The Cat’s Cradle of the D4 Council Race

By Kate Callen

The strangest 2026 City Council race is taking place in San Diego’s most underserved district, and it is scrambling political alliances in portentous ways.

Nothing about the District 4 face-off between incumbent Henry Foster III and challenger Martha Abraham could have been predicted. Before 2024, Foster was chief of staff to then-D4 Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, and Abraham was a full-time neonatal nurse. Neither had ever run for elected office.

On March 5, 2024, Foster won a special election to replace his boss after she became a county supervisor. One year later, the Council repealed the infamous Footnote 7 that targeted two D4 communities for overdensity. Abraham, a community activist who helped draw attention to Footnote 7, was preparing to oppose Foster in the D4 primary.

At that point in election cycles, the incumbent would build a campaign war chest and call in favors from powerbrokers. The challenger would pound the pavements with stalwart volunteers and raise modest money. The outcome would be pre-ordained.

That has not happened in District 4. Abraham now has clear momentum and appears to be ahead of Foster. Why has the race become such an outlier?

Anger may be the best explanation. D4 communities have long been deeply and justifiably angry at how they’ve been neglected. And voters citywide are furious enough at City Hall to support upstart candidates in other districts.

Growing resistance to predatory development is another explanation. Here’s where things get somewhat tangled and very interesting.

Foster had been part of the Council majority that acquiesced to all of Mayor Todd Gloria’s radical housing policies. And then, just as Footnote 7 was repealed, he shocked the city by calling for a rollback of Gloria’s accessory dwelling unit (ADU) program.

His volcanic action loosened the mayor’s grip on the council, which voted to restrict the notorious program. The outsized influence of the pro-density YIMBY Democrats began to wane.

Foster’s break with Gloria on one housing program certainly cost him the good will of the builder-business donor bloc. But Abraham is a passionate opponent of large-scale development. She emerged on the political scene by denouncing the controversial Klaubert Project. Foster, who spent 25 years in the construction industry, backed the project.

So why is Abraham receiving support from such mainstream sources as the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Partnership, and even, reportedly, the mayor himself?

There are two likely reasons. They are not mutually exclusive, and they are equally tawdry.

The political forces lining up behind Abraham may think that a young first-time candidate could be a puppet. If she wins, they can claim credit for her victory. They can help her hire staff. They can give her proposals to advance and tell her which votes to cast.

That assumption would be a mistake. Abraham is smart and self-possessed. She has an infallible moral compass. She does not countenance bullying.

The other reason is a primal human urge that has been far too prevalent in city politics: the desire for revenge.

On October 3, Voice of San Diego reported that “Mayor Todd Gloria has been pushing interest groups, including local unions, to reconsider their support of Councilmember Henry Foster if not outright drop him. He has described Foster’s downfall to them as his No. 1 political priority.”

If true, this wouldn’t be the first time Gloria has sought payback for being thwarted. His efforts to close Mission Bay bathrooms and launch paid parking at Balboa Park were seen as efforts to punish voters for not passing a sales tax.

Gloria has traveled a very hard road in his six years as mayor. He is said to be weary of the job. His new mustache and goatee may be welcome signs that he is ready to loosen up.

He still has two more years at the city’s helm. That’s enough time to leave some legacy, however modest. If he focuses less on settling political scores and more on serving the needs of San Diegans, he could do himself and his city a world of good.