Humbled and honored to have the confidence of the voters of District 2. Now, to celebrate with my family! #4moreyears
— Lorie Zapf (@LorieZapf) June 4, 2014
Councilwoman Lorie Zapf had to shift to District 2, but won re-election to San Diego City Council anyway tonight. But taxpayer advocate Chris Cate apparently will square-off in a November runoff against educator Carol Kim in District 6.
Zapf, who needed to shift from District 6 to District 2 because the council maps were redrawn a couple of years ago, had nearly 54 percent of the votes with 10,416 votes cast for her, while ex-federal prosecutor Sarah Boot was second with nearly 38 percent. Two other candidates collected about 9 percent between them.
The district in Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and Point Loma that was vacated by Kevin Faulconer when he became mayor. (He was set to be termed-out at the end of this year, anyway.) Zapf won outright with a more than 50 percent lead.
(Ed Harris is filling in during the interim in District 2 and agreed not to run for the seat as a condition of his appointment.)
In District 6, Cate, an officer with the San Diego Taxpayers Association, had 47 percent of the vote. Educator Carol Kim was second with 31 percent and former San Diego Unified Trustee Mitz Lee was third with about 13 percent.
Kim said her advantage in a November runoff would be that she has roots in the district whereas Cate is running as a strict fiscal conservative. "I think people want to see community members represent other community members, not people who just want to win a seat," she said.
Their district includes Clairemont Mesa, Kearny Mesa and Mira Mesa.
The two other council races were not close.
Councilman David Alvarez, who lost to Faulconer in February's special election, was re-elected easily with about 75 percent of the vote. Just 25 percent of voters backed retired contractor Lincoln Pickard in District 8, which includes Barrio Logan, Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.
Councilwoman Myrtle Cole, who joined the panel in a special election last year, won with 57 percent of the vote in District 4 in Southeast San Diego. Bruce Williams, with 19 percent, was second.
The outcome of the races will determine whether or not Democrats on the technically nonpartisan City Council will hold their veto-proof majority. Zapf and Cate are Republicans, and Kim is a Democrat.
Six votes are required to override mayoral vetoes, and with Harris in office, the Democrats hold a 6-3 advantage on the council. Whether the margin holds, increases or shrinks below the threshold will impact contentious issues that might arise in the future, although the council members agree with each other and the Republican Faulconer on most things.
