LUKACS, HOUGH SHIFT COUNCIL RACES
Incumbents in other district contests secure large percent of votes
Two key San Diego City Council races shifted in unexpected ways during Tuesday’s primary, with District 2 becoming an old-fashioned Democrat-versus-Republican battle and District 6 favorite Kent Lee looking more vulnerable than expected.
A controversial mailer and an unusually crowded field of Democratic
candidates in District 2 helped Republican Linda Lukacs easily secure the second spot in a November runoff against incumbent Councilmember Jennifer Campbell.
Campbell, a Democrat, seems like a heavy favorite against Lukacs in a district where registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans. But Campbell got less than 31 percent of the vote Tuesday — unusually low for an incumbent.
“My community is fed up and they want change,” Lukacs said Wednesday. “That’s why the incumbent got less than one-third of the vote and that’s why I’m going to win in November.”
In District 6, Democrat Tommy Hough forged a near dead heat Tuesday with fellow Democrat Kent Lee despite Lee dramatically outspending Hough and securing several influential endorsements.
Lee, a nonprofit arts executive, was considered by many a heavy favorite in the race, partly because he is the only Asian candidate in the city’s most heavily Asian district.
Hough called the primary results a “win” for his campaign and evidence that his grassroots style of campaigning resonates with District 6 voters focused more on infrastructure and neighborhood challenges than politics at City Hall.
Two other city races went more as predicted, with incumbent District 4 Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe securing more than 70 percent of the vote and incumbent District 8 Councilmember Vivian Moreno securing nearly 63 percent of the vote.
Montgomery Steppe will face off against fellow Democrat Gloria Evangelista in November, while Moreno will battle against fellow Democrat Antonio Martinez.
In District 2, Lukacs was considered a longshot in a field of seemingly viable Democratic challengers — former Assemblymember Lori Saldaña, neighborhood leader
Mandy Havlik and former City Hall official Joel Day.
But those challengers divided up the anti-Campbell vote among Democrats and left most of the anti-Campbell vote among Republicans to Lukacs, who was able to solidify Republican support despite raising relatively little money.
She benefited tremendously from a mailer paid for by Campbell supporters that simultaneously attacked Saldaña and promoted Lukacs, said Dan Rottenstreich, Campbell’s campaign consultant.
“The mailer promoting Lukacs was pivotal,” said Rottenstreich, one of the region’s leading consultants. “On her own, Lukacs wouldn’t have been able to consolidate Republicans.”
While they are outnumbered in District 2, there are about 24,000 registered Republicans compared with about 41,000 registered Democrats and about 24,000 voters who declined to state a party preference.
Lukacs, a dentist, acknowledged Wednesday that the mailer could have had a big impact. She stressed that she played no role in planning the mailer, which was funded by an independent fundraising committee supporting Campbell.
But Lukacs said there were other factors in her success, particularly her personally visiting more than 4,000 homes in the district, which includes Clairemont, Point Loma, Mission Beach,
Ocean Beach and Old Town.
She said residents tell her they want change because the area is in decline, with rising homelessness, shrinking police presence and decaying infrastructure.
Lukacs, 58, predicted her stronger-than-expected showing will build momentum for her campaign with fundraising and endorsements.
Rottenstreich said Campbell, 76, is in a strong position to get re-elected, calling her first-place finish on Tuesday a vindication of her solid record and her popularity among Democrats and other residents of the district.
The battle against several viable Democrats comes after Campbell survived an unsuccessful recall effort last year.
“This was a political trialby-fire for Jen for the last year and a half,” Rottenstreich said.
He said Campbell is a heavy favorite in November because the district leans Democratic, she will run against a mostly unknown Republican and she has a strong record to run on, including long-elusive vacation rental legislation.
Rottenstreich agreed that just over 30 percent is low for an incumbent despite the large field, suggesting 39 or 40 percent would have been more in line with what to expect from an incumbent. But he noted that she was supported by roughly half of the Democrats
who voted.
Campbell said she was pleased by Tuesday’s results.
“Our strong first-place finish proves that San Diegans are hungry for urgent action on the homelessness and housing crises and they want smart COVID policies that put public health first, just as I’ve championed in my first term,” she said.
In District 6, Lee said Wednesday that he is pleased with his narrow first-place finish despite outspending Hough so significantly.
“I was a first-time candidate so I understood there would be a need to build support,” said Lee, describing the mailers as part of an overall effort to boost his name recognition. “Tommy has run before so I needed voters to understand who I am.”
While Tuesday’s results make Lee seem more vulnerable than expected, he continues to have crucial support.
He has been endorsed by the county Democratic Party, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Todd Gloria and the region’s largest labor organization — the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.
District 6 includes Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa and University City.