San Diego mayoral election, 2012

San Diego mayoral election, 2012
November 6, 2012
 
Nominee Bob Filner Carl DeMaio
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 245,092 221,870
Percentage 52.5% 47.5%
Mayor before election

Jerry Sanders
Republican

 Elected Mayor

Bob Filner
Democratic

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.

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

Declined

Campaign

The mayoral race received national attention in March 2012 when 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.[11] Brooks was criticized by Reason's Matt Welch, who pointed out that DeMaio is openly gay and described DeMaio as having libertarian leanings.[12] A few weeks after the local Republican party endorsed DeMaio, Fletcher announced he was leaving the Republican party and becoming an independent.[13]

In the primary election held June 5, DeMaio placed first with 31.42% of the vote, followed by Filner with 30.47%.[2] Trailing were Fletcher with 24.11% and Dumanis with 13.29%. As the top two vote-getters, DeMaio and Filner advanced to the November ballot.[2]

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

San Diego Mayoral Primary election, 2012[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Carl DeMaio 73,508 31.42
Nonpartisan Bob Filner 73,216 30.47
Nonpartisan Nathan Fletcher 57,939 24.11
Nonpartisan Bonnie Dumanis 31,926 13.29
Nonpartisan Tobiah Pettus[16] 1,709 0.71
Nonpartisan Write-in Candidates 752 0.32
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

San Diego Mayoral General election, 2012[15]
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Bob Filner 245,092 52.49
Nonpartisan Carl DeMaio 221,870 47.51
Total votes 466,962 100

References

  1. ↑ "How to Run for Office". The City of San Diego-Office of the City Clerk. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 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. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Assemblyman Fletcher Enters San Diego Mayoral Race". KGTV-TV. June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Eight Candidates Drop from Mayor's Race". La Jolla Patch. March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  8. ↑ Dillon, Liam (June 7, 2011). "Mayor's Race: Faulconer Out, Endorses Dumanis". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  9. ↑ Kuhney, Jen Lebron (March 21, 2012). "Francis endorses DeMaio". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  10. ↑ Gardner, Michael (June 28, 2011). "No Mayor Kehoe: State senator decides not to run". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  11. ↑ Brooks, David. A Moderate Conservative Dilemma. The New York Times. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ "Nathan Fletcher Announces He’s Leaving The Republican Party", KPBS, March 28, 2012
  14. ↑ http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/voters/results/transform.htm?paramVal1=city_diego.xsl
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Election History - Mayor of San Diego" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  16. ↑ "Tobiah L. Pettus". Smartvoter.org. League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. 8 April 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013.

External links

General election candidates
Primary candidates