Behind the numbers: How Faulconer did it
On Tuesday night, the voters chose Kevin Faulconer, a moderate Republican who reached out to all segments of the city, and emphasized his record of bipartisanship during his 8 years on the city council.
“San Diegans want a mayor who's going to be a leader for everyone in every part of this neighborhood,” said Faulconer. “It's not about partisanship, it's about leadership, and I think that's what was reflected in (Tuesday's) vote.”
On Good Morning San Diego Wednesday, Faulconer talked about the coalition he built that took him to the mayor's office.
“We had leadership from our African-American community, our Asian community, LGBT community… it's all about bringing San Diego together,” Faulconer said. “And that's why I'm so excited and having such a good smile on my face this morning.”
The architect of the Faulconer campaign was Jason Roe. He said Faulconer's promise to restore city services, and invest in the neighborhoods, was sincere to many voters in Democratic precincts.
“Kevin is really focused on being a Mayor south of 8,” said Roe, “and making sure that communities that have been under-served will find a City Hall that is very interested in investing in infrastructure.”
Equally important was Faulconer's ability to reach across the aisle to Democrats and Independents.
“So, it was easy for us to tell the story,” said Roe, “but it was even harder for the Alvarez allies to vilify Kevin.”
“For people that sit on the sidelines that aren't partisan, Kevin was much more appealing in his message.”
To win the race, the Faulconer campaign knew they needed a sizeable number of Independents, and a large block of Democrats.
“We wanted to go aggressively for Democrats, and in our internal polling we saw we were earning 20% of Democrat votes, and we needed to win independents,” said Roe.
They got both. We know Faulconer will push the reforms the voters wanted, and were put on hold when Bob Filner took over. Faulconer's success
will depend on the people around him.
“What's important is that the people he puts in place are people committed to reform and have the experience to help be effective as mayor.”
His first test may come when the City Council appoints a person to fill Faulconer's council seat until the next election, either June or November. If a Democrat is seated, the council will have six Democrat votes, enough to override a veto.
“I think you're going to see labor trying to push somebody that they want to be in that council seat,” said Roe, “and the question becomes does Todd (Gloria) and the majority on the council stand up to labor more than it's Kevin standing up to the council.”
Faulconer will be sworn in March 3rd. That's when the battle begins to fill that council seat, and it's likely to be contentious.
