There’s a interesting mayor’s race going on in San Diego. Jerry Sanders is the incumbent with some ethical issues. Steve Francis is running as the outsider using only his own money. Both are Republicans.
Francis had been gaining ground until the latest SUSA poll: (5/1 in parentheses)
Sanders 42% (40)
Francis 35% (36)
There are a few minor candidates on the ballot.
This looks it’s going to a runoff. Now San Diego hasn’t had a Democratic mayor since ___.
And both candidates are getting really nasty with attack ads.
Despite a nearly even split in partisan registratinon in the city, the GOP has dominated local politics. It’s a shame a Democrat can’t step up to the plate. Then there could be some real change.
I think the problem is because of the libertarian
bent of the area, and among large cities in America, immigration is a hot button here.
Any thoughts?
The local Democratic apparatus got hit pretty hard by death and scandal about five years ago and hasn’t rebuilt the bench yet. This is hardly a city that can’t or won’t receive a Democrat for Mayor- Democrat Donna Frye won in 2004 as a write-in candidate before the courts stepped in and absurdly invalidated the results on a Florida/2000 scale.
Beyond that, the pension scandal undermined faith in the City Council and led to the Strong Mayor system, then the strong mayor system failed about as terribly if not quite as spectacularly, thus the opening for an “outsider” like Francis wants to be. Since there’s no Dem running, he can run from the outside, the right and the left whenever it suits him.
While immigration is a hot-button issue in the region, it hasn’t really gotten much play that I’ve seen in the mayor’s race cause the mayor doesn’t do much of anything regarding immigration.
All that said, picking between the devil you know and the devil you don’t is not pleasant.
Per Wikipedia, the last Democratic Mayor of San Diego was Toni Atkins, a Deputy Mayor who served as Acting Mayor from 7/18/05 to 12/5/05. The last Democrat elected as Mayor appears to be Maureen O’Connor who served a partial term followed by a full one going from 7/7/85 to 12/7/92. Prior to that, the Democrats’ golden age in the city was from 1955 through 1971 when Frank Curran (1955-63) and Charles Dail were Mayor of San Diego (1963-71). Before that, it’s an appointed mayor for 1942-43 and all the way back to 1917.
Dail was succeeded by Pete Wilson who became a three term Republican Mayor, US Senator, and ultimately (probably) the worst governor in California’s history. Among the many “gifts” Wilson left behind: immigrant bashing politics, a fatally flawed utilities deregulation, a political protege he and his circle continue to advise named Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Three Strikes Law that overburdens California prisons.
Some sort of golden, independently wealthy/successful reformer might be the ticket in San Diego. This is the area that launched Duke Cunningham and a series of scandal-plagued Republicans. The next best bet would be a professional administrator type possibly from the police or schools. Does anyone know Tony Gwynn’s politics?