Gloria Lead Against Bry For San Diego Mayor Shrinking But Still Substantial

Speaker 1: 00:00 The race for San Diego mayor is still too close to coal, but democratic state assemblyman Todd Gloria has a healthy double-digit lead over democratic city council, woman, Barbara Bree. Joining me to talk about the mayor's race and the outcomes of the other elections in the city of San Diego is KPBS Metro reporter. Andrew Bowen. Welcome Andrew. Hi, Alison. Thanks. So what do we know about the status of the mayor's race? Speaker 2: 00:25 Well, as you said, we know Todd Gloria has a fairly comfortable lead. Uh, it's currently, as we speak, uh, just over 56% to breeze, just under 44%, we know that, um, you know, when the first results were posted, those were the mail-in ballots, the early votes in person, he had a slightly bigger lead just over 57%. So his, uh, share of the vote has narrowed ever so slightly, even less than one percentage point as more votes were counted and that could continue to happen as the votes, uh, continue to be counted. Um, but you know, that we also know that the share of the overall votes that were counted on election night was expected to be larger because so many people voted early and, and, and, uh, by mail. So I think that, um, you know, if you're talk Lori right now, you're, you're feeling pretty good, Speaker 1: 01:17 Huh. But going into this race, polling showed that these candidates were running virtually neck and neck. Why do you think the polls didn't capture what actually happened Speaker 2: 01:26 Well beyond the fact that that accurate polling is really difficult to do nowadays? I think what it likely means is that, um, you know, most of the polls showed at least a third of city voters undecided as of October. And what this likely means is that most of those undecided voters ended, ended up voting for Todd Gloria. And that's not all that surprising given that he had a lot of really big institutional backing and big name endorsements. So if you're a democratic voter and you don't know much about either of the mayoral candidates and one of the candidates, Todd Gloria is endorsed by the County party endorsed by Senator Kamala Harris and other big name Democrats. He might seem like the safer bet, Speaker 1: 02:11 But, um, both mayoral candidates are Democrats, but they were appealing to really different voters talk about their campaign strategies and how their approaches appear to have worked at this point. Speaker 2: 02:22 Yeah, well, uh, council member Brie really painted herself as an outsider as an independent minded Democrat, uh, sort of anti-establishment. And she was really reaching out to more conservative voters in some of the positions she was taking and the issues that she was talking about. She really wanted to build a coalition of Democrats who were upset with the, the direction of the County party Republicans and independents. It, uh, you know, one thing we might learn now is, um, Republicans in this city, uh, are, are maybe not the King maker that some people thought they would be. Uh, Democrats have a very big advantage in terms of voter registration. And also it probably didn't help Barbara breathe that Scott Sherman, the Republican endorsed candidate in the primary and a fellow city council member said a few days before the election that he was voting for Todd Gloria. And he had some pretty, uh, unflattering things to say about council member Bree. Beyond that, I think that there was probably a, uh, a boost in progressive turnout, which may have worked in Todd Gloria's favor because many people were turning out, uh, to vote against Donald Trump. Speaker 1: 03:35 No, there are still more than 300,000 votes to be counted and we won't have updated results till tomorrow evening. Is it possible though that one of these candidates will make a statement before then? Speaker 2: 03:46 You know, we know that, uh, Todd Gloria is speaking to reporters this afternoon, um, listening to what he said last night, he really stopped short of declaring victory. Um, here's a bit of what he said at that point, San Diego, because of you, we are poised to make history while there are still votes to be counted. I believe that tonight is a night to celebrate. So, you know, you can hear Todd Gloria saying he's, he's, uh, feeling good about the race, not quite ready to declare victory as, as so many more votes are left to be counted. Now, uh, council member Bree is not expected to do any interviews or speak to reporters again today, but she put out a statement which essentially, um, mirrors what she said last night, uh, which is this Speaker 3: 04:36 We are behind, but there's still a lot of votes left to count. Uh, I remember that in the primary we were behind on election night and over the next few weeks, we made up the ground as more votes were counted. Speaker 1: 04:49 And Andrew, the city council races could be really significant too, because based on the people leading and the results we have at the moment, the council could become an eight to one democratic majority, any surprises in these races, Speaker 2: 05:01 I am a little bit surprised by the margins that we're seeing in the two city council races that had a Democrat versus Republican. The first being district five, this is Scripps ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, Rancho Bernardo. Uh, it's currently held by an independent who used to be a Republican and he's termed out. So we have Democrat, Marnie Von Wilpert, uh, against Republican Joe Leventhal. Of course these races are officially nonpartisan. Although party affiliation does play a pretty big role in, in local politics. Uh, Marnie Von Wilpert has also a double digit lead in that district. It was once seen as the Republican stronghold. So, um, you know, if, if the margins were closer at this point, if it were a tighter race than I would say, she might have reason to be worried that late later counted votes would not be in her favor, but, um, she's got a pretty comfortable lead and that's a bit of a, to me. Speaker 2: 05:58 And then in district seven, we've got a Raul camp PO a Democrat, uh, with an even bigger lead over the Republican in that race. No Lizo says, so, you know, in terms of what an eight one democratic majority on the city council would do, uh, we don't really know yet, and they already have a six, three majority on the city council right now. And, uh, they're obviously going to be capturing the mayor's race, um, either way the Democrats. So, uh, you know, perhaps it could be just more of a symbolic victory, a victory, um, you know, in terms of Democrats now are really taking over city government. Speaker 1: 06:38 Yeah. Beginning to look like Sacramento. Now, San Diego city voters are also weighing in on five ballot measures. None of them have been called yet, but there are some pretty clear leads starting with measure a that one would raise taxes to fund affordable housing. And it's leading with 57% of the vote. It's leading with 57% of the vote, but that's not the two thirds majority it needs. What are you taking away from that result? Speaker 2: 07:03 Well, I'm taking away that, uh, it's really hard to raise taxes in San Diego, despite the bluing of the city, despite Democrats having an increasingly big majority among voters, uh, that two thirds threshold in order to raise taxes for a specific purpose is, um, might just be insurmountable for the city. At this point, there are too many Republicans and too many independents and too many Democrats perhaps that, that are averse to raising taxes, uh, for, for a tax measure like this, to actually make it across that two thirds finish line Speaker 1: 07:38 And measure B would establish a police review board for the city with subpoena power. And it has a commanding lead with 75% of the votes. What are the voters saying here? Speaker 2: 07:47 Well, I think they're saying they want more independent oversight of the police. Uh, this measure was certainly helped by the massive, uh, wave of protests that we saw in the spring and summer, uh, in favor of black lives matter and things like that. And so, um, you know, it, it also, I think says that, you know, this, this, right, this I'll say this measure is not a big surprise, the margin of victory, because even the police union had dropped its opposition to this measure. There was no statement in the voter guide, uh, against it. So, uh, without any funded or organized opposition measure, B seemed like a, uh, an easy win for, for its supporters Speaker 1: 08:28 And then measure, he would remove the 30 foot height limit in parts of the midway district. That's the area around the sports arena. It's also leading with 57% of yes. Boats that could mean a big change in that part of the city. Right? Speaker 2: 08:42 Absolutely. Uh, it could mean more development in midway. It could mean, uh, you know, th the, the supporters really saw this as vital to the revitalization of that neighborhood, which is, um, not the prettiest place in, in Diego right now. Um, this measure also not a big surprise that it's winning, uh, with such a big margin. It had the support of both the Republican and democratic parties in San Diego County, a host of, uh, of interest groups. So, uh, you know, the supporters there, I think, uh, we're feeling pretty good and, and it's very likely to, to ultimately pass. Speaker 1: 09:17 I've been speaking with KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen, Andrew. Thank you. Thank you, Alison. And we should mention the other two city ballot measures measure C, which would require district only elections for the San Diego unified school board. It's leading with 69% of voters supporting the measure and measure D which would allow the San Diego unified school board to remove a board member. It also looks like it will pass with 86% voting in favor.