Political Analyst John Dadian on Mayor Faulconer may run unopposed in the San Diego mayor race-KUSI
Channel: DadianAssociates
Date: 18/12/2015

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - Is there anybody out there who think there's a chance Mayor Kevin Faulconer could lose his bid to be re-elected?

It's unofficial of course, but every thing we've looked at said the mayor's race could be over in the June primary.

To answer that question, we need to look at the city's past, which according to Political Consultant John Dadian, has been roller coaster government for the past couple of decades.

Dadian said it's leadership, mending fences with the voters and the political opposition.

We have labor peace, the city is building again and the budget has surpluses, everything an incumbent could want.

"We had Enron by the sea, Dick Murphy, Jerry Sanders came in righted it, then we came back to the top of the roller coaster, then Filner, and now we have Faulconer who has really redeemed the city after the Filner debacle," he said.

According to the mayor's Political Strategist Jason Roe, leadership absolutely, but also, this mayor's style.

"He's not a partisan guy, he's a guy that works well with anyone whether they agree or disagree so that has set a tone for everybody at city hall," Roe said.

The political leaders had lost trust with the voters, the city had taken a back seat to political struggles because elected leaders couldn't agree on the path forward.

That changed with Mayor Faulconer.

"We don't have proxy battles over various issues, folks work together, trust each other and are getting things done," Roe said.

"His whole theme since being in officer has been One San Diego," Dadian said. "This mayor has been over every nine council districts repeatedly, not giving one more than the other and that shows true leadership I think."

"We're moving in the right direction, we've got great people at city hall regardless of their political affiliations, everyone wants what's best for the city, if we're moving in the right direction why don't we keep that moving," Roe said.

Several reasons why anybody of note, especially Democrats, see no future in challenging this mayor, they've seen the polling numbers.

"When you look at his polling he does well with every demographic group, amongst democrats in this town he's got a 58 percent approval rating only 18 disapprove," Roe said.

And higher numbers among Latino's and Republicans.

"Several big names Democrats who people thought were gonna run or hoped they would run saw it was pretty much insurmountable because of the job that he's done," Dadian said.

Unlike the six mayors before him, Faulconer came up with a plan to keep the Chargers.

He will not likely get the blame if they go.

"He was the only one who tried to do something, I think, he's gonna come out of the Chargers fiasco looking like he did something," Dadian said.

It's not likely he'll run unopposed but any others on the ballot will likely be token opposition.

Look for the mayor to end this in the June primary.