Fletcher Ends Pursuit of Public Office After Tuesday's Loss

Nathan Fletcher said Wednesday he's ending his pursuit of elected office after finishing third in Tuesday's special San Diego mayoral election and throwing his support to the candidate who knocked him off the runoff ballot, Councilman David Alvarez. 
 
Fletcher said he respected the voters' decision.

"I leave today with my head held high, feeling really good about the campaign that we ran, about the ideas we've advanced, about the way we've conducted ourselves,'' he told reporters.   

Fletcher said he promised his wife he would step away from public lifeif he lost the race.   

Alvarez will take on fellow Councilman Kevin Faulconer in a runoff election on a still-to-be scheduled date early next year.   

Faulconer led a field of 12 candidates with 43.58 percent of the vote, according to figures released by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. Alvarez received 52,283 votes, a 25.59 percent margin, to Fletcher's 49,645. 

The only other candidate to receive at least 1 percent of the vote was former City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who finished fourth with 4.44 percent.   

A runoff will be held because no candidate received a majority. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith told KUSI that city officials were looking at Feb. 11 for the runoff. 

Faulconer thanked San Diegans for their votes in the race to succeed the disgraced Bob Filner and said he couldn't wait to "hit the ground running'' for the runoff campaign.   

"When we started this campaign, we said we were going to have an opportunity to get our city back on track, and tonight, we took a huge step forward to do exactly that,'' he told cheering supporters at the US Grant Hotel on Tuesday night.

Alvarez campaigned on strengthening San Diego's neighborhoods and had the backing of the county Democratic Party and San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, an umbrella group for the region's unions. 

Fletcher gained the support of individual unions and numerous state elected officials.   

Alvarez told supporters he started the race as an underdog.   

"Well, we've proven if we worked together, worked hard and share real values with people about hard work, about dedication, that anything is possible,'' Alvarez said.   

County Democratic Chairwoman Francine Busby said Alvarez surged in the last weeks of the campaign because the public got to know him better.   

"After a divisive and tumultuous year for the city, David has run a positive, progressive, well-organized campaign,'' Busby said.

"He has reached out to communities that are too rarely represented in our politics. He has inspired hundreds of volunteers from every neighborhood and walk of life to join his team.''   

The special election was brought about by Filner's resignation in August, when he was under fire for sexual harassment and being investigated for various other transgressions, including alleged shakedowns of developers.   

Filner subsequently pleaded guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment by violence and two misdemeanor counts of battery and was placed on three years probation.

– City News Service