2024 Primary Election Guide: City Council Incumbents Will Rule
Nobody is opposing Joe Cava in District 1, Marni von Wilpert in District 5, and Raul Campillo in District 7. They’re all Democrats who I agree with some of the time and there are no scandals to report. Cava is my personal favorite of the bunch for his ability to walk the talk and not present as a troublemaker.
There aren’t even any whack-a-doodles running on an ‘eat boogers’ platform in those districts. Maybe the Democratic party could covertly sponsor a few of the citizens with an ax to grind because they’re fun to watch?
I get it that not many Republicans are willing to step up and face the music in districts where their party is seriously outnumbered. But still, part of growing up in politics is losing once in a while.
Having one name on the ballot is something that happens in authoritarian states. How do we expect citizens to learn about representation with no competition on ballots?
So, moving down the lists of candidates, we come to District 3 (where I live).There is at least some excitement in these campaigns.
Stephen Whitburn (https://www.whitburnforcouncil.com/ ) is the incumbent, and he’s proved to be a strong ally of the mayor. He’s raised more money and has endorsements from organized labor, the Democratic party, and the Chamber of Commerce.
He makes liberal noises while playing the downtown influence game. The overlap of the corruption of the Democratic party and the unsavory influence of what we’ve settled for as the vehicle for marijuana distribution runs through his office as far as I’m concerned.
On the positive side, Whitburn’s actions when it comes to housing and giving alternative transportation advocates influence on planning, especially as it relates to climate change are commendable. And he continues to represent for city’s LBGTQ+ humans.
Kate Callen (https://katecallen.com/) She’s a NIMBY stand out in my part of town. Bike lanes, ADUs, market rate apartment buildings; she’s against them all, or thinks they should be done differently–somewhere else. The oft-disproved arguments about the public being left out of planning are central to her platform.
It’s worth mentioning here that, while the NIMBY crowd is very loud, the only thing they produce real numbers of humans for are (occasionally) media events.
The long term view by the city is the right thing to do for the planet. Besides, what could she really do in the city council? All this stuff she’s against is a fait accompli. She’s playing the victim card to fight the future, and it ain’t gonna work.
Coleen Cusack ( https://coleen4sd.com/ ) has a special place in my heart. She represents unhoused people pro bono who get caught up in the cycle of criminalization at the heart of local antagonism toward people no longer protected by the social safety net.
Sugar coating isn’t part of her repertoire, and I find some of what she says cringeworthy.
I think it would be great to have somebody on the council not willing to go with the flow. However, many of the social justice questions San Diego faces aren’t unique to our city. Saying the city or county or even the state should do X discounts the political framework we exist in, which is largely dictated by market economics.
So what we’d get with Colleen Cusack as an elected official is that she’d have a platform; the best we could hope for would be increased awareness. And in San Diego the powers that be would work hard to discredit her as a person, when her righteousness should be praised.
I’ll vote for Colleen, because she’s the best option we have and is willing to speak truth to power. The City Council is going to so what it’s going to do, regardless, so let’s stir some sh*t.
D3 candidate Ellis T. Jones III ( https://jones3fordistrict3.com/ ) is the wild card in this contest, at least in terms of what he says. His interview with Ken Stone at Times of San Diego is revealing. Some of his insight appears to come from multiple prison terms.
He has no plan, just a word salad describing his impressions. His views on climate change and the limited ways this city has tried to respond are disqualifying.
“I really wish I were strong enough to save the earth, but I am not. I don’t think San Diego city is either. The earth is huge. It’s a federal problem at the least, not ours to solve.”
He is the only candidate for any city office with the blessing of San Diego’s Republican Party. While he’s been accused on social media of being funded by NIMBYs, that’s simply not true. Hardly anybody is contributing to his campaign.
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The most interesting city council contest is in District 4, which isn’t supposed to be having an election this year, except that Now-Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe took the leap to a legislative body where she could get more done.
There are divisions on the San Diego City Council, and it’s not always easy to determine who’s playing nice with who. The basic divide appears to be between supporters of the Mayor and those who see an increased role for the city council.
With Sean Elo-Rivera as council president, progressive ideas at least get a hearing without going through the mayor’s office; he’s also pushed back against the City Attorney’s advocacy. Montgomery-Steppe’s last official act was to vote to re-elect Elo-Rivera.
So it’s thought that the D4 contest will have an impact on the future of the council.
Henry Foster (https://www.henryfoster4sd.com/meethenry) , Montgomery Steppe’s former chief of staff, and Chida Warren-Darby (https://chidafordistrict4.com/), an aide to Mayor Todd Gloria, are the top two contenders.
Also running is state senate staffer Tylisa Suseberry https://www.facebook.com/tylisa.suseberry/ ).
Foster has the lead in endorsements, having been blessed by the county Democratic Party, the city’s two largest labor unions, along with council members Elo-Rivera, Lee, and LaCava. He makes no secret of his desire to continue on Montgomery-Steppe’s political path, so he counts as an incumbent as far as I'm concerned.
Warren-Darby has been endorsed by Mayor Todd Gloria, Jenn Campbell and Marni von Wilpert. She has connections with the city’s (more establishmentarian) Black business community, having served as Executive Director of San Diego’s first Black Chamber of Commerce and Co-Publisher/Managing Editor of The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, there will be a top two runoff this summer.
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Finally, we have the contest for Council District 9.
Sean Elo-Rivera, (https://www.facebook.com/VoteForSeanElo/) president of the city council, is the incumbent. He describes his role on the council as challenging the status quo and advocating for communities in San Diego that have traditionally been underserved.
The downside to Elo-Rivera, as I understand it, is that he doesn’t mince words and comes across as abrasive. The upside is that he’s a counter balance to those who see the council as an extension of the mayor’s office.
He and Stephen Whitburn are both leading their opponents in fundraising.
I made the mistake of underestimating Elo-Rivera’s candidacy for another office a few years back. He has proven to be a leader with progressive values and political savvy.
Terry Hoskins (https://hoskins4citycouncil2024.com/ ) is a Democrat, a military veteran, and retired SDPD officer. His viewpoints as presented in campaign materials don’t sound much like other local Democrats. He’s bought into the whole homeless-as-druggies-and-mentally-ill narrative often espoused by those who pretend to have empathy but really don’t.
Hoskins would like to remind voters about how unsafe (totally not true) San Diego is, and the “poor choices” council members continue to make. This is code for “defund the police”, something that never happened in this city.
Fernando Garcia (https://www.garciaforsandiego.com/ ) is a registered independent. He’s a Nimby at heart and takes the “law and order” approach to doing government in San Diego. He has an interest in ranked choice voting, which I consider a plus.
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Previously: CA’s Presidential Primary, CA Proposition One, San Diego Mayor, City Attorney
Next Up: California Assembly Contests
(A week before the end of Primary voting, I will publish a condensed voter guide)
