City Councilman Carl DeMaio (R), who announced his candidacy today, and Nathan Fletcher (R), with a candidacy announcement due this week, join confirmed contender Bonnie Dumanis (R) in San Diego’s mayoral race.
As the bids for mayor of San Diego are underway, other contenders have expressed potential interest in throwing their hat into the ring. Potentials include Christine Kehoe (D), who has already formed an exploratory committee, and Congressman Bob Filner (D), who has voiced interest in the mayoral election, according to the Union-Tribune. In essence, no Democrats have formally entered the race.
A major topic of the mayoral campaign will be resolving the city’s financial crisis, including a $2.1 billion pension deficit .
“The pension crisis is the most pressing financial problem we face and I’m not waiting to be mayor to fix that problem. I’m doing it right now,” DeMaio said in a statement.
Fletcher, also committed to reforming the pension system, explained that “everyone in San Diego should be rightly outraged at the abuses… it’s a complicated issue and we have to be careful in how we do it. In seeking a solution to a problem we have to solve, you can’t inadvertently make the problem worse.”
The elected candidate will replace Mayor Jerry Sanders, who will be out due to term limits.
And so it begins …