List of special elections to the San Diego City Council

Special elections to the San Diego City Council are called by the San Diego City Council when a vacancy arises on the Council with more than one year remaining in the term.[1] Most special elections are conducted in two rounds. The first is an open primary and the candidate with the most votes must have a majority of the votes plus one to win the seat. If no candidate wins a majority a second round is held with the two top candidates regardless of party.

List of special elections

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The dates listed only include the open primary round if no second round was held.[2]

District Date Predecessor Winner
3 April 23, 1935 Alva Davis Walter Wurfel
3 April 15, 1947 Elmer Blase Paul Hartley
4 November 4, 1969 Tom Hom (R) Leon Williams (D)
6 November 4, 1969 Jack Walsh (R) Bob Martinet
3 November 8, 1983 Susan Golding (R) Gloria McColl (R)
8 February 16, 1993 Bob Filner (D) Juan Vargas (D)
8 September 21, 1993 Juan Vargas (D) Juan Vargas (D)
8 February 27, 2001 Juan Vargas (D) Ralph Inzunza (D)
6 June 5, 2001 Valerie Stallings (D) Donna Frye (D)
4 January 4, 2005 Charles L. Lewis (D) Tony Young (D)
2 January 10, 2006 Michael Zucchet (D) Kevin Faulconer (R)
8 January 10, 2006 Ralph Inzunza (D) Ben Hueso (D)
4 May 21, 2013 Tony Young (D) Myrtle Cole (D)

List of recall elections

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When applicable, the candidate who succeeded the recalled council member is listed. If the recall election was not successful the winner is listed as "none".

District Date Incumbent Winner
5 April 9, 1991 Linda Bernhardt Tom Behr

Results

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2001 District 8 special election

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2001 San Diego City Council District 8 special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Juan Vargas
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Ralph Inzunza 4,759 62.10
Republican Richard Babcock 714 9.32
Nonpartisan Rafael Ramirez 606 7.91
Nonpartisan David Gomez 325 4.24
Nonpartisan Christian Ramirez 238 3.11
Nonpartisan Gloria Tyler-Mallery 212 2.77
Nonpartisan Kevin Hancock 168 2.19
Nonpartisan Mary Arends-Biddlecome 164 2.14
Nonpartisan Joe Ortega 164 2.14
Nonpartisan Janice Jordan 138 1.80
Nonpartisan Elias Rojas 117 1.53
Republican Lincoln Pickard 59 0.77
Nonpartisan Petra Barajas 12 0.15
Total votes 7,802 100

2001 District 6 special election

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2001 San Diego City Council District 6 special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Valerie Stallings
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Steve Danon 4,992 26.22
Democratic Donna Frye 4,867 25.57
Nonpartisan Michael Pallamary 3,573 18.77
Nonpartisan Peter Navarro 1,494 7.85
Nonpartisan Kim Cox 1,400 7.35
Nonpartisan Gary Rotto 1,249 6.56
Nonpartisan Larry L. Murray 569 2.99
Nonpartisan Tom Switzer 450 2.36
Nonpartisan Donald Mayes 299 1.57
Nonpartisan Rick Richard 143 0.75
Nonpartisan James Morrison (write-in) 12 0.06
Total votes 19,119 100
General election
Democratic Donna Frye 12,259 52.25
Republican Steve Danon 11,201 47.75
Total votes 23,564 100

2004–2005 District 4 special election

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Charles L. Lewis died in office while under federal indictment on charges of bribery and corruption as a result of the FBI investigation known as Operation G-Sting. Tony Young, previously Lewis' chief of staff, ran in the special election to replace him. Young advanced to the runoff after receiving the second most votes in the special primary election on November 16, 2004. He went on to win election by receiving the majority of votes in the special runoff election on January 4, 2005.

2004–2005 San Diego City Council District 4 special election
Vacancy resulting from the death of Charles L. Lewis
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic George Stevens 4,615 34.29
Democratic Tony Young 3,102 23.04
Democratic Dwayne Crenshaw 2,898 21.54
Nonpartisan Marissa Acierto 1,210 8.99
Republican Bruce Williams 917 6.81
Nonpartisan Jim Galley 260 1.93
Nonpartisan Gloria Tyler-Mallery 252 1.87
Nonpartisan Patrick DeShields 205 1.52
Total votes 13,459 100
General election
Democratic Tony Young 6,911 59.42
Democratic George Stevens 4,719 40.58
Total votes 11,630 100

2005–2006 District 2 special election

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Michael Zucchet resigned from office in July 2005 when he was convicted of corruption as a result of the FBI investigation known as Operation G-Sting, though he was later cleared of all charges.[3] Kevin Faulconer, who had been the runner-up in the 2002 election against Zucchet, ran again in the crowded special election. He received the most votes in the primary election on November 8, 2005, and was elected with a majority of the votes in the runoff on January 10, 2006.

2005–2006 San Diego City Council District 2 special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Michael Zucchet
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Kevin Faulconer 15,912 34.44
Democratic Lorena Gonzalez 11,543 24.98
Nonpartisan Carolyn Chase 4,090 8.85
Nonpartisan Rich Grosch 2,906 6.29
Nonpartisan Tim Rutherford 2,442 5.29
Nonpartisan Kathleen Blavatt 1,848 4.00
Nonpartisan Ian Trowbridge 1,746 3.78
Nonpartisan Pat Zaharopoulos 1,273 2.76
Nonpartisan Phil Meinhardt 1,054 2.28
Nonpartisan Tom Eaton 754 1.63
Nonpartisan Greg Finley 615 1.33
Nonpartisan David Diehl 470 1.02
Nonpartisan James Joaquin Morrison 441 0.95
Nonpartisan George Najjar 280 0.61
Nonpartisan Robert E. Lee 250 0.54
Nonpartisan Allen Hujsak 242 0.52
Nonpartisan Linda Susan Finley 202 0.44
Total votes 52,154 100
General election
Republican Kevin Faulconer 15,044 51.23
Democratic Lorena Gonzalez 14,320 48.77
Total votes 29,448 100

2005–2006 District 8 special election

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Ralph Inzunza resigned from office in July 2005 when he was convicted of corruption as a result of the FBI investigation known as Operation G-Sting.[3] Ben Hueso ran in the special election to replace Inzunza. He advanced to the special runoff election after receiving the plurality of the votes in the special primary on November 8, 2005. Hueso was elected to office with a majority of the votes in the runoff on January 10, 2006.

2005–2006 San Diego City Council District 8 special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Ralph Inzunza
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Ben Hueso 7,454 38.15
Republican Luis Acle 3,621 18.53
Nonpartisan Remigia Bermudez 3,018 15.45
Nonpartisan Dan Coffey 1,601 8.19
Nonpartisan Kathy Vandenheuvel 1,060 5.43
Nonpartisan Douglas Holbrook 800 4.09
Nonpartisan Tim Gomez 775 3.97
Republican Lincoln Pickard 595 3.05
Nonpartisan Matthew Moncayo 537 2.75
Total votes 21,000 100
General election
Democratic Ben Hueso 6,408 70.60
Republican Luis Acle 2,600 28.65
Total votes 9,090 100

2013 District 4 special election

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On November 17, 2012, Council President Tony Young announced that he would resign from the City Council early to become CEO of the San Diego-Imperial Counties chapter of the American Red Cross, triggering a special election.[4] Nine candidates qualified for the special primary election, scheduled for March 26, 2013.[5] Myrtle Cole, who had been endorsed by the local Democratic Party and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, received the most votes in the primary. She advanced to the May 21, 2013 general election to face runner-up Dwayne Crenshaw, Executive Director of San Diego LGBT Pride.[6] Cole was elected to the City Council with a majority of the votes in the runoff.[7]

2013 San Diego City Council District 4 special election
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Tony Young
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Myrtle Cole 4,304 32.3
Democratic Dwayne Crenshaw 2,025 15.2
Democratic Brian "Barry" Pollard 1,548 11.6
Democratic Ray Smith 1,207 9.1
Democratic Blanca Lopez Brown 1,084 8.1
Republican Sandy Spackman 1,067 8.0
Democratic Bruce Williams 1,059 8.0
Democratic Tony Villafranca 621 4.7
Democratic Monica Montgomery 404 3.0
Total votes 13,319 100
General election
Democratic Myrtle Cole 6,612 54.1
Democratic Dwayne Crenshaw 5,603 45.9
Total votes 12,215 100

References

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  1. ^ City of San Diego. "City Charter". www.sandiego.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  2. ^ City of San Diego. "Past City Elections". www.sandiego.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Coffey, Daniel (October 14, 2010). "Justice undone: Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza". San Diego Daily Transcript. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Council President Tony Young to Vacate Seat, Work for Red Cross". NBC 7 San Diego. November 17, 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Official Ballot Municipal Special Election - City Council District 4" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  6. ^ Dillon, Liam (26 March 2013). "Cole, Crenshaw Advance in District 4". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on 29 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  7. ^ Gustafson, Craig (21 May 2013). "Cole defeats Crenshaw in District 4 council race". UT San Diego. Retrieved 22 May 2013.