The 2012 San Diego mayoral election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the mayor for San Diego. Incumbent mayor Jerry Sanders was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, though some candidates do receive funding and support from various political parties. The non-partisan primary was held Tuesday, June 5, 2012. As no candidate received a majority of primary votes to be declared elected outright, the top two finishers,

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 ...

man

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 ...

and

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Bob Filner, advanced to the November general election. Filner was elected mayor with a majority of the votes in the November election. The top two candidates received official support from their respective parties in the primaries and the general election; DeMaio was endorsed by the

California Republican Party The California Republican Party (CAGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the U.S. state of California. The party is based in Sacramento and is led by chair Jessica Millan Patterson. As of October 2020, Republicans repre ...

and Filner was endorsed by the

California Democratic Party The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in Sacramento. With 43.5% of the state's registered voters as of 2018, the Democratic Party has the highest number of r ...

Candidates

Declared

, member of the

(Voter registration: Republican) *

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 ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

of San Diego County (Voter registration: Republican) * Bob Filner, U. S. Representative (Voter registration: Democratic) *

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 ...

, state Assemblyman (Voter registration: Republican (until March 2012), Independent (after March 2012)) * Tobiah Pettus, businessman (Voter registration: Republican)

Declined

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 ...

, member of the San Diego City Council (Voter registration: Republican) *

Steve Francis Steven D'Shawn Francis (born February 21, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He was selected with the second overall pick of the 1999 NBA draft and was named co-NBA Rookie of the Year (along with Elton Brand) in his fi ...

, businessman and mayoral candidate in

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 ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

(Voter registration: Republican) *

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 th ...

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

(Voter registration: Democratic)

Campaign

The mayoral race received national attention in March 2012 when '' The New York Times'' columnist David Brooks penned a column praising the moderate Nathan Fletcher and decrying the San Diego GOP's decision to back "orthodox conservative" Carl DeMaio over Fletcher for the post. Brooks was criticized by '' Reasons

Matt Welch Matthew Lee Welch (born July 31, 1968) is an American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit. Early life Welch was born on July 31, 1968 in Bellflower, California. He was raised in Long Beach, California. He attended UC ...

, who pointed out that DeMaio is openly gay and described him as having libertarian leanings.Welch, Matt
David Brooks and the Liberal Media Lament That a Gay-Baiting GOP "Moderate" Mayoral Candidate in California Can't Beat an "orthodox conservative." Who Is, uh, Gay. And Libertarian.
Reason.com. 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2012-04-10. A few weeks after the local Republican party endorsed DeMaio, Fletcher announced he was leaving the Republican party and becoming an independent."Nathan Fletcher Announces He’s Leaving The Republican Party"
KPBS, March 28, 2012 In the primary election held June 5, DeMaio placed first with 31.4 percent of the vote, followed by Filner with 30.5 percent.
''Los Angeles Times''. 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2012-06-06. Trailing were Fletcher with 24.1 percent and Dumanis with 13.3 percent. As the top two vote-getters, DeMaio and Filner advanced to the November ballot. Filner was then elected mayor with 52.5 percent of the votes in the November election.

Primary election

Polling

Results

General election

Polling

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Diego mayoral election, 2012 2012 California elections 2012 United States mayoral elections

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...