven candidates running for Mayor but she has raised no money for her campaign and is not even endorsed by her own Party.

Turner, a former US Marine officer and now a San Diego Police officer, is registered as an independent but has been drawing support among Republicans and Independent voters.

Political observers agree that the pro-Gloria political action committee clearly sees Turner as a bigger threat based on this mailer and their expenditure on a private investigator to look into Turner.

New San Diego reported spending $5,000 late last year to look into Turner’s residency in San Diego. The group claims Turner did not meet the City’s requirement to be a registered voter in the City at least 30 days before filing to run for office.

This week, a lawsuit was filed by local attorney Bob Ottilie challenging Turner’s candidacy based on this residency.

Turner registered to vote at an East Village condo last year while his wife and young children lived in their family home in El Cajon. Turner then changed his registration to an Ocean Beach address in late November, but the lawsuit claims Turner did not meet the legal requirements of residency when he filed to run for Mayor in early December.

The candidates for Mayor filed their latest fundraising report for the period ending January 20th.

In their recent filings, Gloria reported having $346,907 on hand, Turner reported having $22,109, and Glasson did not report raising any money for her campaign.

New San Diego reported raising over $402,00 in 2023 and ended the year with $300,000 in the bank. Its next report is not due until July for the period covering January to June.

Contributors last year included $20,000 from Chelsea Development, which is part of the development group Gloria picked for the rebuilding of the Sports Arena complex; $30,000 from a PAC funded by Airbnb that pushed for more short-term rentals in San Diego; $10,000 from Lennar Corp., one of the largest home builders in the US; $35,000 from Sycuan; $49,000 from Badiee Development that builds warehouses in Otay Mesa; $10,000 from Manpower San Diego staffing company; and $20,000 from labor unions.

All of those companies are restricted from donating directly to Todd Gloria’s re-election campaign which can only accept contributions from individuals and a maximum contribution limit of $1,350 per election.

Gloria is running for re-election for a second term on the March 5th Primary Election ballot. In addition to Glasson and Turner, the other candidates in the race are Genevieve Jones-Wright, Athena Johnson, Thomas Nguyen, and Dan Smiechowski.

The two candidates who received the most votes will continue to the General Election in November. Under the City’s election laws, no candidate can win the election in the primary election regardless of how many votes they may receive.