SAN DIEGO — Barbara Bry officially concedes to her opponent, and fellow Democrat, Todd Gloria. In a Zoom Call Monday morning she said she’s optimistic about the city’s future and knows Gloria will have challenges to face going forward. She urged supporters to “be at the table” to make decisions.
“Unfortunately, interest groups supporting my opponent took a different, approach perhaps inspired by the fake news rhetoric coming out of Washington, they spent over $2 million on t.v. commercials and mailers; cyclically designed to fool voters thinking they were sponsored by our campaign,” Bry said.
Leading up to this election Bry and Gloria were virtually tied in the polls. As of Monday, Gloria holds 56% of the vote and Bry has 44%. The difference between the two candidates was about 70 thousand votes. This means that Todd Gloria will be San Diego's next mayor, taking the position held by Kevin Faulconer. It will be the first time a democrat has held the position since 2014.
Bry said she is optimistic about San Diego’s long-term future, but said the city faces many challenges because of COVID-19.
"Mr. Gloria will have a tough job. Thousands of San Diegans are unemployed through no fault of their own and city revenues are declining," Bry said.
In response to Bry's concession, Mayor-elect Gloria issued the following statement:
“I want to thank Councilmember Bry for her service to our City and I wish her and her family well. It is time to put the campaign behind us and come together as San Diegans to resolve the many challenges we face. Voters have embraced my vision of creating a City that works for all of us. It’s now time to turn that vision into reality. I am honored to be the next Mayor of San Diego.”
Todd Gloria, the son of a maid and a gardener, is the first person-of-color and the first LGBT person elected Mayor in city history. He will be sworn in as the next Mayor on December 10.
Due to the pandemic, the registrar of voters didn't know how many mail-in ballots to expect since everyone in the state received one. That's a big reason why calling the California races and seeing concessions took longer in this election.
So far more than 600,000 votes have been recorded for the mayor’s race alone. Bry says since she had to make the choice between running for mayor and running for another term on council, she will not hold a position on council as of December. When asked if she would ever run for mayor again she said, “she doesn’t think so, but will never say never.”