While incumbent San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, was continuing to put off or decline numerous invitations to debate his top challenger in the 2024 General Election, his opponent wasn’t sitting quietly.
“I’m going to win more than 50% of the votes from Democrats,” says Larry Turner, a police officer and retired U.S. Marine whose political affiliation is Independent.
That radical prediction brought to mind the game plan used by Clubber Lang, (the actor Mr. T) in Rocky III. In the 1982 film, the challenger, Lang, publicly taunts and baits heavyweight champ Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone), goading Rocky to give him a title fight.
Like Clubber Lang, Turner isn’t shy about calling out the mayor on his unwillingness, in this case, to get in the political debate ring.
“I know that I will do well in a race with informed voters,” Turner says. “He’s relying on uninformed voters to try to win the election.”
Turner expects the mayor to put out a flurry of political mailers filled with misleading and false advertising as the November 5 General Election day approaches.
“He doesn’t have any successes he can stand up to debate on today,” Turner adds. “You know, I hope he’s relying on Democrats to vote for him just because of party affiliation. Why? Because I know they’re all tired of him, and see how he’s embarrassed their party.”
Gloria has been deluged by bad headlines on topics like: ill-conceived real estate deals for the city, a class-action lawsuit by rainwater flooded residents, and problematic responses to the unceasing homelessness problem.
A spokesperson for the Gloria campaign told The Sun via email that the mayor will participate in two televised debates later in the election cycle.
“I can confirm the Mayor is doing a debate on September 17 on 10News and another one on October 3 on KPBS,” the campaign spokesperson says. “Given the Mayor’s busy schedule, we feel these two televised debates will reach the greatest number of San Diegans possible.”
KPBS confirmed it would host an October 3 mayoral debate. 10News did not immediately respond to confirm a debate.
For some comparison, the two candidates for the District 3 City Council seat have already gone head-to-head in three forums, have one more planned and are likely to do another two or three.
Both candidates are Democrats and each says they’ll do as many forums/debates as possible. At their most recent forum at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in North Park, incumbent D3 City Councilman Stephen Whitburn and General Election challenger Coleen Cusack were asked about the mayoral debate landscape.
“The mayor has a lot of unanswered questions,” Cusack says. “If he shows up for a debate we’ll see if he even stays for it. Part of why I’m running for city council is because my opponent keeps supporting this mayor.”
Whitburn declined to comment on Gloria’s participation in forums and debates. “I’m just worried about my own race,” he says.
Earlier this year, Gloria declined to attend all the Primary Election forums. The mayor skipped at least four Primary forums with his four challengers, including Turner.
Gloria, who received 49.99% (132,055) of the Primary vote, and Turner, with 23.07% (60,931), were the top two vote getters to advance to the General Election.
According to Turner’s camp, at least five other organizations have offered to hold General Election mayoral forums, with Turner accepting and Gloria declining.
Turner’s team put out a recent press release naming those organizations. Two were media outlets.
“We invited both candidates to participate in a debate and proposed a number of dates,” NBC 7 Vice President of News Greg Dawson says. “We made it clear we were open to other dates if those didn’t work. The mayor’s campaign eventually declined, saying he had already committed to two TV debates.”
Voice of San Diego Editor & Chief Scott Lewis wrote in an email: “We invited the mayor to Politifest and he declined. I don’t know if he provided a reason.” Politifest (September 28) is VOSD’s annual daylong forum of politics and policy.
The other organizations Turner’s team says the mayor declined forum invitations from were: The San Diego chapter of the Black American Political Association of California, Community Budget Alliance, and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.
At press time, the BAPAC and CBA had not responded to requests for confirmation.
It was widely reported in local media when only Turner showed up for a proposed forum by the SDCTA on April 24. Turner was given the floor to talk about his policies. An empty chair reserved for Gloria occupied a spot in front of the crowd.
The mayor’s campaign manager said Gloria only heard about that proposed debate on social media, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The newspaper also reported that an SDCTA spokesperson said the mayor’s office was indeed formally invited, acknowledged the invitation and did not respond to several follow-ups.
Indeed, the mayor has developed a reputation for avoiding public scrutiny. A local group of media members recently singled out the mayor for lack of accessibility. The San Diego Society of Professional Journalists gave the “Wall Award” to Gloria at its annual Walls & Windows event held on April 18.
The SPJ’s website notes that the Wall Award “goes to the person or public agency that made it difficult for journalists to do their jobs by ignoring information requests or otherwise compromising the public’s right to know.”
“The mayor goes out of his way to avoid talking about his record,” Turner says, chiming in with one last Clubber Lang dig. “I’ll be surprised if he shows up at any debate, but if he does, we’ll go at it.”
Voters will have to wait and see if life imitates art. In Rocky III, Clubber Lang loses to Rocky Balboa by a knockout. SDSun
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