Edward Brian Harris (born c. 1965) is a

lifeguard A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...

, union leader, and politician from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He was a member 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 ...

representing City Council District 2, which includes the communities of Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Bay Ho, Bay Park, Morena, and Midway. He was appointed to the City Council on April 7, 2014.

Life and career

Harris received his high school diploma from Troy High School in

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...

. He studied fire science at

Palomar College Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. The largest of these by student p ...

. Harris served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1984 through 1988, attaining the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

. He has been a lifeguard for the City of San Diego since 1989. In addition to his duties as a lifeguard sergeant, Harris was also a longtime leader of the city's lifeguard union. Harris is married, has two children, and lives in

Point Loma Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the w ...

City Council

In the summer of 2013 Harris expressed interest in running for District 2 of the San Diego City Council. Harris is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, although City Council positions are officially nonpartisan per California state law. The seat was set to be vacated by its council member,

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 ...

, due to term limits. Harris decided against running due to the concerns of his family. In March 2014 the District 2 seat became vacant when Faulconer was elected

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. ...

in 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 replace

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 ...

. Since there was less than a year remaining in Faulconer's term in office, the City Charter empowers the City Council to appoint a council member; however, that appointed member may not run in the subsequent election. Twenty people applied for the appointment. The City Council chose Harris on its second ballot by a 5-3 vote. He served the balance of the unfinished term until replaced by Lorie Zapf in December 2014. Describing himself as "a normal guy, a normal Joe," Harris said “I’m excited and I’m anxious to get to work. I will push for things that are important to people like crosswalks and clean beaches.” In March 2016, Harris declared his intention to run in the

2016 San Diego mayoral election The 2016 San Diego mayoral election was held on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, to elect the Mayor for San Diego. Incumbent Kevin Faulconer ran for a second term as Mayor against former San Diego City Council member Ed Harris and former California State ...

against incumbent Faulconer and

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 ...

. Harris came in third place with 19 percent of the vote in the June primary.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Ed Living people California Democrats Year of birth missing (living people) Troy High School (California) alumni San Diego City Council members Palomar College alumni