Politics

San Diego's 6th District Race Attracts Dollars

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published October 25, 2010 at 1:21 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

6th District Candidates, Lorie Zapf and Howard Wayne.

San Diego's 6th District Race Attracts Dollars

San Diego City Council elections are non-partisan, but both the Republican and Democratic parties have thrown large sums of money into the 6th District race. That’s the race to replace councilwoman Donna Frye, who is termed out.

San Diego City Council elections are non-partisan, but both the Republican and Democratic parties have thrown large sums of money into the 6th District race. That’s the race to replace councilwoman Donna Frye, who is termed out.

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Voter registration in the 6th District, which includes Mission Valley, Clairemont, and Linda Vista leans Democratic, but not strongly.

Glen Sparrow, Professor Emeritus of the School of Public Affairs at SDSU, says that’s why Republicans are focusing intently on this district.

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“It gives the Republicans their only chance of really picking up a seat this time,” Sparrow says.

Republican Lorie Zapf, who has not held public office before, has raised $300,000 -- more than the $250,000 raised by former Assemblyman, Democrat Howard Wayne.

But special interests have also poured in independent expenditures to lobby for each candidate, raising the total spent on the race to almost a million dollars altogether. Labor groups have spent $230,000 to back Wayne, and the Building Industry Association and the Lincoln Club have spent $61,000 to campaign independently for Zapf.

The Democratic and Republican parties have each spent $67,000 on their respective candidates.

If Republicans take the seat in November, they would have three of the eight seats on the council -- enough votes to block Democrats on issues that need a two-third majority.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.