Georgette Gómez (born November 3, 1975) is an American politician and community activist. She served as 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 ...

from 2016 to 2020. Gómez 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 ...

, though city council positions are officially nonpartisan per

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 ...

state law. In December 2018, Gómez was unanimously appointed president of the city council. Gómez was a candidate for

California's 53rd congressional district California's 53rd congressional district was a former congressional district in the U.S. state of California. It was last represented by Sara Jacobs, who succeeded Susan Davis following the 2020 election. It was eliminated following the 2 ...

in the 2020 elections, losing to fellow Democrat

Sara Jacobs Sara Josephine Jacobs (born February 1, 1989) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for . Her district includes central and eastern portions of San Diego, California, San Diego, as we ...

. Gómez was a candidate for

California's 80th State Assembly district California's 80th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently vacant after Democrat Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego resigned on January 5, 2022, to become leader of the California Labor Federation. ...

in the 2022 special election following the resignation of Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez. She was defeated by San Diego city councilor David Alvarez.

Early life and education

Gómez was born in San Diego to working-class immigrants. She was raised in

Barrio Logan Barrio Logan is a neighborhood in south central San Diego, California. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of East Village and Logan Heights to the north, Shelltown and Southcrest to the east, San Diego Bay to the southwest, and National Cit ...

. Gómez attended Serra High School and later graduated from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, where she studied environmental and natural resource geography.

Career

San Diego City Council

Gómez was a candidate for the ninth district of the

in the 2016 San Diego City Council election after incumbent

Marti Emerald Marti Emerald is a California politician and former television journalist. She was a member of the San Diego City Council in San Diego, California. She represented San Diego's Council District 7 from 2008 to 2012 and Council District 9 from 2012 to ...

opted not to seek reelection. The ninth district includes the

neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...

of Alvarado Estates, City Heights,

College Area The College Area is a residential community in the Mid-City region of San Diego, California, United States. The College Area is dominated by San Diego State University (SDSU; once known as San Diego State College), after which the area is named. Se ...

, College View Estates, El Cerrito,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, Mountain View, Mt. Hope,

Rolando Rolando may refer to: Entertainment *''Rolando'', a 2008 puzzle-adventure video game *'' Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid'', a 2009 puzzle-adventure video game *"Rolando", a song by Roland Kirk from the album ''Domino'' People *Rolando (giv ...

, Southcrest, and Talmadge. In the June 2016 primary, Gómez came in second to Ricardo Flores, Emerald's chief of staff. Since no candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary, a runoff election was held in November 2016 between Flores and Gómez. Gómez was then elected to the City Council in November with a majority of the votes. On December 10, 2018, the city council voted unanimously to appoint Gómez to be the council president. In this role, she automatically gained a seat on the board of directors of the

San Diego Association of Governments The San Diego Association of Governments (abbreviated SANDAG) is an association of local San Diego County governments. It is the metropolitan planning organization for the County, with policy makers consisting of mayors, councilmembers, and County ...

. She also served as the chairwoman of the

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (''SDMTS'' or often simply ''MTS'') is a public transit service provider for Central, South, Northeast and Southeast San Diego County. The agency directly operates a large transit system that includes th ...

from January 2018 to October 2019. Under Gómez, the city moved to create a community choice energy agency called San Diego Community Power (as an alternative to

SDG&E San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Di ...

), a strategy which makes up half of the emissions reductions in the

San Diego Climate Action Plan The San Diego Climate Action Plan was adopted by the city of San Diego in December 2015. It is a local Climate Action Plan, climate action plan whose rules are defined by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, California global warmi ...

2020 congressional election

In September 2019, Gómez announced her candidacy in the 2020 elections to represent

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. Gómez and

advanced to the November 2020 runoff election. In the runoff, Gomez campaigned as both a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

and a strong supporter of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

; she was endorsed by

Democratic Majority for Israel The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) is a centrist or left-leaning American advocacy group that supports pro-Israel policies among the United States Democratic Party's political leaders. DMFI was founded in January 2019 in reaction to poll ...

, which caused her to lose support from the

Justice Democrats Justice Democrats is an American progressive political action committee founded on January 23, 2017, by former leaders from the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign Saikat Chakrabarti and Zack Exley, as well as political commentators Kyle ...

. Jacobs beat Gomez 59.5%-40.5% in the November 2020 general election. In June 2020, Gómez expressed support for a petition calling for a

name change Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name. The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have loose procedures for a name chang ...

of the

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

Federal Post Office in her district due to his history of owning

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and his part in the forced displacement of Native Americans during the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

. On October 8, 2020, the

San Diego Union Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

reported that Gómez failed to pay taxes on her city council salary in 2017. Gómez admitted the mistake and amended her filing.

2022 California's 80th Assembly district election

Gómez announced her candidacy to represent California's 80th Assembly District on January 3, 2022; the same day Lorena Gonzalez announced her resignation. In the special election on April 5, 2022, no candidate received a majority of the votes. Gómez and fellow Democrat David Alvarez advanced to a runoff election to be held June 7, 2022. In September 2022, she withdrew from the race.

Election results

Personal life

Gómez resides in the Azalea Park neighborhood within City Heights.

References

External links

Council President Georgette Gómez
government website
Georgette Gómez for Congress
campaign website * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gómez, Georgette 1975 births California Democrats Hispanic and Latino American politicians Lesbian politicians LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people American LGBT city council members LGBT people from California Living people San Diego City Council members Women city councillors in California San Diego State University alumni Candidates in the 2020 United States elections 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians