Tough-on-crime rhetoric takes center stage in San Diego mayoral race
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Mayor Todd Gloria has latched onto tough-on-crime rhetoric throughout his reelection campaign, even as crime in the city recedes from its pandemic-era spike.
Why it matters: Gloria's approach underscores the extent to which the political pendulum has swung, after he fought four years ago to be seen as a criminal justice reformer.
The other side: Larry Turner, the police officer looking to oust him, has argued declining crime numbers merely reflect fewer crime reports from residents who've learned police won't respond.
- He's linked crime and homelessness, arguing 85% of the calls he and other officers respond to are homelessness related.
- "It's about overdoses, it's about people being stabbed or shot on the street, being raped," he said. "It's ugly out there."
State of play: Gloria has emerged as a figure of statewide significance on Proposition 36, the measure that would unwind the 10-year-old criminal justice reform, Proposition 47, by reclassifying some theft and drug crimes from misdemeanors to felonies.
- He and other big-city mayors — like London Breed in San Francisco and Matt Mahan in San Jose — have all urged voters to approve the measure, which has become a wedge issue among Democrats, with Gov. Gavin Newsom leading the charge against it.
- Gloria signaled his stance on the issue during his State of the City speech, when he said he'd lead Proposition 47 reform with an applause line straight out of Republican talking points: "We should be locking up criminals, not laundry detergent."
Case in point: Gloria won the police union's endorsement both in 2020 and this year, but this time around he won it while running against an officer and member of that very union.
Between the lines: Last year, Gloria also successfully pushed the city council to adopt a broad prohibition on camping in public to combat homeless encampments, angering the city's progressive base by criminalizing homelessness.
- Turner also supported the camping ban, but told Axios his frustration with it now is that it is not tough enough.
- By giving violators multiple warnings and opportunities to avoid citations, it demands too many police hours and is not a harsh enough deterrent, he said.
Flashback: In 2020, Gloria didn't support demands to slash police budgets, but courted criminal justice reformers by citing his stances on two other issues.
- When he was an assembly member, he backed a bill by Shirley Weber, now the secretary of state, redefining when police officers could use deadly force. He also supported a 2020 ballot measure revamping an independent police oversight body.
- Still, some activists said they never regarded him as an ally, including the author of the police oversight measure, who said he was responsible for gutting a similar attempt in 2016 as a city council member.