The 2013–2014 San Diego mayoral special election was a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

to elect the

Mayor of San Diego The mayor of the City of San Diego is the official head and chief executive officer of the U.S. city of San Diego, California. The mayor has the duty to enforce and execute the laws enacted by the San Diego City Council, the legislative branch. ...

. The election was made necessary by the resignation of

Bob Filner Robert Earl "Bob" Filner (born September 4, 1942) is an American former politician who was the 35th mayor of San Diego from December 2012 through August 2013, when he resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He later pleaded gui ...

on August 30, 2013. The winner stood to serve out the balance of Filner's term, which ended in 2016. The election was nonpartisan, in accordance with the California Constitution, and candidates appeared on the ballot with no party affiliation, although most chose to state a political party affiliation. A primary election was held on November 19, 2013. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff election was held between the top two vote-getters on February 11, 2014. In the runoff,

Kevin Faulconer Kevin Lee Faulconer (born January 24, 1967) is an American politician who served as the 36th mayor of San Diego, California from 2014 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, Faulconer served as the member of the San Diego City Council for th ...

defeated David Alvarez.

Filner's resignation

In July 2013, Filner was accused of

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

by multiple women. Despite continuing pressure to resign, he remained in office until he and the city reached a mediated agreement in August 2013, under which he agreed to resign and the city of San Diego agreed to help pay his legal fees. According to the city charter,

Todd Gloria Todd Rex Gloria (born May 10, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 37th and current mayor of San Diego since 2020. As a strong mayor, he is the chief executive officer in the city of San Diego. A member of the Democratic Party, he is th ...

, the president of the

San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of San Diego, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts ...

, served as interim mayor until a new mayor was sworn into office.

Candidates

Declared

Mike Aguirre Jules Michael Aguirre (born 1949), more commonly known as Michael Jules Aguirre, was the City Attorney for the City of San Diego, California, from 2004 to 2008. In 2013, he was a candidate for mayor in a special election following Mayor Bob Filn ...

, former San Diego city attorney * David Alvarez, San Diego city councilman * Hud Collins, lawyer * Bruce Coons, executive director of

Save Our Heritage Organisation Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation of the historic architecture and landmarks around the San Diego, California area. Founded in 1969, Save Our Heritage Organisation maintains several hist ...

* Harry Dirks, business administrator and realtor *

, San Diego city councilman *

Nathan Fletcher Nathan Fletcher (born December 31, 1976) is an American politician and professor serving on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors for the 4th District since 2019 and as the Chair since 2021. Previously, he served two terms in the California ...

, former state assemblyman and mayoral candidate in 2012 * Michael Kemmer, student * Sina "Simon" Moghadam, businessman and engineer * Tobiah Pettus, construction superintendent and mayoral candidate in 2012 * Lincoln Pickard, retired contractor and gun rights advocate

Declined

Toni Atkins Toni Gayle Atkins (born August 1, 1962) is an American politician serving as the 51st and current President pro tempore of the California State Senate since 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 69th Speaker of the ...

, Majority Leader of the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

and former Acting Mayor *

Ruben Barrales Ruben Barrales (born April 14, 1962) is the former Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush, and was also the Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.The Foreign Policy Of George W. Bush: Values, Strategy And Loyalty, by Alexander ...

, former aide to

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

, former CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce *

Carl DeMaio Carl David DeMaio (born September 14, 1974) is an American politician from San Diego, California. DeMaio hosts a radio show on NewsRadio 600 KOGO. He also founded and served as Chairman of Reform California, a conservative political action commi ...

, former

man and mayoral candidate in 2012 (running for Congress) *

Bonnie Dumanis Bonnie Michelle Dumanis (born December 16, 1951) was the District Attorney of San Diego County, California. She held the office 2003 to 2017. Dumanis is a Republican, though the office she held was officially nonpartisan. She was the first openly ...

San Diego County District Attorney The San Diego County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for San Diego County, California. This office is responsible for the prosecution of both felony and misdemeanor violations of California state law that occur within the juri ...

and mayoral candidate in 2012 *

Donna Frye Donna Frye (born January 20, 1952) is an American politician from San Diego. She was born in Pennsylvania and is one of three children. Frye was a member of the San Diego City Council, representing District 6 and a two-time candidate for mayor of ...

, former San Diego city councilwoman and mayoral candidate in 2004 and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, interim mayor of San Diego and president of

Jan Goldsmith Jan Ira Goldsmith (born January 26, 1951) is a Republican politician from San Diego, California, United States who served as the San Diego City Attorney from 2008 to 2016. Education He received his undergraduate degree from American University ...

, San Diego City Attorney * Lorena Gonzalez, state assemblywoman * William Gore, San Diego County Sheriff *

Christine Kehoe Christine T. Kehoe (born October 3, 1950) is an American politician from San Diego, California. A Democrat, she served from 2004 to 2012 as a member of the California State Senate, representing the 39th district. She was previously a member of ...

, former state senator * Ron Roberts,

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

Supervisor and mayoral candidate in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* Matt Romney, investor and son of

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

Lori Saldaña Lori R. Saldaña (born November 7, 1958) is an American politician from San Diego, California. She is a former member of the California State Assembly from the 76th Assembly district (central San Diego). She served from 2004 to 2010, when term l ...

, former state assemblywoman

Special election

In the special election held November 19, 2013,

received 43.6 percent of the vote and David Alvarez received 25.6 percent. The two of them advanced to a runoff election on February 11, 2014.

narrowly missed the runoff with 24.3 percent of the vote, just as he had when he previously run in the 2012 mayoral election.

placed a distant fourth with 4.4 percent. The other eight candidates each received less than 1 percent of the vote each.

Polling

Results

Although local elections are officially non-partisan per the California constitution, major candidates typically publicly align themselves with political parties. Therefore, political preference of candidates is indicated in the table below where it is known.

Special run-off election

On February 11, 2014, Kevin Faulconer received 52.9 percent majority in the run-off vote and was elected Mayor of San Diego.

Polling

;With Aguirre ;With DeMaio ;With Fletcher ;With Frye ;With Gloria ;With Goldsmith

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Diego mayoral election, 2013-2014 2013–2014 2013–2014 2013 California elections 2014 California elections 2013 United States mayoral elections 2014 United States mayoral elections February 2014 events in the United States California special elections United States mayoral special elections