page_title: Jerry Sanders (politician)
section_title: Mayor
hierarchical_section_title: Jerry Sanders (politician) / Mayor
caption_attribution_description: English: Jerry Sanders in 2005 4th of July Parade in Mira Mesa neighborhood of San Diego with San Diego County Board of Education member John Witt driving.
context_page_description: Gerald Robert "Jerry" Sanders is a former American politician and law enforcement officer from San Diego, California. He is the former Mayor of San Diego and former Chief of Police. As of December 2012, he is the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
context_section_description: Jerry Sanders was elected mayor in a special run-off election held November 8, 2005, following the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy in the wake of the San Diego pension scandal. He received 54% of the vote against city council member Donna Frye. Sanders was the first mayor under San Diego's "strong mayor system" of city government. Sanders is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino. Coincidentally, when Bloomberg left the Republican Party in 2007, San Diego became the largest U.S. city with a Republican mayor.
  On September 19, 2007, Sanders abruptly reversed his public opposition to same-sex marriage before signing a City Council resolution aimed at overturning the state's ban on same-sex weddings.  He gave a tearful speech in which he explained that he could not tell his daughter Lisa, who is gay, that her relationship with a partner is not as important as that of a straight couple and that he had "decided to lead with my heart...to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice."
  Sanders won reelection over businessman Steve Francis in 2008. He left office on December 3, 2012 due to term limits. The next day he became the president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
caption: Jerry Sanders in the 2005 4th of July Parade in the Mira Mesa neighborhood of San Diego with John Witt, County Board of Education, driving.
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