SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — While Todd Gloria looks to be on track to earn re-election as San Diego mayor in November, another result from Tuesday's primary could lead to some challenges in his relationship with the City Council, even though the mayor and all nine councilmembers will be Democrats.
As of Wednesday, Henry Foster has 53% of the vote in the race to fill the open seat on the council, representing District 4. Because the race is to fill a vacancy (Monica Montgomery Steppe resigned when she was elected to the county Board of Supervisors), if Foster clears 50%, he will win the seat outright. The race will not need a runoff in November.
Foster has previously stated he agrees with a group of current council members seeking to boost the council's power while limiting the power of the mayor's office.
“One of the laws that we see over and over again in politics is whenever a party takes complete control of a legislature or a city, what they do is start dividing into factions," explained UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. "When one party’s dominant, those divisions within a party come to fore. That’s what’s happening right now on the City Council. It’s not yet a brutal fight, but there are two factions.”
Currently, the factions are split, 4-4. However, Foster's election could tilt the balance away from those members who are more generally aligned with Gloria.
“What this group is trying to do is reassert the power of the City Council as a co-equal branch to the mayor," Kousser said. “I think we see two different visions of how government should operate. The City Council wants to not be a rubber stamp for Mayor Gloria.”
While there may not be drastic policy disagreements, Kousser said if the City Council decides to flex its muscle, that could force Gloria to compromise in some areas, especially in his budget proposal. Of course, disagreeing does not necessarily portend a political fight.
“If it leads to stalemate like we see in Washington, D.C., that would be a problem," Kousser said. "But if it really just leads to having more voices at the table and empowering each of those members of the City Council, all of whom earned the votes of their constituents, then it’s probably a good thing in ensuring that all San Diegans get their voices heard.”
