Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby were leading the pack in San Diego Council District 2 in early election results just after polls closed Tuesday, while Antonio Martinez and Gerardo Ramirez held the crucial top two spots in Council District 8.
With only partial results reported and many votes still left to be counted in all races, Martha Abraham and Henry Foster were leading in District 4, while Kent Lee and Mark Powell held the top two spots in District 6.
In San Diego council races, the top two finishers in the June primary advance to a November runoff even if the first-place candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.
It’s notable that the Abraham and Foster were so close in the early returns; Foster is an incumbent, and incumbents in San Diego City Council races have lost re-election bids only twice since 1992.
Bailey, the former mayor of Coronado and the most conservative candidate in the District 2 race, flooded voters with mailers in recent weeks criticizing what he calls mismanagement at Democrat-led San Diego City Hall.
Crosby, a deputy city attorney endorsed by the county Democratic Party, had sent mailers contending Bailey’s promises to reduce city spending would slash funding for parks, libraries and homeless shelters.
Running in a distant third was Democrat Josh Coyne, a former City Hall staffer who now helps lead a merchant organization called the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
Bailey said Tuesday that he had been “feeling confident.”
“We think we put forward a pretty clear choice for voters to decide between new policies, trying to take the city in a better direction or the same failed political policies and political leadership that got us in this mess,” he said.
Crosby said voters in November would get to elect someone with a local track record, noting that she has been a longtime community leader in Clairemont while Bailey recently moved to Point Loma from Coronado.
“We’re very well-positioned,” she said.
Bailey said voters on the campaign trail have made him keenly aware of how badly the city needs new leadership, speaking to him about day-to-day issues such as streetlights, street conditions and homelessness.
“I think voters are starting to realize that for as much attention as national politics get, you can actually make a difference at the local level, and they’re expecting their leaders to do so,” he said.
Bailey is likely to blame the problems at City Hall on Crosby because she works for the city — but she was quick to point out Tuesday that she wasn’t endorsed by Mayor Todd Gloria and works outside City Hall.
“I’m not here to stand in for City Hall — I’m here to stand up for the people,” she said. “Leaders need to talk to constituents, and constituents need to talk to each other.”
Bailey, Crosby and Coyne, along with independent committees supporting them, raised and spent far more than the four other candidates: Mandy Havlik, Michael Rickey, Paul Suppa and Jacob Mitchell.
Bailey has been supported mostly by local business groups. Crosby has gotten support from the city’s largest labor union, while Coyne got support from a construction union.
If Bailey makes the November runoff, the race could be an old-fashioned ideological left-versus-right battle. While no longer affiliated with any party, he’s a former Republican, and his views on most issues are notably conservative.
Crosby said Tuesday she hopes the runoff is more about connecting with constituents than ideological rhetoric.
Local labor unions recently launched a major push against Bailey with significant funding and mailers.
Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 2 to 1 in the district, which includes Point Loma, Clairemont, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach and some nearby areas.
In the race in District 8, a South Bay seat where all four candidates are Democrats, Ramirez is a City Hall aide, while Martinez is more of an outsider.
Ramirez is chief of staff for Vivian Moreno, who has held the seat since 2018 and can’t run for re-election because of term limits. Martinez is a longtime San Ysidro schools trustee who ran unsuccessfully against Moreno in 2018 and 2022.
The two candidates have split support from organized labor, with local hotel workers and city firefighters backing Martinez while the union representing most other city workers backs Ramirez. Ramirez has also gotten significant support from the Latino Caucus of California Counties, a statewide organization.
The two other candidates are Venus Molina, who is chief of staff for termed-out District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, and real estate agent Rafael Perez.
Martinez said he was honored and humbled to be leading, especially against two City Hall chiefs of staff.
“Our communities in District 8 have been shortchanged,” he said, explaining the roots of the anti-City Hall sentiment in the South Bay district.
Ramirez said he was pleased to be in one of the top two spots, especially as a first-time candidate. He doesn’t expect to face backlash based on his City Hall job, contending frustration with the city was why he took it.
“I got involved because I felt the city was going down the wrong path,” he said.
In District 4, challenger Abraham was leading incumbent Foster in the initial results. But both Democrats were comfortably ahead of the only other candidate, Johnny Lee Dang.
Abraham said her narrow lead over Foster was evidence residents of District 4 — which includes Encanto, Skyline and several other southeastern neighborhoods — feel they can’t keep living as they’ve been forced to.
“I’m so grateful to my community for believing in me,” she said. “I hope we make it all the way through November and bring the people’s voice back to City Hall.”
In District 6, Lee and Powell are both headed for a November runoff as the only two candidates in the race. In early results, Lee was leading Powell by a comfortable margin.
