2020 Primary Preview: San Diego’s Top Lawyer and Five Council Seats
This week’s early look at March’s local primary elections is about six people who will have a hand in shaping the future of America’s Finest City.
While the time frame for first contests has changed so California will have a role in choosing presidential candidates instead of serving as a political ATM, the dates for filing a declaration of intent to run for office haven’t.
UPDATE: Good ol' Jess Durfee caught a couple of errors and was nice enough to let everybody know on Facebook. Bless his heart.
The cut off date to get into races is remains in early December; serious campaigns will have declared no later than the first of October. There’s a six week dark hole for fundraising between Thanksgiving and the end of holiday vacations.
Given that canvassing is most productive on weekends, this means (including holidays) there aren’t really many actual days for campaign workers to pound the pavement.
Mail in voting starts on February 3rd. Official election day is a month later. It’s likely that two-thirds of voters will have cast ballots when the polls “open.”
This post gives a thumbnail sketch of the various candidates who have filed to run as of September 15. These weekly (Monday, I hope) articles are building blocks for a voter’s guide to be published right here in late January (I hope).
Links appearing under candidates names lead to their internet presence. Future coverage will delve into questions about issues. Dollar figure in [brackets] is what they reported for fundraising during the first half of 2019.
Running for City Attorney are…
Incumbent Mara Elliott lives in Scripps Ranch. She is the first woman, and first Latina, to serve as City Attorney in San Diego's history. As City Attorney, she launched the nationally-recognized Gun Violence Restraining Order program (aka Red Flag actions) to keep guns out of the hands of people deemed by a judge as dangerous to themselves or the community.
Elliot’s ascension to the position brought with it promises the office would be less “politicized,” given that her predecessor--Jan Goldsmith-- had turned the position into a pulpit for the concerns of real estate and tourism moguls. She is a Democrat. [$160,000]
Cory Briggs lives in Point Loma. Environmental and land use lawsuits he’s filed have been the bane of land developers and hospitality industry magnates existence. He’s running for office based on the premise that Elliott has actively politicized the office and has political aspirations making it impossible for her to put the public first. [$0] [Self-funding]
This is a contentious contest between two well known Democrats loaded with charges, counter-charges, and people who usually agree with each other supporting opposite sides. Suffice it to say last election’s reformer has been cast as this election’s entrenched establishmentarian.
Five City Council Seats
The city’s odd-numbered City Council districts are on the 2020 ballot. Two of them were occupied by Republicans after 2016, and none of them have incumbents running for re-election. (D5’s Mark Kersey changed his voter registration to independent earlier in 2019)
The Union-Tribune’s David Garrick recently noted the shifting political landscape:
Each of the city’s nine council districts now has more registered Democrats than registered Republicans.
North inland District 5, a longtime Republican stronghold where Democrats have sometimes declined to field even token candidates, flipped to become a Democratic district in the latest tally from the Registrar of Voters.
Democrats now have a slight voter registration edge over Republicans — 30,328 to 30,140 — in the district that includes Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Sabre Springs and neighboring communities.
The city’s other eight districts have already leaned Democratic for at least a few years, and margins increased recently in each of them.
It is a distinct possibility there will only be one Republican (Namely D6’s Chris Cate, who was re-elected last year) left on the council in 2021.
Given the paucity of other contentious contests for the GOP in San Diego, it’s likely the party will invest significant resources to get at least one candidate thru to the general election.
The City Council District 1 Lineup:
The district includes communities on the northwestern side of San Diego, incorporating Carmel Valley, Del Mar Mesa, La Jolla, Pacific Highlands Ranch, Torrey Hills, Torrey Pines, University City, and UCSD. All the currently declared candidates are Democrats, except Lily Zhou, who now says she an independent..
Incumbent Barbara Bry is running for mayor.
Aaron Brennan lives in La Jolla. He’s a city firefighter, active with the Veterans’ Democratic Club and San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action, and is on the La Jolla Town Council. [$56,606]
Joe LaCava lives in Bird Rock. LaCava has served as a trustee of the La Jolla Community Planning Association and San Diego Community Planners Committee. He has a history of involvement with Democratic Party and community activists, and has name recognition because he’s run for office before. [$62,639]
Will Moore is a small business attorney and environmental activist who lives in Carmel Valley. He is president of the Carmel Valley Democratic Club, and a member of the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle, Business for Good, San Diego Leadership Alliance, The Urban League Young Professionals, and the American Constitution Society. [$78,833]
Harid Puentes is a hi-tech executive who lives in UTC. He’s come to local prominence due to his efforts with CONNECT, a diversity-focused startup accelerator. [$20,348]
Louis Rodolico is a retired architect who lives in University City. He has a history of activism on development issues. [$0]
Lily Zhou is an entrepreneur who lives in University City. She’s been involved with the League of Women voters and Balboa Park’s China House. She’s running with the slogan “Lily gets things done.” [$0]
The City Council District 3 Lineup:
The district includes communities north and east of downtown, incorporating Balboa Park, Bankers Hill, Downtown, Golden Hill, Hillcrest, Little Italy, Middletown, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, North Park, Old Town, South Park, and University Heights.
All the declared candidates are Democrats. The D3 seat is reliably Democratic because registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans nearly four to one. It has a tradition of being represented by members of the LGBTQ community.
Incumbent Councilman Chris Ward is running for the State Assembly, hoping to replace Todd Gloria, who preceded him in this position.
Toni Duran lives in Hillcrest. She has been a staff member for Toni Atkins in the State Assembly and Senate. Her work has included housing, women, veterans, the LGBTQ+ community, human trafficking, and arts & culture.[$28,654]
Adrian Kwiatkowski lives in Mission Hills. He is a non-profit executive with a history of activism on issues concerning clean needle exchange, smoke-free beaches, elections, charter reform, veterans with PTSD/brain injuries, and protections for local harbor seals. [$40,874]
Chris Olsen lives in Hillcrest, currently works as a policy analyst for the City of San Diego’s Independent Budget Analyst Office, is a faculty member at the School of Public Affairs at San Diego State University. [$41,123]
Stephen Whitburn is a resident of downtown San Diego. He’s well-known in the district as the former Executive Director of former San Diego Pride. Currently he’s working for Southern California for the American Cancer Society. Whitburn previously ran for the City Council seat in 2008, losing to Todd Gloria in a November runoff. [$61,621]
The District 5 City Council Lineup:
The district includes communities in the north central edge of the city, incorporating Black Mountain Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Miramar Ranch North, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Encantada, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs, San Pasqual, Scripps Miramar Ranch and Torrey Highlands.
Incumbent Councilman Mark Kersey is termed out. Earlier in 2019 he announced he was switching from being Republican to Independent. This is one seat Democrats could claim in 2020.
Democrat Isaac Wang is an Urban Planner who has a vision for how people move around San Diego. [$11,893]
UPDATE: Mr Wang apparently feels like I short changed him by not giving all his particulars. (I was trying--in apiece that was too long anyway-- to give readers a sense of the person.) Bless his heart.
" Hey Doug, few quick adds. If you’re gonna plug my Marine Corps opponent, at least let people know I’m in the Navy Reserves after serving Active Duty. I got 9 years of service now. I’m also not working in Urban Planning, I’m just well versed in the urban planning issues because I used to be in Active Transportation Planning. I currently work in Data Visualization, and I run a tech start up building software for geospatial analysis for field campaigns. I also sit on the Kearny Mesa Planning Group.
Deputy City Attorney Marni von Wilpert lives in Scripps Ranch. A boatload of early endorsements gives the impression she’s a favorite of Democratic Party stalwarts and activists. I saw her speak at an event last summer and came away impressed with her knowledge of the issues. [$56,855]
Gary Westerburg is a city workplace safety specialist. He is a Democrat. And that’s all we know about him for now.[$0]
Patrick Batten lives in Rancho Bernardo and is the only Republican actively campaigning at this point for the seat. He is a major in the Marine Corps Reserves and has been active Rancho Bernardo Community Council and the Rancho Bernardo Maintenance Assessment District Committee. [$30,713]
Republican Joseph Levanthal has told people he’s going to run, but can’t campaign until October due to his past tenure on the City Ethics Commission. He was a top aide to vice president Dick Cheney during the administration of George W. Bush. [Barred from fundraising until October]
The District 7 City Council Lineup:
The district includes neighborhood north and east of Interstate 8, incorporating Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, Tierrasanta, Grantville, Mission Valley and Linda Vista.
Incumbent Republican Scott Sherman is termed out. While he reportedly hates the political scene, rumors persist that he’ll wind up being the GOP’s sacrificial lamb in the mayoral contest.
School Board Trustee Kevin Beiser had an inside track on winning this seat for Democrats. Then allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct emerged. It was reported that he reached a settlement with one of the victims on Friday; calls persist for him to resign from the School Board and drop out of this race. [$20,479]
Raul Campillo lives in Mission Valley and is currently a Deputy City Attorney. He is an alumnus of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. [$90,141]
Democrat David Greco lives in Mission Valley, is an attorney/small businessman. Unfortunately, his campaign site says he’ll take on issues relating to local schools. San Diego’s City Council has no direct say over the administration of schools. Period. [$10,553]
UPDATE: Mr Greco has withdrawn his candidacy.
Sharon Larios lives in Linda Vista and is currently employed as an intake specialist for Jewish Family Services. She has been a board member of Linda Vista Planning Group and says she’s running to bring power back to our communities. Her efforts to save the Skateworld Roller Rink gave her a head start on name recognition. She is listed as a Democrat.[$0]
Attorney Monty McIntyre lives in Tierrasanta. He has been president of President of the 10,000-member San Diego County Bar Association and is Treasurer of Resounding Joy, a San Diego non-profit that provides music therapy for veterans, children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, teenage parents and their young children, and seniors. He is a Democrat. [$55,517]
Wendy Wheatcroft lives in Allied Gardens was an elementary school teacher and founder of San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention. She is well-known to Democratic activists throughout the region. [$32,798]
Noli Zosa is chairman of the Linda Vista Community Planning Group, and a founding partner with the Dirty Birds restaurant chain. He has the distinction of being the only candidate running for city office in San Diego to be endorsed by the Republican Party. [$117,755]
The District 9 City Council Lineup:
What seemed like an assured re-election for Council person Georgette Gomez has turned into a game of musical chairs in the wake of her announcement that she’s running for Rep. Susan Davis seat. So it seems likely a bunch of people will jump into this race.
D9 was created in the wake of the 2010 redistricting, a move having the effect of empowering several of San Diego’s historically disenfranchised communities. Neighborhoods included in the newly formed were Alvarado Estates, City Heights, College Area, College View Estates, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Mount Hope, Rolando, Southcrest, and Talmadge.
The candidates (there will be more) I know are running for D9 include:
Kevin Alston is a Democrat who was a write in candidate for San Diego Community College Trustee in 2016. His bio at Voters Edge from 2016 says he is a teaches at SouthWestern College. [$0]
Andrew Gade lives in the College area and owns two businesses. He was running for Mayor, but switched. He has a Twitter account. As of this writing, I am his only follower. [$0]
Johnny Lee is a Chiropractor who is involved with the anti-vaxxer movement. [$0]
Those said to be (meaning I heard it on the grapevine) considering a run include former Barbara Boxer staffer Caridad Sanchez and San Diego Community College Trustee Sean Elo.
UPDATE: Sean Elo declared his candidacy this afternoon. (9/16)
The top two finishers in the March 2020 primary will advance to a runoff in November 2020. City council members serve a four-year term and are limited to two successive terms. These races may not require a run-off election. If one candidate receives over 50% of the votes cast, the winner is decided in the Primary Election.
Basic information…
Check your voter registration status here.
San Diego voter registration by party as of August 31, 2019
Democrats: 318,507
No Party Preference: 242,522
Republicans: 162,004
*American Independent: 24,216
Green: 3,423
Libertarian: 7,553
Peace & Freedom: 2,831
Misc: 6,166
*Many people registered as American Independent mistakenly thought they were signing up for No Party Preference. The AI party is actually the remnants of Alabama Gov. George Wallace’s neo-segregationist movement.
Dates to Rememnber
December 6 - last day to file
Voter Information Guide mailout starts Jan 23
Vote by Mail February 3
Last day to register February 17
Last Day to Request Vote-By-Mail Ballot February 25
Election day March 3
General Election Tuesday, November 3, 2020
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Lead photo by Doug Porter