2012 San Diego mayoral election

Summary

The 2012 San Diego mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Jerry Sanders was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election.

2012 San Diego mayoral election

← 2008 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2013–14 (special) →
 
Nominee Bob Filner Carl DeMaio
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 245,092 221,870
Percentage 52.5% 47.5%

Results by city council district
Filner:      60–70%
DeMaio:      50–60%      60–70%

Mayor before election

Jerry Sanders
Republican

Elected Mayor

Bob Filner
Democratic

Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though some candidates do receive funding and support from various political parties. The non-partisan primary was held Tuesday, June 5, 2012. As no candidate received a majority of primary votes to be declared elected outright,[1] the top two finishers, San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Congressman Bob Filner, advanced to the November general election.[2] Filner was elected mayor with a majority of the votes in the November election.

The top two candidates received official support from their respective parties in the primaries and the general election; DeMaio was endorsed by the California Republican Party and Filner was endorsed by the California Democratic Party.

Candidates edit

Declared edit

Declined edit

Campaign edit

The mayoral race received national attention in March 2012 when The New York Times columnist David Brooks penned a column praising the moderate Nathan Fletcher and decrying the San Diego GOP's decision to back "orthodox conservative" Carl DeMaio over Fletcher for the post.[12] Brooks was criticized by Reason's Matt Welch, who pointed out that DeMaio is openly gay and described him as having libertarian leanings.[13] A few weeks after the local Republican party endorsed DeMaio, Fletcher announced he was leaving the Republican party and becoming an independent.[7]

In the primary election held June 5, DeMaio placed first with 31.4 percent of the vote, followed by Filner with 30.5 percent.[2] Trailing were Fletcher with 24.1 percent and Dumanis with 13.3 percent. As the top two vote-getters, DeMaio and Filner advanced to the November ballot.[2] Filner was then elected mayor with 52.5 percent of the votes in the November election.[14]

Primary election edit

Polling edit

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Carl
DeMaio
Bonnie
Dumanis
Bob
Filner
Nathan
Fletcher
Other Undecided
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV May 28–30, 2012 542 ± 4.3% 31% 11% 28% 23% 3% 4%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV May 11–13, 2012 525 ± 4.4% 31% 13% 21% 21% 6% 8%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV April 9–12, 2012 532 ± 4.3% 28% 13% 20% 26% 4% 10%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV January 30–February 3, 2012 511 ± 4.4% 25% 14% 24% 13% 11% 13%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV September 23–27, 2011 588 ± 4.1% 25% 16% 25% 10% 9% 16%

Results edit

San Diego Mayoral Primary election, 2012[15][14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Carl DeMaio 73,508 31.4
Democratic Bob Filner 73,216 30.5
Independent Nathan Fletcher 57,939 24.1
Republican Bonnie Dumanis 31,926 13.3
Nonpartisan Tobiah Pettus[16] 1,709 0.7
Write-in 752 0.3
Total votes 241,050 100

General election edit

Polling edit

Poll source Date(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin of
error
Carl
DeMaio
Bob
Filner
Undecided
Pharos Research October 19–21, 2012 708 ± 3.7% 38.3% 46.8% 15.1%
SurveyUSA/10 News October 12–14, 2012 601 n/a 40% 47% 13%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV September 21–24, 2012 581 ± 4.1% 38% 50% 12%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV August 20–23, 2012 553 ± 4.3% 41% 47% 12%
SurveyUSA/KGTV-TV June 6–11, 2012 537 ± 4.3% 43% 46% 11%

Results edit

San Diego Mayoral General election, 2012[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bob Filner 245,092 52.5
Republican Carl DeMaio 221,870 47.5
Total votes 466,962 100

References edit

  1. ^ "How to Run for Office". The City of San Diego-Office of the City Clerk. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c San Diego mayor's race: Filner, DeMaio headed for Nov. runoff. Los Angeles Times. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  3. ^ Gustafson, Craig (June 5, 2011). "DeMaio kicks off campaign for San Diego mayor". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  4. ^ Cadelago, Christopher (March 10, 2011). "San Diego mayor's race begins to take shape". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  5. ^ "Rep. Filner joins race for San Diego mayor". Bloomberg Businessweek. Associated Press. June 9, 2011. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  6. ^ "Assemblyman Fletcher Enters San Diego Mayoral Race". KGTV-TV. June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Nathan Fletcher Announces He’s Leaving The Republican Party", KPBS, March 28, 2012
  8. ^ "Eight Candidates Drop from Mayor's Race". La Jolla Patch. March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  9. ^ Dillon, Liam (June 7, 2011). "Mayor's Race: Faulconer Out, Endorses Dumanis". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  10. ^ Kuhney, Jen Lebron (March 21, 2012). "Francis endorses DeMaio". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  11. ^ Gardner, Michael (June 28, 2011). "No Mayor Kehoe: State senator decides not to run". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  12. ^ Brooks, David. A Moderate Conservative Dilemma. The New York Times. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  13. ^ Welch, Matt. David Brooks and the Liberal Media Lament That a Gay-Baiting GOP "Moderate" Mayoral Candidate in California Can't Beat an "orthodox conservative." Who Is, uh, Gay. And Libertarian.. Reason.com. 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  14. ^ a b c "Election History - Mayor of San Diego" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
  15. ^ "San Diego Registrar".
  16. ^ "Tobiah L. Pettus". Smartvoter.org. League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. April 8, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2013.