By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
There are currently seven weeks until election day, and the local race for the City of San Diego mayor is heating up with a four point difference between incumbent Mayor Todd Gloria and opponent Larry Turner.
Turner and Mayor Gloria went head to head on Sept. 17 for the 2024 mayoral debate hosted by 10News. Hosted in a closed room and taped the day before, each candidate presented different visions for how the city should be led, clashing on issues of homelessness, affordable housing, sidewalks, and street repair.
Based on polling data conducted by local media outlets, a SurveyUSA poll shows if the election were today, Gloria would garner 37% of the vote, with Turner falling shortly behind at 33% of the vote.
With such slim margins, Turner and Mayor Gloria’s performance in hypothetical polling records demonstrates a divide within the city. Specifically with how residents view the handling of key issues such as homelessness, cost of living, and immigration.
Incumbent Todd Gloria is a lifelong San Diegan, Democrat, and served on the City Council and the State Assembly before taking office as mayor. Turner is an independent candidate, spent two decades in the U.S. Marines and has served as a San Diego police officer for the last eight years.
Gloria kickstarted the debate by discussing his mayoral track record over the past four years. Gloria took office in Dec. 2020, inheriting what he describes as “decades of inaction on some of our city’s highest priorities, like crime, homelessness, housing and roads.”
The mayor focused on his work towards homelessness, such as his Unsafe Camping Ordinance which he says has lowered the amount of people sleeping on streets of downtown from 2,100 in May 2023 to 850 as of this month in 2024. The current mayor also spoke on how his administration has expanded shelter services and sites, with the creation of 900 new beds in the past year.
“You’re seeing there’s a lot of solutions coming out here in the ninth inning,” said his opponent, Turner. “A lot was not done during the first three years of his administration.”
Other areas Gloria boasted about were his work to reform mental health laws on both the state and federal level, investment in infrastructure, housing development, and his support for public safety and the police force—a notion Turner seems to have an edge on given his status as a SDPD officer.
“This is progress, progress that we have made together, but we’re not done yet, and I share the frustration about the many challenges that we still face, and that’s why I’m running for reelection,” said Gloria.
Meanwhile, Turner’s debate appearance opened with a question about his capability to manage a city as large as San Diego since he has never served an elected official.
“San Diego is the nation’s eighth largest city and California’s second largest with 1.5 million people. We are a border town, a military town, a medical research hub and a tourist destination. That’s a lot of responsibility. Mr. Turner, you’ve never been in government before, why should voters trust you to govern?” moderator Jim Avila asked.
Turner opposed the notion that he has never been in government, citing his 23 years of service in the Marine Corps, where he retired as a lieutenant Colonel. He joined the San Diego police force afterwards, where he has served for the last nine years.
When asked if San Diegans believe they are better off four years ago than they are now, 49% respondents said that they are worse, based on SurveyUSA polling data. This sentiment, Turner says, is a part of his reasoning for running for mayor.
“I’m stepping up now. I was hoping somebody else would. As I stated before, I’m not a politician. You know, I have not worked in this field before, but I’ve worked around it for a very long time,” said Turner.
Turner also spoke against Gloria’s 1,000 bed mega shelter proposal in Kettner and Vine.
“Here we are at the end, trying to come up with a solution with this 1,000 bed facility. I don’t think 1,000 bed facilities are what we need. The IBA doesn’t support it. The city attorney doesn’t support it. Experts in the field don’t support it. Even the Joint Task Force on Regional Homelessness doesn’t support it,” said Turner.
Gloria countered by aligning Turner’s perspective with the views of many other San Diegans who oppose shelter development.
“That’s classically the problem,” Gloria said. “In my experience, we propose these shelters. People oppose them, and then you build them and they accept them. That’s what we need to do more of”
The cost of living and affording housing in San Diego was another issue moderators pressed the two candidates on.
Currently there are more than 134,500 low-income renter households in San Diego County that don’t have access to affordable housing, according to the San Diego Housing Federation.
“Mayor Gloria, what would you do to help get a significant number of homes built that middle and low income San Diegans can afford to buy?”
Gloria asserts that policy reforms under his administration have increased the rate of affordable housing development.
“We’ve also sped up the permitting of these structures. What used to take months or years is now being permitted in seven days on average. That kind of management acuity, along with good policy, took us from 5000 new home permits in 2022 to 10,000 new housing permits in 2023,” said Gloria.
Meanwhile, Turner criticized Gloria’s “build, baby, build” plan, arguing that San Diego is in an affordable housing crisis, not a general housing crisis. Despite more permits being issued, most are for market-rate homes, he argued, with minimal affordable housing being built.
“It isn’t working, and it’s not going to work. So while he has increased the permits for housing that has all been market rate housing. The amount of permits that he’s done for affordable housing has been minuscule and not enough,” said Turner.
Turner calls for “bolder” action, such as requiring a higher percentage of affordable units in new developments and preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, rather than allowing older, affordable properties to be demolished for more expensive construction.
Join us next week for part two, where we dive into the candidates’ views on street conditions, infrastructure investment, and their response to January’s flooding.
