Steve Padilla

Padilla was elected the 38th Mayor of Chula Vista on November 5, 2002, defeating fellow City Council member Mary Salas, a colleague and political ally.[6] The race between the two democrats was hotly contested[6][7][9] and closely observed given the nature of the candidate's past relationship and the historic nature of the election.

Chula Vista is the second-largest city in San Diego County, after San Diego proper.

The election was an open-race, as incumbent Shirley Horton was term-limited.[10]

Padilla could not have sought another term on the City Council in 2002, due to a prohibition on serving more than two terms consecutively.[10]

With both Padilla and Salas running, the election marked the first-time that two incumbent Chula Vista City Council members had run for mayor.[11] The election was also historic in that all three candidates running (Salas, Padilla, and Petra Barajas) were hispanic, guaranteeing that the city would elect its first hispanic mayor.[12][13]

One of Padilla's pledged priorities was to promote plans to manage growth in the city's eastern segment and to regenerate its older neighborhoods.[7]

To address the increased traffic congestion stemming from the city rapid growth, Padilla proposed ensuring that developers pay for roads and public services prior to receiving approval for their developments.[7]

Padilla proposed creating a unified school district within city limits.[7]

Padilla was endorsed by two of other four other members of the city council, as well as the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce and the Chula Vista Police Officers Association.[7] In addition to two incumbent city council members, he also received the endorsement of a council member-elect who had won election in the first-round of the city's elections.[7]

With much political overlap between Salas and Padilla, the race was seen as being debated on which candidate had the superior experience to lead the city.[6]

Throughout the campaign, Salas and Padilla criticized each other for accepting campaign contributions from different real estate developers.[9]

A tense race from its inception, in the closing days of the general election, things became particularly hostile as both candidates assailed each other's records.[6][11] Additionally, Padilla's campaign circulated literature quoting Salas as having used the word "gringos" in a quote to the newspaper El Latino.[4]

Voter turnout was significantly lower in the 2002 election than it had been in the previous two elections.[11]

During his tenure as mayor, he is credited with reinvigorating efforts to bring a four-year university to Chula Vista[5] and building a diverse coalition of interests around a large waterfront development project for the city.

Padilla sought to focus on revitalization for the city's aging downtown area and the addition of parks and open spaces. His focus on downtown redevelopment earned him both allies and strong critics, who feared redevelopment of the city's downtown area would bring larger buildings and population. He gained significant attention in the region while leading the city in an evaluation of options for energy independence, resulting in a very public battle and debate with the area's public utility, San Diego Gas & Electric.

In collaboration the San Diego Unified Port District, Padilla played a key role in initiating the Bay-front Master Plan, an effort to develop 500 acres (2.0 km²) waterfront to hot public parks, hotels, restaurants, shops and new housing.[5]

While mayor, he launched a Give a Book drive, which saw the donation of more than 100,000 books to underprivileged children in San Diego County.[5]

Under Padilla's leadership, Chula Vista was selected as the American site for the University Park and Research Center (UPRC), beating out other cities across the nation.[5] On March 28, 2006, the Chula Vista City Council gave approval to the National Energy Center for Sustainable Communities, which would be the first component of the UPRC.[5]

While mayor, he held numerous local, regional, state-wide and national posts during his term as mayor and since including; the board of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG),[5] the League of California Cities and the United States Conference of Mayors.. He also chaired the SANDAG Public Safety Committee.[5]

In July 2005, Padilla was appointed by then California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to the California Coastal Commission.[5] The Coastal Commission is California's powerful coastal protection authority which regulates land use along all 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of California's coastline. The Unified Port of San Diego governs the tidelands trust lands of San Diego Bay which span the five bay front cities of San Diego, Coronado, National City, Chula Vista and Imperial Beach.

In August, 2005 while speaking at the annual Stonewall Rally of San Diego Pride, a rally on civil rights for gays and lesbians, Padilla acknowledged publicly what many had known privately for a few years – that he is gay. His "coming out" at the time gained him both national attention and political opponents.[14][15] At that time, Chula Vista became the largest city in the United States with an openly gay mayor. He was the first openly-gay elected city official in Chula Vista's history.[13]

Padilla was featured on the cover of San Diego Metropolitan magazine (July, 2003); named one of the "25 Leading Men in North America" by Instinct magazine (Nov, 2005); and one of "50 People to Watch" by San Diego Magazine (Jan, 2006).

In 2006, Steve Padilla lost his re-election bid to Republican Chula Vista Elementary School Board member Cheryl Cox, the wife of popular former Chula Vista mayor and current county supervisor Greg Cox, 45.76% to Cox's 54.24%.[16]

Cox's campaign against Padilla focused on the drop in City reserves from $40 million to $10 million while Padilla served as Mayor and largely on the fact the city had hired security for Padilla in the wake of anonymous threats.[17][18]

Padilla stated that his top priorities for a second term would have been continuing to reduce traffic/congestion through smart growth, continuing to improve parks and education, and continuing to make investments in public safety.[19]

Padilla was endorsed by the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce, Chula Vista Firefighter's Association, Chula Vista Police Officer's Association, and the League of Conservation Voters.[19]

Several scandals, as well as some negative reaction to his coming out, are believed to have contributed to Padilla's defeat.[15][20] During the campaign, Cox's supporter seized on him for having hired a bodyguard with city funds.[21]

After his extraordinarily narrow defeat in the 2014 city council election, Padilla opted to seek a different seat on the Chula Vista City Council in 2016, and was successfully elected. This election was the first time that an openly-gay man had won an election to city office in Chula Vista.[20]

May 31, 2017, Padilla was again appointed to the California Coastal Commission, this time by California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.[22] During part of this tenure, he served as vice-chair, and now serves as chair of the commission.[15][29]

Padilla was reelected to the Chula Vista City Council in 2020.[30]

Due to the city's prohibition on serving more than two terms consecutively, Padilla will be prevented from running for reelection to City Council in 2024.

^A Barajas received 7 votes as a write-in in the runoff