After winter hibernation, San Diego is waking up to 2024’s local political season.
In the San Diego Mayor’s race, incumbent Democrat Todd Gloria faces four challengers:
- Jane L. Glasson (Republican, special education assistant)
- Genevieve Jones-Wright (Democrat, executive director of Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance)
- Dan Smiechowski (Independent, real estate professional)
- Larry Turner (Independent, community relations officer for the San Diego Police Department)
Despite inclusion in a 10 News/The San Diego Union-Tribune Survey USA poll conducted between Jan. 3-7, two would-be mayoral candidates, professor Thomas Nguyen (invalid signatures), and student Athena Johnson (ineligible address) are not on the ballot.
San Diegans will vote in the 2024 Primary Election on Tuesday, March 5. (Got questions about your voting status? Go to sdvote.com.)
To begin to get to know the mayoral candidates, The San Diego Sun asked each for a 250-word introduction. Off to a good start–each kept it under the word limit. The following (alphabetically ordered) opening statements are in their own words:
JANE L. GLASSON
Voters in the City of San Diego will benefit if they choose me, Jane L. Glasson, for mayor in the March 5, 2024 primary, for I place the most importance on supporting homeowners and renters. They have invested greatly in this wonderful city. I believe in supporting them and those who work in public safety, who keep us and our assets safe. And I want to be supportive of our businesses, including businesses at strip malls in our city.
A mayor needs to respect neighborhoods and what those who live there want, including better roads.
Public transportation is important, yet it needs to be more like what homeowners and renters want.
Folks see that homelessness is a serious problem. I will do my best.
Being a good role model carries great importance in my life. I was named Young Lady of the Year twice at a club for youth. Through the years, I have volunteered much.
Always a San Diegan, I grew up in Solana Beach and was one of the homeowners of a single family home. I, also, rented a place in Vista before becoming a homeowner and resident in the City of San Diego in 1998.
In college, I learned Spanish, French, and German.
I am very thankful to you all.
Campaign information: jane-glasson (LinkedIn)
GENEVIÉVE JONES-WRIGHT
Hello! My name is Geneviéve Jones-Wright. As a native San Diegan, public interest attorney, small business and home owner, mother to a one-year-old, and the daughter of a retired hospital worker, I deeply understand the challenges everyday San Diegans face.
I am running for mayor to address San Diego’s most pressing issues, with a keen focus on our housing crisis. This issue is personal to me. I have seen how the soaring costs of living in San Diego have made our city increasingly unaffordable for many families, including future generations and our elderly on fixed incomes. It is my mission to make San Diego a city where everyone—regardless of age or income—can afford to live, thrive, and feel valued.
My vision includes creating pathways to housing and home ownership. I am committed to leading a city government that is transparent, accountable, and open to its taxpayers, which is crucial for building trust, ensuring the ethical and efficient use of resources, and fostering greater public engagement. As Executive Director of Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance (MoGo), I work to make our government ethical, transparent, accountable and open for everyone. This commitment is far more than a campaign message–it’s my lifelong work.
San Diego has all the qualities of a world-class city; what it needs now is world-class leadership. I know what it takes to build and lead such a city. Join me to work together to shape a brighter, more inclusive future for all San Diegans!
Campaign website: wright4sd.com
TODD GLORIA
As the son of a maid and a gardener, I understand the struggles San Diegans are facing right now. My parents taught me to leave things better than I found them. That’s why I’m working hard to help San Diego tackle our biggest problems.
Make San Diego more affordable.
We need to create economic opportunity and financial security for all San Diegans. Under my leadership we have:
Eliminated barriers to building homes.
Built more housing to drive down prices for middle-class and working people.
Worked to put more money in people’s pockets so they can pay rent, mortgage, and grocery bills.
Fought to lower utility and insurance bills.
Created good-paying jobs with benefits so people can build careers.
House the homeless.
There’s far more work to do, but we are finally moving in the right direction. I have:
Increased shelter capacity by over 70%.
Expanded substance abuse and mental health services.
Passed a law banning homeless tent encampments near parks and schools.
Let’s continue to renounce extreme policies that divide us and focus on what’s best for San Diego, like keeping crime rates low, housing the homeless, and paving more streets. Vote Todd Gloria for Mayor.
Campaign website: toddgloria.com.
DAN SMIECHOWSKI
The solution to housing the homeless, reducing rents and making San Diego home ownership available to our children is to remove the sale of land from the cost of housing.
Approximately 25% of the price of every real estate sale in San Diego is the land cost. Remove the sale of land by leasing the land instead of selling it is the solution.
The San Diego Port District is the model for a government agency that is self supported by its leasing of the tidelands.
As mayor, I will no longer sell city-owned land. I will make city-owned land available to lease for 60 years for projects that are designated for low and moderate income.
The solution for the pension program is to put all new employees for any City of San Diego job on Social Security.
My vision for the future of San Diego is to develop Horton Plaza as a “Fifteen- Minute City.”
The idea of a “Fifteen-Minute City” is that all functions of a city should be accessible to the residents within 15 minutes of where they live. Building a high rise on Horton Plaza that is a Fifteen-Minute City with each level devoted to different city needs allows a resident to access everything they need–jobs, retail, business, government and more, without ever leaving the project.
Parking would be retained for those shopping in the lower levels. The trolley and bus lines would obviate the need for residents to have cars on site.
Campaign website: dannytri.com
LARRY TURNER
My name is Larry Turner, I’m a lifelong independent running for mayor.
My wife Cynthia and I live in Ocean Beach with our two young children, and we love San Diego.
After serving 23 years in the Marine Corps leading our nation’s finest through combat and humanitarian relief missions, I returned home to California and answered the call to serve our community. Eight years ago, I traded my camouflage Lieutenant Colonel uniform for SDPD Blue, and I still serve you today as downtown’s Community Relations Officer.
For years I have listened to our community leaders, our local businesses, and our most vulnerable citizens in crisis, and worked on their behalf to create a safer San Diego.
I’ve learned how our city works from your voice, from the streets up to City Hall. After working with our elected officials, I became disappointed by their lack of care and responsiveness to the needs of our community.
I’m not a career politician and I refuse to become one, but I know what good leadership is, and how a government is supposed to function. This isn’t working.
I will be an independent voice that represents the citizens of San Diego, not a political party or soft-on-crime ideology. I’m here to deliver solutions only, to save the lives of our homeless struggling to survive (and our businesses alike), to return safety and dignity to our streets. San Diego can be a progressive, affordable, AND safe city–I promise to deliver just that.
Campaign website: turnerforsandiego.com SDSun
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