November 4, 2014 (2014-11-04) 2016 → 5 4 | 6 3 1 1 | |
 | ||
The 2014 San Diego City Council election was held November 4, 2014. The primary election was held on June 3, 2014. Four of the nine seats of the San Diego City Council were contested. Two incumbents ran for re-election in their same district and one ran for election in a new district due to redistricting.
Contents
Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, although most members do identify a party preference. A two-round system was used for the election, starting with a primary in June followed by a runoff in November between the top-two candidates if no candidate received a majority of the votes in the first round.
Campaign
The 2014 election was the second to use the new districts created by the 2010 Redistricting Commission. It was the first time that even-numbered districts 2, 4, 6, and 8 were up for election using the new boundaries.
Incumbents Myrtle Cole (District 4) and David Alvarez (District 8) won re-election by getting more than 50% in the June primary. Lorie Zapf (District 2) was also re-elected in the June primary, but in a different district then the one she previously represented due to redistricting. Chris Cate and Carol Kim were the top two vote-getters in the primary for the open seat in District 6. Cate was elected with a majority of the vote in the November 2014 general election.
District 2
District 2 consisted of the communities of Bay Ho/Bay Park/Morena, Midway/North Bay, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, and Point Loma. Incumbent council member Ed Harris, who had been appointed to finish the balance of Kevin Faulconer's term, was ineligible to run for reelection. Lorie Zapf, who had been serving as the council member representing District 6, was forced to run in District 2 due to a 2010 redistricting. Zapf was elected with a majority of the votes in the June primary.
District 4
District 4 consisted of the communities of Alta Vista, Broadway Heights, Chollas View, Emerald Hills, Encanto, Greater Skyline Hills, Jamacha, Lincoln Park, Lomita Village, North Bay Terrace, Oak Park, O'Farrell, Paradise Hills, Redwood Village, Rolando Park, South Bay Terrace, Valencia Park, and Webster. Incumbent council member Myrtle Cole was reelected with a majority of the vote in June primary.
District 6
District 6 consisted of the communities of Clairemont Mesa, Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa, Mission Valley, North Clairemont, and Rancho Peñasquitos. Incumbent council member Lorie Zapf shifted from District 6 to District 2 due to the 2010 redistricting. Chris Cate and Carol Kim received the most votes in the June primary. Since no candidate won a majority, a runoff was held in November to determine the winner. Cate won a majority in the runoff and was elected to the City Council.
District 8
District 8 consisted of the southern communities of San Diego and those along the Mexico–United States border, including the communities of Barrio Logan, Egger Highlands, Grant Hill, Logan Heights, Memorial, Nestor, Ocean View Hills, Otay Mesa West, Otay Mesa East, San Ysidro, Sherman Heights, Stockton, and Tijuana River Valley. Incumbent council member David Alvarez was elected after receiving a majority of the votes in the June primary.
Aftermath
The primary victories by Cole and Alvarez ensured that self-identified Democrats would continue to control at least a five-seat majority on the City Council. However, the District 6 general election race left open the question of whether or not they would also continue to control a six-seat two-thirds supermajority of the city council, allowing them to overrule a mayoral veto by Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer on issues that split along party lines. Cate ultimately won the district 6 runoff, denying the self-identified democrats a supermajority.
On December 10, 2014, the new council was sworn in. For their first action, the council voted 4–5 on a motion of whether to reappoint Todd Gloria as council president, with Sherri Lightner joining the four council republicans to defeat the measure. The council then successfully voted to appoint Lightner as the council president with a vote of 7–2, with only Gloria and David Alvarez in opposition.