By Arturo Castañares / La Prensa / March 25, 2024
It’s now apparent that a majority of San Diego voters are shopping for a new Mayor after Todd Gloria fell to less than 50% in last week’s primary election.
The incumbent Mayor seeking re-election now joins a list of damaged mayors who failed to garner more than half of the vote in a primary and limped into a head-to-head matchup where voters seemed willing to make a change at the top to push the City into a new direction.
On Election Day last week, Gloria ended the night with 52.54% of the vote against four relatively unknown and completely underfunded -if not unfunded- opponents.
Although some of Gloria’s supporters ran a trickster campaign to prop up the only Republican in the race and draw a weaker general election opponent, Gloria ended up in a runoff against retired US Marine Lt. Colonel and current SDPD police officer Larry Turner, a registered independent.
Turner spent about $7,000 and netted more than 60,000 votes, only spending about 11 1/2 cents per vote.
Gloria’s vote percentage fell with each count update and, this week, with all but a few ballots left to be counted, Gloria tumbled to 49.99% of the vote.
The Mayor’s lackluster performance in a re-election primary is comparable to only two other incumbent mayors in the last 50 years; Dick Murphy and Roger Hedgecock, and neither one of them ended up finishing their second term.
Dick Murphy was elected Mayor in November 2000 after beating then-County Supervisor Ron Roberts. Murphy, a former banker and judge, replaced two-term Mayor Susan Golding.
But by the time Murphy ran for re-election in 2004, the City’s finances were in trouble after Golding had drained the City’s coffers -and underfunded the pension system- to fund hosting the 1996 Republican National Convention.
Murphy ran for re-election in a five-person Primary against Roberts, businessman Peter Q. Davis, community activist Jim Bell, and Councilwoman Donna Frye, who ran as a write-in candidate.
Mayor Murphy only mustered 40.25% of the vote to Roberts’ 29.44% and then barely won the General Election by a close 51.6% to 48.3%.
But just a few months into his second term, the politically wounded Murphy abruptly resigned his office, prompting a special election to replace him where former police chief Jerry Sanders eventually beat Donna Frye in a runoff election.
Twenty years before Murphy’s re-election, Mayor Roger Hedgecock also fell below 50% in his re-election bid and eventually resigned the following year after being convicted of felony campaign violations.
Hedgecock had first been elected in a May 1983 special election to replace three-term Mayor Pete Wilson after he became a US Senator in November 1982.
Already a two-term County Supervisor when he ran for Mayor, Hedgecock ran for re-election as Mayor amid an investigation into allegations he funneled illegal contributions into his first mayoral campaign.
Hedgecock received just 46.9% of the vote against former journalist and banker Dick Carlsen who received 37.6%. Hedgecock later defeated Carlson with 57.8% of the vote in the November 1984 General Election.
But the following year, Hedgecock stood trial on several felony charges related to over $350,000 in illegal contributions funneled into his campaign and was later convicted of 12 counts of perjury.
Hedgecock resigned the Mayor’s office in December 1985.
Since 1975, Pete Wilson, Maureen O’Conner, Susan Golding, Jerry Sanders, and Kevin Faulconer all received more than 50% of the vote in their respective primary re-election campaigns, some even reaching as high as 78.3% as Golding did in her March 1996 Primary win.
All of this is not to say that Todd Gloria can’t win re-election -both Hedgecock and Murphy did- but their weak primary election performances foretold more serious outcomes that would later befall them.
Gloria is facing a first-time candidate in Turner who served 28 years in the US Marines and now more than eight years as a San Diego Police officer.
But Turner’s outsider status, law and order background, and his critical attacks on Gloria’s connections to the 101 Ash Street building debacle, city budget crisis, and longterm pension insolvency could convince voters to take a chance on the newcomer especially when the five-time-elected Gloria’s record doesn’t seem worthy of yet another term in office.
San Diegans have lived through political scandals -and scoundrels- and have responded by withholding their votes when they think they’ve seen enough to make a change.
Todd Gloria is now not only facing a potentially challenging opponent but he’ll have to outrun a political fate that claimed two of his predecessors whose pictures still hang in City Hall as daily reminders of the fickle nature of San Diego politics.
Once again, great reportage by La Prensa.
I have a different take on this. I don’t think Mr. Turner stands a chance against Gloria and that is not a personal reflection on him. Geneviéve Jones-Wright would have been a much more formidable opponent this fall. I think that once people learned more about her, they would have favored her over Gloria. I think the attack on Turner’s residency – which has yet to be completely resolved – was intended to get sympathy votes for Turner and bleed voters away from Jones-Wright. They didn’t need a lot, just enough to defeat her.
“Geneviéve Jones-Wright would have been a much more formidable opponent this fall. I think that once people learned more about her, they would have favored her over Gloria.” – Totally agree!
There was a 7% or 18k+ vote difference between Turner and Jones-Wright. I didn’t see her splitting off enough on a head to head against Gloria. So Todd’s supporters went after Turner to help Turner and eliminate Jones-Wright? IDK, but 27% of the primary has to vote for someone else. How much of the right comes out with Glasson out? Do they smell blood? And how badly damaged will Todd be with Ash St., infrastructure, and now Midway Rising tarnish on his hands? I think Turner has a shot.
A pro Gloria group ad supporting Glasson from LaPrensa on X
https://twitter.com/LaPrensaSD/status/1757587846922424758/photo/1
Vote for Larry Turner. He’s had hi level experience with budgets after retiring 23 yrs. from the USMC as a Lt. Col. His assigned work location as a Community Resource Officer for SDPD, is the homeless population in the downtown area. He’s interested in a lot of things going wrong in the City of SD. He ran his campaign on peanuts. He has no desire to compete in a career of politics. He wants to bail out SD and get the City back on a common sense track. He’s not beholden to developers and won’t be. Larry wants to hear from the people, straight from the horses mouth on City wide issues. Thank back about what all Gloria has done TO the City of SD. Larry Turner is all about doing FOR the City of SD. He’s a true leader, and has common sense.
Sorry Pats but I’m not voting for a cop (who’s also obviously a Republican and probably spends his days badgering homeless who have no wear else to go) and I’m guessing no other GJW voters too. Todd will win this in a walk, we should all recognize that.
So, Jane, sounds like you’re voting for Todd. Turner is the protest candidate, the anti-Gloria candidate. Todd couldn’t even get 50% of the vote in the primary. Did you vote for Gloria the first time around? I supported Bry.
Sorry I thought I made clear I voted for GWJ. I don’t know if I’ll vote for Todd or not but I certainly won’t be voting for a cop? Just about the most un-progressive thing you could do. I voted for Todd in 2020 but have been disappointed by how much of a Republican he’s governed like (so why would I possibly vote for A COP).
Frank I’m a little confused, why are you asking me who I voted for but you said you “supported” Bry?
I was asking about Gloria’s first run for mayor, that’s all. I voted for Genevieve also. See, we agree on something at least.
How did you vote for her when you’ve lived in Lemon Grove since at least 2010 (when you hilariously tried to get on the OBTC despite not living in OB since the Clinton administration, here’s the link for those who haven’t seen it before – https://shorturl.at/fsvIZ ).
The gall you’ve got to tell people in our beach community how to vote, how to act, what’s right and what’s wrong when you haven’t lived by the beach for 30 years is crazy Frank.
Why aren’t you up front about this? Why do you lie to everyone? Why don’t you stay out of our business and we won’t tell you how to do your thing in Lemon Grove.
OMG Jane!!! And you call yourself a “progressive?” I haven’t heard this shitty trope for years and your comment was approved, even though it’s insulting, because I liked that article you linked to, plus I’m proud of my history and that of the OB Rag. “Why do you lie to everyone?” Wow. Who are you? How do we know you live at the beach? Oh, BTW, the OBTC allowed business owners on the board – my business just happened to be the Rag and it was in my laptop.
Here’s my answer: for years, no decades, one of OBceans’ favorite businesses on Newport was the OB Hardware store (before it was sold a few years ago) and you know where the owner lived, Jane? In Spring Valley. So, why don’t you continue to firmly place your head and brain in the sand and leave the rest of us alone.
Why don’t you provide some details about yourself like how long have you lived in OB? I guarantee that Frank’s history with Ocean Beach dwarfs anything you have to say.
You sound like a troll of which there have been a few recently. I guess someone out there is pissed off at The Rag. Good.
I was mistaken; I supported her, wrote articles on her, but did not vote for her.
Jane, that was the most “unprogressive” and possibly the most hypocritical thing I’ve read here in awhile. Rip on all the bad cops you’d like, but if God forbid someone breaks a window tonight to get into your place you’re not calling 911?
Why would you NOT vote for a former Cop? Who would know just how broken the system is from an insiders perspective than an overworked San Diego Police Officer serving in an abhorrently understaffed San Diego Police Dept? SDPD has one of the highest turnover rates in the nation. I have a lot of issues with the SDPD Brass and BS backroom deals, exploiting imperfect dragnet surveillance. There are a lot of problems to address. That being necessarily said, I, nor would any progressive that I know disqualify someone, anyone, from running for office because the served their communities as a Police Officer; especially based solely on the fact that they were a cop? Ludicrous and elitist to say the least.
But you’ll have no qualms about knowingly voting for an incumbent backroom politician that has proven to be apologetically mismanaging City Hall on a massive scale?
SDPD have promoted Wahl from within. So I have every intention of giving the guy a fair shake. Take a good look at the monumental reality of what this guy has agreed to try and take on.
I am all about holding bad cops accountable. I am critical of and the power the union has. I believe strongly too that officers should do a lot more to police themselves. I have had a lot of issues with the SDPD Brass, and BS backroom deals, exploiting imperfect dragnet surveillance. But we only have one SDPD and maybe this could be a way to restore community policing, officers residing in the neighborhoods on their beat, the policies that Norm Stamper implemented that gave birth to block parties citywide, civic pride, mentorship programs, midnight basketball leagues, healthy engagement with the communities of San Diego.
Norm Stamper and I – a radical – were friends.
Stamper’s innovative community based policing made it possible for the San Diego Police Department to re-establish the trust and confidence that facilitated the collaboration with the communities of this city to turn the page on the raging crime and violence of the crack epidemic/crystal meth capital of the world era. Problem solver, and a San Diego Police veteran of 30 + years too.
You may know this: Stamper became the police chief for Seattle, after being passed up here in San Diego.
Yes. Stamper has also been very candid, honest and accountable for the failure of his leadership when the Seattle Police Department responded to the ’99 WTO Summit protests. By responding with an overly aggressive paramilitary posture, the Seattle PD agitated, and aggravated an already volatile situation instead of de-escalating it as he put it (paraphrasing as I remember it from a documentary), “I am completely responsible, I made some horrible decisions and I am the one that mishandled the situation.”
In all fairness to Stamper, buck-stopping accountability is something we rarely see in anyone these days.
Thanks for the reminder.
What is unprogressive about voting for a policeman?
In this day and age, I think we are lucky to have the ones that we do.
When I was burglarized – my garage – last year, two officers had to come to take the report at 3 a.m. in the morning because they were so short staffed.
If you ask me, I might say it was unprogressive to vote for a career politician who takes a lot of corporate money. So I don’t anymore.
I look forward to voting for Larry Turner.
His website is clear, and he asks us – the actual residents and voters –
what our issues are. I just put a question to it, and expect I will actually
hear back from someone; not even some robo letter (of the sort I receive from all the other politicians, usually).
Though I believe it is extremely difficult to stay “clean” once in office here in America, it appears to me that he actually might.
I have been acknowledged when contacting them.
Deregulating San Diego Senate Bill 10
“… The SB 10 bullet we dodged was peddled as “Missing Middle Housing” by City Hall.
It wasn’t, and here’s why it matters…
In 2023 Mayor Gloria intended San Diego to be the first California city to “opt-in” to Senate Bill 10 (SB 10). Thankfully, he was eventually forced to remove SB 10 from Housing Action Package 2.0 as the details of this irrevocable state law became public.
Parroting the Mayor and the Planning Department, building industry proponents argued that SB 10 would deliver “Missing Middle Housing.”
For those unfamiliar with the term, “Missing Middle Housing” represents duplexes, classic row houses, townhomes, and properly-scaled apartment buildings, all seamlessly blending in with the surrounding neighborhoods, incrementally adding density closest to transit corridors.
Using this term to market and sugarcoat SB 10 was no accident. And since SB 10 may be resurrected after the November elections, we thought it worthwhile to explain…”
https://www.neighborsforabettersandiego.org/so/afOvYlU8o?languageTag=en&cid=f714ebb4-bb4c-436f-a9c3-a8db07860c6f
Let’s not forget Jennifer Campbell’s 29.8% showing in the primary last election.
The worst showing for an incumbent since 1961, where George Kerrigan got only 29.5% of the vote.