Post Election, San Diego City Council Will Be Completely Democrat, Alarming Many

Following the election on Tuesday, the San Diego City Council shifted from being majority 8-1 Democratic to fully 9-0 Democrat, worrying many in the city that a lack of any conservative voice may lead to greater controversies and new measures unpalatable for many voters.

For years, Republicans had been a large part of the San Diego City Council, with the Democrats and Republicans having a 5-4 seat split in power as recently as 2016. But in the last several years, GOP Councilmembers have either been term-limited out or voted out due to a changing Council district makeup. This year only one, Chris Cate, remained, but was prevented from running again because of city term limits. Instead, his district was won by Democrat Kent Lee, who easily beat fellow Democrat Tommy Hough.

A few other seats were up for grabs this year with GOP candidates running, but Democrats won those as well, leaving the San Diego City Council without a conservative voice for the first time ever. While much of Southern California leans Democratic, San Diego has now become an anomaly, as many blue cities continue to have at least one or two conservatives on their city council, including Los Angeles who has Councilman John Lee and may have another soon in the seat recently vacated by disgraced former Councilwoman Nury Martinez.

Many in San Diego noted disapproval of having one party in control of the City Council on Thursday, including many political experts who noted that a lack of anyone from a different ideological stance may spell doom for future passed measures.

“Not having a Republican or someone leaning conservative is a dangerous gamble, just like it is dangerous to have an all-Republican council with no differing voice,” Tiffany Becker, a New York-based researcher who focuses on City Councils across the United States, told the Globe on Thursday. “We’ve seen this over and over again that having one party completely in control of a Council leads to a lot of turmoil. Every single time it happens, they at first say something like ‘Oh, it won’t happen to us. We are plenty diverse,’ but then it does. Look at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, completely blue, who are always making the news for passing something controversial or pass something that later backfires. The look at the LA City Council, which has one conservative, or the New York City Council here, who has 5 Republicans out of 51. You don’t hear from them nearly as much over something controversial, and when it does come up in the news, there’s always something about the conservative bend to it, like all the recent ordinances regarding the homeless in LA.”

“What San Diego now has now is a problem, because without objections coming from a different political view, the Council won’t know how to appeal to conservatives in the city and make an ordinance appealing for them. They’re going to anger a lot of voters by having them think that they aren’t going to represent them fairly, and a lot of these passed ordinances are not going to be refined by different ideological voices. Not diverse voices, or voices coming from different backgrounds. But from where people stand politically. A blue to red spectrum is critical to have. A blue to purple spectrum means you miss out on half of everything.”

An all-Democrat SD City Council

Different City Council members countered on Thursday that the San Diego Council would still draw in many different voices even without a Republican.

“I have appreciated Councilmember Cate for providing different opinions from a different ideological perspective,” said Council President Sean Elo-Rivera “But the Democrats on the council all have different life experiences and different perspectives. We range the spectrum from very progressive to more moderate, so there is a variety of opinions on the council. We should be challenging each other and making sure we’re vetting things and asking tough questions, but the goal isn’t being in the middle ideologically. It’s approving policies and programs that help city residents. At the end of the day, the true test is whether we’re improving the lives of San Diegans, and that’s the standard we need to hold ourselves to.”

However, other Councilmembers stressed that decisions aren’t made based on political leanings, but rather based on protecting residents and representing their interests.

“I don’t disagree with Chris Cate on most things, because most of our votes are 9-0,” added Councilman Raul Campillo earlier this week. “Disagreements are rare when you are focused on filling potholes and saving taxpayers money.”

“The No. 1 thing about City Council members is we’re looking out for our own districts, for the 150,000 residents we are meant to protect and making sure their interests are represented. There’s no groupthink around here. Just look at the votes on budget amendments and key issues like policing and whether to put stuff on the ballot.”

But, with San Diego City Council becoming entirely Democrat, experts said that that sort of thinking ignores a lot of how different lawmakers think.

“It’s how different ordinances are worded, it’s about what objections there will be,” added Becker. “Yes, you are working for the residents you represent, but you are also passing things there that have not had different eyes on them from different political stances. Without that, you lose so much. San Diego is going to be in a rough ride with this Council for awhile.”

All new City Councilmembers are to be sworn in next month.