State Assemblyman Todd Gloria and San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, both Democrats, will be the two names on the November ballot for Mayor of San Diego.
Overall voter enthusiasm for either candidate has been made increasingly evident by the most recent ABC-10 News/Union-Tribune poll. Of the 547 likely voters polled, 39 percent plan to vote for Gloria, 38 percent plan to vote for Bry, and the remaining 24 percent find themselves hesitant to elect one over the other.
Perhaps the near-quarter who remain undecided have good reason to be skeptical of both candidates. Gloria is directly responsible for the motion to approve the ignominious lease-to-own deal of the 101 Ash Street building that, since 2016, has cost the city $18,000 in rent per day. In total, that vacant building has cost taxpayers approximately $58 million. Gloria’s propensity for supporting horrible propositions is again seen in his support for Measure A. The bond measure would raise $900 million for affordable housing, but would come at the cost of increased property taxes at a time when the ongoing pandemic has made it hard for many people to make ends meet.
Bry has not hesitated to bring Gloria’s questionable decision-making to the forefront of her campaign, but her own inconsistency is also concerning to voters—especially to the 46 percent of Republican voters in San Diego who support her. In an appearance on KUSI News, San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman said that Todd Gloria has always stayed true to his beliefs. “[Gloria] is not going to change tomorrow because he thinks it might get him a vote.”
On the other hand, Sherman brought to attention the fact that Bry has been a lifelong liberal now trying to convince San Diego that she’s actually not. “[Barbara] is talking about how she’s open for open competition among contractors, [union or non-union]. But yet she’s cast numerous votes that say union only need apply for city contracts, which discriminates against about 90 percent of the workforce.”
Money inevitably taken from the taxpayers’ wallet and tucked into the government’s own is what one ought to expect under Gloria’s leadership. Equally contemptible is a future with Bry, who will hastily make promises to one side of the aisle when convenient, but just as readily turn her back and rush to the other side when a lack of votes seem to justify it.
