By Kate Callen
In 2018, the last election year when San Diego City Council District 2 had an open seat, the winner, Jen Campbell, was best known for being David Axelrod’s cousin. Before her first term was up, Campbell faced a recall effort, and she was replaced as Council President amid charges her staff illegally influenced the redistricting process.
In 2022, Campbell ran for re-election as a tarnished incumbent. Then a funny thing happened. A dark money group linked to Mayor Todd Gloria blanketed District 2 with hit pieces smearing Lori Saldana, Campbell’s formidable Democratic challenger. Saldana finished third behind obscure Republican Linda Lukacs, and Campbell kept her seat.
The 2026 open seat election will be consequential for a district hard hit by City Hall’s subservience to developers. From a 10-unit complex on a small Clairemont cul-de-sac to a 56-unit mid-rise at a major Point Loma intersection, giant housing projects are hammering D2 neighborhoods.
Will district voters choose a fighter who will take on the city’s powerbrokers? Or will they be manipulated by big-money campaigns into picking a status quo politician?
The Rag will cover all four 2026 Council District races. But District 2 is our home district, so it will be a focus. Over the next eight months, we will scrutinize the candidates in the March primary: who they are, what they’ve done, what they say, and most importantly, where their money comes from.
For now, we’d like to offer a few general guidelines for assessing candidates in this or any political race.
Be wary of the candidates who raise the most money. Political contributions fall into three categories: individual donors, political parties, and political action committees (PACs). Individual gifts are typically small and aspirational. These supporters give because they believe in the candidate.
Parties and especially PACs make large donations that are transactional. They expect something tangible in return. In recent cycles, a torrent of building industry cash to the local Democratic Party helped pave the way for Complete Communities and the Bonus ADU Program. Big PAC money for any candidate is a great big red flag.
Be skeptical of endorsements from elected officials. If you’re happy with the way the city and the state are being run, you should vote for candidates supported by current officeholders. If you’re not, such endorsements should make you queasy.
San Diego’s ruling Democratic Party has a stranglehold on our city and county governments. Complacent incumbents want to keep it that way. They will vigorously support candidates who fall in line and do as they are told. (That’s why Gloria pulled out the stops for Campbell.) A vote for such candidates is a vote for sustained civic dysfunction.
Take the mailers from your mailbox directly to the recycle bin. Because voters can send in ballots from home, political flyers delivered to homes have become a major weapon in campaign arsenals. They all feature glistening photos of joyful candidates with anodyne slogans: “A Champion for Neighborhoods!”
Some mailers focus on a single candidate. Others promote galleries of candidates. Most have tiny print at the bottom identifying the sources of funding for the mailer, groups with names like “San Diegans for A Beautiful Day.”
Mailers are hugely expensive, costing tens of thousands or more. Typically, the only candidates who can afford multiple mailers are incumbents, who easily raise tons of money, or contenders who have access to the transactional donations PACs and powerbrokers offer.
D2 voters won’t get much useful information from mailers. But the Rag will get plenty. Throughout the primary, we will drill down into the tiny-print funders to find out who they are, what they want, and where their money comes from. And we’ll report everything we discover. Stay tuned.
Keep your mailers, & simply count them up before voting; the most mailers lose your vote for proposition or politician.
Mailers have the well earned reputation as the original “fake news”. Mailers are more often times than not, disinformation campaigns. Mailers generally contain patently false and misleading information and they cost candidates & proposition campaigns the most amount of $$$ BIG BUCKS $$$. The kind of Big money that solicit the policy prostitution of todays politicos that are increasingly destroying our quality of life.
I have kept all the political mailers for the last 25 years, so I can physically prove this to be true. It is not conjecture nor theory. It’s how this corruption once gained the stranglehold on democracy in California. A foothold that it is rapidly slipping with each passing day witnessed by exponentially waning support, and ever growing mistrust.
Great to see. Thanks for the Update.
I would suggest the rag bring the news of this overbuilding nonsense to the national level, One America News is right here in San Diego, I was disappointed they didn’t cover the pencil tower in PB, but if we contact them we can get them to cover this issue, KUSI is okay but I’d be wary around them based off of how they are skewing left. NewsMax too would be a good partner to cover this issue.
Hmmmm I heard Gloria was behind the untruthful mailers sent out slamming Larry Turner when he ran opposite Toddler in the last mayoral election. So, is to flash his pearly whites, while his buddies/supporters stab his opponent in the back S.O.P???
“An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” So said Thomas Jefferson (inexact) at the dawn of the Republic. An educated citizenry today needs to see past the lies (legal), bribery (backed by the SCOTUS), and have a remote clue of what civics means. Good luck with that.
Kate, great reporting, but I am upset how Linda Lukacs was called “obscure” when she was a well known community member. I am a conservative and know the rag leans “left” but I think we should be fair to Republicans who actually have done much of the work against bonus ADUS, more than the democrats who pushed density. Lukacs actually called out complete communities and corporate density long before many others did.
One of the key reasons Lukacs is called “obscure” is that except for the election cycle, she is totally absent in the community. She has not been involved in any local D2 or Peninsula issues – except while campaigning every 2 years. Where exactly did she actually call out complete communities except in her campaign literature? Speaking of campaign literature, did she ever condemn Mayor Gloria for siding with her over another Democratic candidate? In other words, did she take the high road while benefiting from Gloria’s low road?
Mr. Hapler, this time around, my bet is on the local Lincoln Club to bankroll her campaign. With the Democratic Party in San Diego’s gutter, she has more than a good chance of being elected.
I agree with Frank that Lukacs is best known in D2 as a candidate for office. But I also agree with Bill that “obscure” was an inept choice. The word is pejorative, which seems undeserved in this context. If I had to do it again, I would have used a different word.
How do these people get elected? “The Brand” Both Dems and GOP are the “Brand.” More people buy “Tony the tiger” frosted flakes than some generic corn flakes. WHY? It’s the brand. More people bank at Wells Fargo than Banner Bank. WHY? It’s the brand. So, how the hell do you think people will vote when they receive a mailer from the “BRAND?”
Kate, you need to mention that Cambell’s primary win came with the weakest vote (29.8%) for an incumbent city councilmember since 1961. And that guy was at 29.5%. I don’t know why he was so unpopular, but Jen and him have something in common.
Campbell came to prominence by way of former SDCDP Chair Jess Durfee and his army in Hillcrest during the 2016 cycle. At a huge La Jolla meeting that year Durfee, Axelrod, Peters and a ton of demographically correct Dems put the cabash on everyone else in that contest. In 2022, All the kings men put Campbell together again. For the love of God, I don’t understand why Saldana remains complicit by association to a corrupt local Democratic party.
Lori Saldaña is far from complicit, by association or otherwise. She is a proven principled, honest, empathetic leader with real mind for solutions. She is stubborn and has dedicated herself to trying to shift “the Party” from the inside. Though seemingly a fools errand, it is nothing less than impressive that Lori remains dedicated to trying, even as she finds herself Indiana Jones”n it in that overloaded snake filled pit.
If Lori Saldaña embraced Independence, I believe she could represent all of us San Diegans better than just about anyone else out there. She is good people.I have pleaded with her to stop jumping out of that clown car.
There is a bit that could be unpacked here.
Council District 2 has at least three different personalities within the district. By personalities, I am referring to the demographics of a district.
I live in OB, grew up with Lori, send my kids to schools out of our neighborhood and have been a registered independent since 1978.
CD 2 can do MUCH better than the current elected official and we cannot afford to stay with the thread of the currently elected officials in the face of their LACK of Leadership.