Politics

San Diego Mayor: Who's In, Who's Out, Who's Undecided?

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published August 26, 2013 at 2:21 PM PDT

This story was published more than 11 years ago.

Nathan Fletcher is currently the Senior Director of Corporate Development at Qualcomm.

San Diego Mayor: Who's In, Who's Out, Who's Undecided?

The field of candidates to replace San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is shaping up fast. It’s defined by who is in, who is out and who is still undecided.

The field for San Diego mayor is defined not only by who decides to throw their hat in the ring, but by who decides not to run.

So far, only one well-known candidate has filed his statement of intention to run: Nathan Fletcher, the Republican turned Independent turned Democrat. He was a prominent candidate in last year’s race for mayor.

But the list is longer for the better known candidates who have taken themselves out of the running:

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City Attorney Jan Goldsmith
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis
Former City Councilwoman Donna Frye
Former State Senator Christine Kehoe
Current State Assemblywoman Toni Atkins

But that leaves many possibilities, including Republicans Carl DeMaio and County Supervisor Ron Roberts: both of whom are considering the question.

Republican Councilman Kevin Faulconer and Council President Todd Gloria, a Democrat, are also considered to be likely candidates.

Several lesser known candidates have filed their intention to run with the city clerk. They are David Tasem, Mark Schwatz, Jared B. Mimms, Kurt Schwab and Ashok Parameswaran.

With only three months to gain name recognition and match campaign fundraising before the special election, they face a tough challenge but the field is still wide open.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.