Kevin Faulconer

Faulconer ran in the 2002 city council election for district 2 but lost to Michael Zucchet in a close-fought election.[12] After Zucchet resigned in 2005, a special election was held that November. There were 17 candidates and none got a majority, so a runoff was held on January 10, 2006, between the two top vote-getters, Faulconer and Lorena Gonzalez.[13] Faulconer won the runoff with 51.5% of the vote.[14]

Faulconer was elected to a full term in June 2006[15] and re-elected in June 2010;[16] in both cases he won an outright majority in the primary and so did not have to run in the November general election. He was ineligible to run for re-election in 2014 per city term limits.

Faulconer seated with the San Diego City Council in 2010.

Although Faulconer was once a supporter of alcohol being allowed on public beaches in San Diego (his 2006 opponent Gonzalez supported a limited ban), he changed his opinion after winning the city council election. Following an alcohol-fueled riot at Pacific Beach in 2007, he persuaded the city council to pass a trial one-year ban on alcohol at the beaches; the next year the ban was made permanent by a citywide vote.[17] The ban has not been challenged since, with the community generally approving of cleaner beaches and fewer emergency calls, and lifeguards and police saying it has made their jobs easier. However, the long-term economic impact, claimed by one individual to be a 160,000 person reduction in attendance on holiday weekends and a 50% drop in revenue for beach businesses, has not been studied.[18]

In the fall of 2006, over 30 bars and restaurants in Pacific Beach agreed with one another to limit the offering of discounts on alcoholic drinks.[19] Faulconer supported the price-fixing agreement and spoke at the press conference announcing the agreement.[20]

He campaigned against a proposed sales tax increase in 2010. He promoted the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, a project seeking to redevelop the San Diego bayfront.[21] He pushed for several years for an ordinance limiting the parking of oversize vehicles on the streets; the ordinance finally passed the city council in July 2013.[22]

Faulconer was chair of the council's Audit Committee, which is charged with clearing out an audit backlog and restoring the city's credit rating. He was vice chair of the Rules and Economic Development Committee and a member of the Budget and Finance Committee.[23]

Mayor Faulconer in November 2014.

In September 2013 Faulconer entered the special mayoral election that resulted from the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner.[24] He was endorsed by the local Republican Party[25][26] and by former Mayor Jerry Sanders, now president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. He campaigned both in English and Spanish.[27]

In the election held November 19, 2013 Faulconer received 43.6 percent of the vote and advanced to a runoff election against fellow city councilmember David Alvarez (who had received 25.6 percent of the vote) on February 11, 2014.[28] In the runoff, Faulconer was endorsed by former San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre, a Democratic mayoral candidate who had placed fourth in the first round of the election.[29] Faulconer was elected mayor with 54.5 percent of the vote in the runoff. He was sworn in on March 3, 2014.

In 2015, Faulconer declared his intention to run for a full term in 2016.[30] His opponents in the election were former state assemblywoman Lori Saldaña and former San Diego City Council member Ed Harris.[31][32] Faulconer won re-election in the June 7, 2016 primary by garnering 58.2 percent of the vote.[33]

He endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2016 presidential election.[34]

Faulconer had been urged by state Republican leaders to run for governor in 2018, and polls showed him as the leading Republican candidate. Faulconer consistently said he would not run, and in June 2017 confirmed it, saying his top priority is finishing out his term as mayor.[35]

In 2014, Mayor Faulconer released San Diego's first Climate Action Plan. The plan outlined Faulconer's proposed strategy for the city to meet State goals for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[36] In 2018, Faulconer proposed pursuing a City-run community choice aggregation program to meet the plan's goal of purchasing 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.[37] By September 2019, Faulconer had convinced four other nearby cities (Encinitas, La Mesa, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista) to join San Diego's CCA through a joint powers authority.[38][39]

Mayor Faulconer speaking at the 2015 Lincoln-Reagan Dinner hosted in San Diego, California.

In August 2014, Faulconer vetoed a measure passed by the City Council which would incrementally increase the minimum wage in San Diego to $11.50 per hour from the $9.00 statewide minimum. The Council overrode his veto by a vote of 6 to 2.[40] However, implementation of the measure was delayed by a successful signature drive led by business groups, forcing a public referendum before the measure could go into effect.[41] On June 7, 2016, the ballot measure passed with a 63.8 percent majority vote, allowing the measure to go into effect.[42]

A major issue during his first term was a bid by the San Diego Chargers to move to the Los Angeles area. Faulconer campaigned to keep the Chargers in San Diego and proposed that the city build a new stadium, financed in part by the city and county governments.[43] Faulconer later endorsed a ballot measure sponsored by the Chargers that would raise the hotel tax to pay for a stadium.[44] The ballot measure failed with only 43 percent of the vote in favor. In January 2017, the Chargers announced that they would be relocating from San Diego to Los Angeles.[45]

Mayor Faulconer and Todd Gloria at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2014.

In 2017, Faulconer put forth a measure that would fund the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center by increasing the hotel tax, but the City Council declined to call for a special election.[46] In 2018, Faulconer supported a citizen's initiative that would accomplish the same thing as his original measure. The measure qualified, but too late to be included on the 2018 ballot.[47] In April 2019, the City Council approved a proposal by Faulconer to move the election from the November 2020 general election to the March 2020 primary election by a vote of 5–4.[48] The ballot measure, titled Measure C, got 65% of the vote in the March election, just short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass per the language of the measure. However, the City Council amended the language certifying the election to not say it needed a two-thirds majority. This allowed litigation to continue which could potentially lower the threshold to pass from two-thirds to a simple majority.[49]

Faulconer has been an outspoken opponent of the "Not In My Back Yard" mentality (also known as NIMBYism). He has called for scrapping restrictions on housing development, such as building-height limits near public transit and parking requirements, as well as various restrictions on dense housing (including affordable housing). He has called for streamlining of the approvals process. Faulconer said these reforms were needed to combat San Diego's housing crisis, reduce homelessness and improve the environment.[50][51][52]

In both his 2018 and 2019 State of the City addresses, Faulconer vowed to reduce the growing number of people who are street homeless in San Diego.[53][50] Faulconer's efforts included a 40 percent increase in funding from 2018 to 2019, the opening of shelter tents, the creation of safe parking spots, a storage center of the homeless, and successful advocacy for more funding from the State.[54]

Just a month before the end of his term as mayor, Faulconer put a package of affordable housing proposals before the San Diego City Council called Complete Communities. The package incentivizes building to reduce homelessness, while banning the usage of said buildings for short-term rentals like Airbnb. It also creates an "ongoing funding stream" for public transportation via fees on more suburban developers, and prioritizes improvements in parks in low-income areas.[55] The City Council approved Faulconer's Complete Communities plan on November 9, 2020.[56]

Beginning in November 2016, San Diego had one of the nation's largest Hepatitis A epidemics.[57] From 2016 to 2018, Hepatitis A caused at least twenty deaths in San Diego County, with 589 reported cases of infection. Of those cases, 291 (49%) were in people experiencing homelessness (PEH). On October 24, 2018, the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that all persons aged 1 year and older experiencing homelessness be routinely immunized against HAV.[58]

One rationale for this recommendation was the observation that "Persons experiencing homelessness might have difficulty implementing recommended nonvaccine strategies to protect themselves from exposure (e.g., access to clean toilet facilities...).[58] An October 2017 news article on the San Diego epidemic noted that, in the summer of 2016, as part of preparations for the MLB All-Star Game, "the city was locking and removing bathrooms," contributing to what one infectious disease researcher described as "the perfect storm." [59]

Mayor Faulconer and his staff learned of the Hepatitis A outbreak in June 2017 and proposed plans to combat it, including installing hand washing stations near homeless encampments. However, San Diego County Public Health officials experienced delays and attributed these to "an inability to swiftly coordinate with city officials."[60] In an interview about the causes of San Diego's rapidly escalating Hepatitis A epidemic and the high rates of death, it was noted that "When those emergency tents [for PEH] were permanently closed, we began to see a dramatic increase in the number of people living on the streets." Faulconer did not deny this as a cause, but responded, "We are not looking back." [61]

Faulconer was mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic in California. To enforce social distancing, Mayor Faulconer issued an executive order on March 16 closing all bars and nightclubs and only allowing takeout from restaurants.[62] This was followed on March 23 with an order closing all city-owned beaches, parks, and trails.[63] Faulconer also announced that the San Diego Convention Center would be opened as a shelter to protect the homeless from the pandemic, and that 240 new shelter beds would be added to Golden Hall.[64] In response to an estimated $250 million reduction in revenue associated with the outbreak, Faulconer proposed major budget cuts, including the elimination of 354 jobs.[65] On April 29, 2020, Faulconer announced San Diego would close certain streets in San Diego to encourage safe cycling and walking while maintaining social distancing.[66] Faulconer also responded to Governor Gavin Newsom's statewide beach closure, stating that it is "sending the wrong message" as Faulconer allowed beaches in San Diego to reopen on April 24, 2020.[67]

Mayor Faulconer marching in the 2014 San Diego LGBTQ Pride Parade.

Though a fiscally conservative Republican, Faulconer holds many socially liberal positions.[68] Faulconer supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who live in the United States.[27] He also supports same-sex marriage and had campaigned against passage of Proposition 8.[69] In 2014, he participated in and supported LGBTQ Pride Month.[70] In 2019, the mayor met with San Diego community leaders to voice support and encourage members of the U.S. Congress to vote for the Equality Act, a bill that would extend the Civil Rights Act to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.[71] As a part of his previously mentioned effort to address homelessness, Faulconer announced he was working with local faith leaders to provide shelter to LGBTQ homeless youth.[72][73] Following the killing of George Floyd in June 2020, Faulconer pushed for a ban on the use of chokeholds by the San Diego Police Department.[74]

Mayor Faulconer has described himself as pro-choice on the issue of abortion.[75][76] Responding to protests against anti-abortion legislation, Faulconer made a statement saying that he would not restrict abortion rights in San Diego and would oppose movements to restrict abortion in California.[77] He supports use of capital punishment.[78]

During the course of 2020, Faulconer was seen as a potential Republican candidate for governor of California in the 2022 gubernatorial election. Faulconer was described as a "top contender" and The San Diego Union-Tribune said that the "state may be ready to pick a Republican" in the race for governor, considering that he needs a minimum to reach second place in the nonpartisan blanket primary to advance to the general election.[82] The Mercury News noted that his campaign could make the most competitive gubernatorial pick for a Republican since Meg Whitman in 2010.[83] Faulconer was compared to fellow moderate Republicans Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland, and Charlie Baker, governor of Massachusetts, who hold such positions in deeply Democratic states like California.[84] Speculation increased in November 2020, when Faulconer confirmed that he was "seriously considering" running for governor in the upcoming 2022 election.[85][86]

On January 4, 2021, Faulconer launched an exploratory committee to run for governor of California.[87][88] Faulconer has indicated that he could be part of the recall election's list of replacement candidates if it proved to be successful.[89] San Francisco Gate argued that Faulconer probably has the best chance of being elected in a recall election.[90]

On February 1, 2021, Faulconer officially announced that he was running for governor of California in either 2022 or a recall election and stated that, "I'm going to be a voice for Californians who are suffering because California can't do the basics".[6][91] Faulconer reiterated his support for the campaign for a recall election against Governor Newsom, which by that point had reached 1.3 million signatures out of the 1.5 million required to reach the ballot.[6][91]