2012 San Diego mayoral election

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.

2012 San Diego mayoral election

← 2008 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2013–14 (special) →

Nominee Bob Filner Carl DeMaio Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 245,092 221,870 Percentage 52.5% 47.5%

Results by city council district Filner:      60–70% DeMaio:      50–60%      60–70%

Mayor before election Jerry Sanders Republican Elected Mayor Bob Filner Democratic

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

• Carl DeMaio, member of the San Diego City Council^[3] (Voter registration: Republican)
• Bonnie Dumanis, District Attorney of San Diego County^[4] (Voter registration: Republican)
• Bob Filner, U. S. Representative^[5] (Voter registration: Democratic)
• Nathan Fletcher, state Assemblyman^[6] (Voter registration: Republican (until March 2012^[7]), Independent (after March 2012))
• Tobiah Pettus, businessman^[8] (Voter registration: Republican)

Declined

• Kevin Faulconer, member of the San Diego City Council^[9] (Voter registration: Republican)
• Steve Francis, businessman and mayoral candidate in 2005 and 2008^[10] (Voter registration: Republican)
• Christine Kehoe, state Senator^[11] (Voter registration: Democratic)

Campaign

The mayoral race received national attention in March 2012 when The 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.^[12] Brooks was criticized by Reason's Matt Welch, who pointed out that DeMaio is openly gay and described him as having libertarian leanings.^[13] A few weeks after the local Republican party endorsed DeMaio, Fletcher announced he was leaving the Republican party and becoming an independent.^[7]

In the primary election held June 5, DeMaio placed first with 31.4 percent of the vote, followed by Filner with 30.5 percent.^[2] Trailing were Fletcher with 24.1 percent and Dumanis with 13.3 percent. As the top two vote-getters, DeMaio and Filner advanced to the November ballot.^[2] Filner was then elected mayor with 52.5 percent of the votes in the November election.^[14]

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^[15][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Carl DeMaio	73,508	31.4
	Democratic	Bob Filner	73,216	30.5
	Independent	Nathan Fletcher	57,939	24.1
	Republican	Bonnie Dumanis	31,926	13.3
	Nonpartisan	Tobiah Pettus^[16]	1,709	0.7
	Write-in		752	0.3
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^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bob Filner	245,092	52.5
	Republican	Carl DeMaio	221,870	47.5
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. 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. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
6. "Assemblyman Fletcher Enters San Diego Mayoral Race". KGTV-TV. June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
7. "Nathan Fletcher Announces He’s Leaving The Republican Party", KPBS, March 28, 2012
8. "Eight Candidates Drop from Mayor's Race". La Jolla Patch. March 21, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
9. Dillon, Liam (June 7, 2011). . Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
10. Kuhney, Jen Lebron (March 21, 2012). "Francis endorses DeMaio". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
11. Gardner, Michael (June 28, 2011). "No Mayor Kehoe: State senator decides not to run". U-T San Diego. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
12. Brooks, David. A Moderate Conservative Dilemma. The New York Times. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-04-10.
13. 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.
14. "Election History - Mayor of San Diego" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
15. "San Diego Registrar".
16. "Tobiah L. Pettus". Smartvoter.org. League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. April 8, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2013.