2012 San Diego mayoral election
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.
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 Results by city council district Filner: 60–70% DeMaio: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
Declared
- Carl DeMaio, member of the San Diego City Council[3] (Voter registration: Republican)
- Bonnie Dumanis, District Attorney of San Diego County[4] (Voter registration: Republican)
- Bob Filner, U. S. Representative[5] (Voter registration: Democratic)
- Nathan Fletcher, state Assemblyman[6] (Voter registration: Republican (until March 2012[7]), Independent (after March 2012))
- Tobiah Pettus, businessman[8] (Voter registration: Republican)
Declined
- Kevin Faulconer, member of the San Diego City Council[9] (Voter registration: Republican)
- Steve Francis, businessman and mayoral candidate in 2005 and 2008[10] (Voter registration: Republican)
- Christine Kehoe, state Senator[11] (Voter registration: Democratic)
Campaign
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
Polling
| 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
| 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
Polling
| 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
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Bob Filner | 245,092 | 52.5 | |
| Republican | Carl DeMaio | 221,870 | 47.5 | |
| Total votes | 466,962 | 100 | ||
References
- "How to Run for Office". The City of San Diego-Office of the City Clerk. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- San Diego mayor's race: Filner, DeMaio headed for Nov. runoff. Los Angeles Times. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
- Gustafson, Craig (June 5, 2011). "DeMaio kicks off campaign for San Diego mayor". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- Cadelago, Christopher (March 10, 2011). "San Diego mayor's race begins to take shape". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- "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.
- "Assemblyman Fletcher Enters San Diego Mayoral Race". KGTV-TV. June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- "Nathan Fletcher Announces He’s Leaving The Republican Party", KPBS, March 28, 2012
- "Eight Candidates Drop from Mayor's Race". La Jolla Patch. March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- 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.
- Kuhney, Jen Lebron (March 21, 2012). "Francis endorses DeMaio". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- Gardner, Michael (June 28, 2011). "No Mayor Kehoe: State senator decides not to run". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
- Brooks, David. A Moderate Conservative Dilemma. The New York Times. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
- 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.
- "Election History - Mayor of San Diego" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
- "San Diego Registrar".
- "Tobiah L. Pettus". Smartvoter.org. League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. April 8, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2013.