San Diego voters shake up City Council in rare wave of change
Three new members will take office in December, while a special election is required to fill the seat vacated by Marni von Wilpert's move to Congress.
By Takeshi Faure ·
San Diego voters will see major changes at City Hall when new members are sworn in next month. Three seats are changing hands, and a fourth is opening up because incumbent Marni von Wilpert won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. This marks the most turnover on the nine-member council since 2020.
The results reflect a strong preference for challengers over long-time officials. Martha Abraham defeated incumbent Henry Foster in southeastern District 4. This is only the third time since 1992 that a sitting council member lost re-election in San Diego. The other two instances occurred in 2018.
Antonio Martinez also won a seat in South Bay District 8, defeating Gerardo Ramirez, who serves as deputy chief of staff to outgoing Councilmember Vivian Moreno. Martinez leads Ramirez by 14 percentage points in the partial results. Meanwhile, Richard Bailey is trailing Democrat Nicole Crosby by eight points in coastal District 2.
Union backing played a decisive role in the outcomes. The city's firefighters union supported both Abraham and Martinez with campaign mailers. Their opponents were backed by the Municipal Employees Association, a white-collar union that has typically seen its candidates win in past cycles. Firefighters union president George Duardo used his victory to criticize City Hall, stating that residents would no longer tolerate politicians who take the firefighters' service for granted.
Political scientists noted that national sentiment against the Trump administration influenced local voting patterns. Thad Kousser, a professor at UC San Diego, said the election locked in massive Democratic control of the council. All four races were won by Democrats, maintaining the body's all-Democrat makeup that began in 2022. However, Kousser observed that the races were defined more by a divide between insiders and outsiders than by strict party lines.
The city must now hold a special election to replace von Wilpert in north inland District 5. Council President Joe LaCava announced that the special election must be scheduled within 90 days of the official vacancy announcement. The district, which includes Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Peñasquitos, will be led by von Wilpert's chief of staff in the interim. Low-turnout special elections often attract more Republican voters, presenting a potential opportunity to break the current all-Democrat composition of the council.
City Clerk Diana Fuentes said the office is prepared to administer the process in accordance with the City Charter. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held. The candidate filing and nomination period will last two weeks once the vacancy is officially announced.
