SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Just a few hours, and a few miles apart, San Diego Mayoral candidates Todd Gloria and Barbary Bry launched their final push for the upcoming election.
A recentABC 10News/Union-Tribune Survey USA poll shows a statistical dead-heat between the two candidates, with Gloria holding a slim 39-38% advantage over Bry. But that same poll also shows 24% of voters are still undecided.
"It's in times like these you want to be in the fight," Gloria said while holding an event outside of his campaign headquarters.
Gloria spent the morning surrounded by the Local 145 Firefighters Union, as well as County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher. Gloria told ABC 10News his experience makes him the best candidate.
"The stakes will only get higher. And if the right people with the right priorities aren't in these positions, the things you care about the most just fall away," said Gloria.
Bry, meanwhile, led a car caravan through parts of South San Diego, highlighting the ways she wants to invest in the poorest neighborhoods. She says the coronavirus pandemic highlights the need to bring new jobs to those areas.
"It is so important to diversify our economy away from tourism and to train the next generation for higher-paying jobs in tech and biotech construction, accounting, finance, and to help those who will still be working in our hospitality sector get back on their feet," says Bry.
A recent SANDAG study shows 176,000 San Diegans are still unemployed from the Pandemic, and the region will lose $12.4 billion in 2020. The recovery will likely be the next mayor's biggest challenge.
"It is time for the residents of San Diego to take back City Hall. To take it from the special interest that had been running the city for too long," says Bry.
"Whether it's the COVID pandemic, the resulting economic recession, the demands for racial justice, or the climate crisis, there are a multitude of challenges, all coming at once. I think that demands a leader with experience and I happen to be that candidate," says Gloria.
