San Diego, CALIF. – Kevin Faulconer will not be facing a November runoff as the Republican incumbent earned 58% of the vote in the 2016 Primary election.
Independent candidate Lori Saldaña finished second with 22% and Ed Harris has 19%.
The numbers will likely move a bit more as there are still 285,000 mail provisional ballots to be counted in the county.
Ed Harris was gracious Tuesday night in admitting defeat to Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who secured his first four-year term. Harris though is still the leader of the city lifeguards union and said in his speech, “The biggest thing for me right now is making sure that lifeguards and firefighters have a death benefit.”
Harris, who finished behind independent Lori Saldaña’s 22.5 percent, said a lot of people don’t know that when the pension overhauling Proposition B passed four years ago.
Saldaña, who served in the Assembly from 2004 to 2010, posted a message on her campaign’s facebook page saying, “We ran an Independent, clean-money, people-powered volunteer campaign,” she said. “While we didn’t succeed this time, history tells us progressive goals require long-term planning and energy to succeed,” she wrote. “If you agree this is the way campaigns need to be conducted: stay tuned! I welcome your participation in other activities to be announced very soon.”
In 2014, Faulconer won a special election to replace the resigned Bob Filner. Faulconer said the results speaks for itself. “The fact that we did so well in every single portion of this city only reaffirms what we have been doing over the last couple years, which is bringing this city together, bringing all neighborhoods together as one San Diego, and ensuring that we’re giving everybody their fair share of city services.”
Faulconer has a lot on his plate. The city’s 9-1-1 dispatch issues, the Chargers’ downtown stadium and Mission Valley equation, and the increasing homeless population are all critical issues that need viable solutions.
A large increase in Democratic voter registration in San Diego raised the legitimate question of whether he could muster enough support to win the election outright, but his moves to rebrand the local GOP brand to the left paid off. It is somewhat astonishing that the man who led the fight against raising the minimum wage in San Diego also grabbed thousands of the votes of those who voted Yes to Prop I.
Faulconer has ruled out the possibility that he will seek higher office, instead saying he will complete his entire four year term.