Here in brief are most of the San Diego City Primary unofficial results so far with only 22% of the ballots counted.
Mayor Gloria vs Larry Turner
It appears that Mayor Todd Gloria will have police officer turned upstart politician Larry Turner to face in November. Gloria has nearly 51% of the vote to Turner’s 24.3%. Genevieve Jones-Wright trailed a distant third with 14%. The only other Republican in the race was Jane Glasson who garnered nearly 7%.
Turner will now become the “protest” candidate and if he can collect enough support from the other candidates’ supporters, Gloria could be in serious trouble come November. It will likely turn on whether Turner and his upfront backing from arguably the most-well-known San Diegan — Bill Walton — can convince the progressive supporters of Jones-Wright to join them in the revolt against Gloria’s policies. Turner and Walton are big proponents of the Sunbreak Ranch solution to homelessness crisis — which is anathema to many San Diego progressives and liberals.
But Voice of San Diego reminds us:
Something to keep in mind: The lawsuit challenging Turner’s residency just got more interesting. Allies of Mayor Gloria accused Turner of not living in San Diego at the time he filed papers to run for mayor. He owns a home in East County but registered to vote last year using an address of a condo downtown. A judge last month ruled that he could remain on the ballot for the primary. A trial date is set for March 29. City leaders said if he is disqualified, the third-place finisher, which will be Geneviéve Jones-Wright, would move to the runoff.
Henry Foster Likely to Win Special Election in City Council District 4
With 53%, Henry Foster is likely to win the special election in District 4 to serve out Monica Montgomery-Steppe’s last year. Chida Warren-Darby received 27.3% so far, while Tylisa Suseberry has 19.6% up to now. The normal primary process does not apply to this race. So, Foster has such a substantial lead that it’s doubtful that either opponent will catch up.
Still Toss-Up Between Callen and Cusack to Face Whitburn in General for District 3
The race between the main two contenders for Stephen Whitburn’s District 3 seat is still too close. Either Coleen Cusack with 18.7% or Kate Callen with 17% at this point could still win the chance to run in the General. Whitburn did receive 54.3%. The only Republican in the race, Ellis Jones, got 10%.
Hoskins to Run Against Elo-Rivera in District 9
Politico-unknown Terry Hoskins so far is the likely contender against incumbent Sean Elo-Rivera in District 9. Elo-Rivera — the Council President — is the only incumbent council member running who has not even reached 50% yet in the count (he got 48%), while Hoskins has received 33.7% so far. The other challenger in the district race was Fernando Garcia who received 18.4%.
Incumbents in District 1, Joe Lacava, in District 5, Marni Von Wilpert and in District 7, Raul Campillo all walked away with their seats, as none had any challengers.
Campaigns Against City Hall
Much of the campaigning this season has been a revolt against City Hall – notably the policies of Todd Gloria — but also against certain sitting council members, Stephen Whitburn and Sean Elo-Rivera, who both could be trouble by November. The Turner and Jones-Wrights campaigns were certainly in response to Gloria and his controversies around the homeless and his push to alter the city’s rules and landscape in favor of the developer-elite. And Foster who will probably be sitting for District 4 is no fan of Gloria’s.
How all this plays out over the next, long 7 to 8 months will likely follow the trends so far this season.
In the San Diego City Attorney race Heather Ferbert has 52.3% to Brian Maienshein’s 47.7%. Both will run in the General.
The next unofficial results update will be posted at the San Diego Registrar of Voters on the following schedule:By 5 p.m., Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9. By 5 p.m., Monday/Wednesday/Friday, March 11 through March 15. Additional updates may occur at the discretion of the Registrar of Voters.
D9 could be very interesting come this fall with Garcia’s supporters. I don’t see Jones-Wright beating Gloria if Turner is tossed. The low voter turn out, especially in the city, is a wild card.
Editordude: an earlier version of this post erroneously called Whitburn’s district “4”; it’s District 3.
Elo-Rivera’s cohorts trying to drum up flood infrastructure money.
https://voiceofsandiego.org/2024/03/06/the-january-storms-prove-we-cant-put-off-funding-stormwater-infrastructure-anymore/#comment-26130
No to Elo-Rivera’s just slap a tax on it policy. It’s really disheartening when elected leaders fail, like Ash St, stick taxpayers for the bill, generally unknowingly by most, and then, when the money isn’t there, when it should have been, we add another tax to do the job that should have been done in the first place. They sign PLA’s and say “protect the infrastructure” when the infrastructure was, and is ignored, in this case, by routine maintenance. So you people, who want to ride this money train, can stick a fork in it, at the city dinner table on the taxpayers expense. It’s like the insurance premium that failed so the answer is to just pay more for maybe better results.
I sure wish Katie Porter would have won.
Katie Porter would have been a sparkling light in the Senate. Instead we got Dirty Trkcks Schiff.
And we wonder why Congress is so lousy at meeting the needs of the “average joe.”
Yeah, it’s sad, but Katie’s such a whiner. She spent 28 mil to Schiff’s 31 mil, and didn’t motivate people enough to vote for her on a low 22% turn out. The real key there is the messaging. Really, she needs to own her performance and not martyr deflect. She’s surely enough of a vet to know what she was up against. Barbra Lee’s response was classy, I thought.
Schiff will be a terrific opponent to Trump.
A Republican candidate needs the backdoor help of a Democrat to reach the November finals in a major statewide race.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-06/california-senate-primary-schiff-help-garvey-column
Katie tried it too. Wasn’t her first rodeo. Don’t bring a sack lunch to the jungle.
“the Sunbreak Ranch solution to homelessness crisis — which is anathema to many San Diego progressives and liberals”
Also to people who live in reality and don’t like scam artists/hucksters.
Going to disagree w/ Chris Schultz. What Schiff did was unforgivable! A democrat paying for ads for a GOP so that he didnt have to run against Porter?! What a snake move. Totally lost respect for him. And now her seat is up for grabs. Sure, he’ll likely beat Garvey in a Democratic state, but what an unethical win, imo. :-(
By that account, I would rate Schiff a genius, if you believe, that ad spending kept 75%+ of registered voters from voting. She walked away from her seat on this gamble, and might of had a chance if Barbara Lee wasn’t in it.
Fun Fact: The total numbers aren’t all in yet for these primary elections, but in the very last election, The DNC and DNCC lavished $110 million on MAGA candidates, assuming they could be more easily beaten. In some cases DNC and DNCC moneys favored them over progressive Democrats in various State and National races. If I am not mistaken, in total I believe 8 of the DNC supported Trumpster Fire candidates won their races.
Total smarmy move for Schiff.
The Dems lose campaign cash trying to prevent anyone less than totally mainstream/corporate from getting to either House. They support MAGAs, progressives, etc.
Ick.
If you didn’t move away, you could have voted for her.
Just a reminder to the Katie Porter die-hards: Adam Schiff previously gave about $50,000 from his campaign coffers to Katie Porter so she could get elected to Congress in the first place. Porter’s congressional seat is now open and likely will go to a Republican in her absence, potentially keeping the House in GOP hands.
That could be called “unforgivable,” but better to call it exercise of free choice or too-clever-by-half politics. The Garvey strategy likely was dreamed up by some high-paid political consultant and will save a ton of Dem money that would have been required to elect Schiff in a Dem-on-Dem November runoff, but now can be shared among other worthy Democrats vying for office — or maybe even help return Congress to a Dem majority.
Finally, Porter’s exit was as graceless as her beginning and consistent with the stories about her uneven temperament. Porter was first to declare her candidacy for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat even before the fragile and ailing Feinstein had announced her retirement. In my opinion, that qualified as “unforgivable.”
@ Chris- I know, right?! It kills me! :-)