Inside the push to recall San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria
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Mayor Gloria speaks at a news conference on Oct. 30. Photo: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Organizers behind the push to recall Mayor Todd Gloria told Axios they're fed up with trash fees, parking fees and other city issues.
Why it matters: Gloria now has to deal with a recall effort that will further question his leadership as he rounds the final two years of his term and thinks about what he might run for next.
- Gloria won reelection in 2024 with 55% of the vote, but polling this year shows voters have increasingly soured on the city's direction, and issues like parking, trash fees and closed bathrooms haven't helped.
- He didn't respond to a request for comment for this story.
The intrigue: The tipping point in the recall decision was Gloria's support of an outsider over incumbent District 4 City Councilmember Henry Foster in last week's election, recall organizer Kathleen Harmon told Axios.
- Foster challenged the mayor, saying he should resign over a trash fees billing mistake.
- "He saw fit to go get an outsider to stand up against our councilman who has done an outstanding job of bringing resources into our community," Harmon said.
Inside the room: Video surfaced of Gloria being served recall papers on election night outside the Democrats' victory party at House of Blues.
- He posed for a photo with a woman who then handed him the papers and walked away.
- Harmon insisted to Axios that serving the mayor in front of a big crowd at a party wasn't on purpose.
Friction point: The recall could put pressure on the mayor to concede on prominent issues over the next year, such as parking fees, budget cuts, or canceling the city's Flock contract, SDSU political scientist Brian Adams told Axios.
- The council will likely vote on banning cameras next week, and the mayor has defended license plate readers in the past.
Context: This isn't new. People often get frustrated with their mayors and attempt recalls, Adams said.
- "We see this all the time. A lot of people start recall efforts against local officials, and nothing ever comes of it," he said.
- Whether that will be the case with Gloria remains to be seen.
How a recall works:
⏳ Gloria has until Nov. 17 to submit a response to the recall, which was published in the San Diego Daily Transcript on Nov. 3. Organizers must publish any response at least five business days before collecting signatures.
- So Nov. 24 is the earliest start for signature gathering.
✍️ They'll have to gather 122,936 valid signatures from registered voters in the city before March 3.
🔎 The city clerk has 30 business days to check the signatures. If they're valid, the City Council would call an election, usually within 180 days.
🗳️ So we'd be looking at a summer vote, with a ballot asking both whether to remove Gloria and who should replace him.
- If a majority votes to remove him, the replacement candidate with the most votes wins and serves the remainder of Gloria's term.
At that point, Gloria would have about a year left in his term, so Adams said he views the recall as more of a symbolic gesture.
Yes, but: Organizers could submit signatures earlier than March 3, triggering an election sooner, Harmon said.
State of play: Even if the recall makes the ballot, historically it's proven hard to convince voters to remove someone from office, Adams said.
Case in point: Gov. Gavin Newsom easily beat a recall, as did former Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she was mayor of San Francisco.
- "She beat the recall," Adams said, "and that launched her political career."