Election history was made Tuesday on the national political front as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination for president, while here in San Diego the historically LGBT-held District 3 City Council seat remained so with the victory of Chris Ward over Anthony Bernal.
“I’m feeling grateful,” Ward told San Diego LGBT Weekly the morning after the election. “I’m appreciative for the confidence that the voters of District 3 have entrusted in me.”
Ward’s decisive win comes after a hard-fought, but markedly genteel campaign against Anthony Bernal, who proved to be a politically savvy, albeit ultimately hapless candidate. At one point, just three weeks ago, Bernal seemed to have found a strategy that might overcome the disadvantage of being seen by some voters as a straight usurper of San Diego’s only gay council seat.
Bernal’s strategy had three parts. One: remind the district’s highly engaged LGBT voting bloc that he is a longtime field deputy for gay councilman, Todd Gloria, and as such is sensitive to LGBT issues. Two: Reach rightward to the city’s business and real estate-development establishment to build an alternate base. Three: Tout endorsements of Mayor Kevin Faulconer, two local Chambers of Commerce, as well the endorsements of community leaders in District 3’s historically LGBT Hillcrest neighborhood.
However, that strategy fell apart when news hit that some of the community-leader and small-business endorsements Bernal had claimed as his were being refuted by the supposed endorsers. In the end, Ward beat Bernal handily, with 59 percent of the vote compared to Bernal’s paltry 27 percent.
“We’ve been working with a lot of supporters over the past 12 months,” Ward, who will be leaving his current post as 39th District State Sen. Marty Block’s chief of staff, said. “That led to a robust conversation about my qualifications and my vision for the district. A vast majority of the voters thought I was the best candidate for the job.”
A third candidate, Scott Sanborn, a former Green Beret who served three tours of duty in Iraq, garnered 14 percent of the vote in the District 3 race.
Voters approved several ballot measures, including Proposition I, which will raise the local minimum wage to $11.50 per hour by January 2017. That measure passed overwhelmingly with more than 63 percent of the electorate voting in favor of a mandatory pay raise for minimum-wage workers.
Another initiative, Proposition H, provides that money for infrastructure and capital-improvement projects must be set aside specifically for such expenditures only. Proposition H passed by a whopping 64 percent.
A statewide measure to provide means of suspending state legislators without pay, pensions or benefits was also passed. Aimed at fixing an inability to enact such measures against colleagues who are under criminal indictment, Proposition 50 passed with more than 76 percent of the vote.
The 2016 primary election’s other big wins included one for California Attorney General Kamala Harris for the U.S. Senate seat that has been occupied by Barbara Boxer since 1992. However, Harris’ 40 percent win over her nearest competition, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of Orange County, was not enough to win the coveted Senate seat outright. Harris will face off against Sanchez, who garnered 18.5 percent of the vote, in a run-off in November.
There were no surprises in the congressional races, as Juan Vargas, Scott Peters and Susan Davis kept their seats in the 51st, 52nd and 53rd Districts, respectively.
Likewise, Dr. Shirley Weber kept her Assembly seat, while Todd Gloria handily won the seat vacated by former speaker, Toni Atkins. Atkins won her race for the state senate.
To virtually no one’s surprise Mayor Kevin Faulconer won re-election. However, County Supervisor Dave Roberts, a married gay man who contends he was wrongly accused having an inappropriate relationship with a staffer, mismanaging county resources and members of his staff, faces a runoff with Encinitas mayor, Kristin Gaspar.
Self-proclaimed billionaire-businessman Donald Trump won California’s Republican presidential primary.
Full election results can be found at www.sdvote.com/content/rov/en/elections.html
