Opinion |

San Diego city attorney primary results create drama for November

It promised to be one of the least dramatic elections on the March 5 ballot.

It turned out to be one of the most surprising.

The race for San Diego city attorney was a low-key affair in the primary, in large part because there were only two candidates — Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert and Assemblymember Brian Maienschein — which guaranteed them both a spot on the November ballot.

But other parts of the narrative many expected to unfold didn’t hold up, the key one being the comfortable first-place finish by Ferbert, who appeared the underdog.

With the vote count winding down, Ferbert led by more than 6 percentage points, 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent, as of Thursday.

Maienschein, a former City Council member, had a lot of advantages going into the election — name identification, broad establishment backing and access to considerably more campaign money. There was a big one he didn’t have and that — along with some liabilities — exposed his political weaknesses.

The primary results shattered any sense of inevitability that he would be the next city attorney, a notion early on that may have triggered a bandwagon effect encouraging some his eventual endorsers.

It’s hard to imagine Maienschein actually losing endorsements, but what will be interesting to watch is how enthusiastic his influential supporters are in continuing to push for him. In other words, will some back off in contributing money or perhaps hedge their bets now that Ferbert potentially has flipped the script?

This is not to suggest high-profile Maienschein endorsers such as Mayor Todd Gloria, the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council and the San Diego Police Officers Association will flee.

Gloria, for instance, has had big disagreements with termed-out City Attorney Mara Elliott and, though Ferbert may be her own person, he likely doesn’t want someone from that office taking over.

None of the nine San Diego council members appears on Ferbert’s list of endorsements and several got on board with Maienschein. Whether Gloria’s position had anything to do with that is unknown. Some council members also have jousted with Elliott.

But council members also have had their differences with the mayor. If there’s the sense that Gloria’s political alliance with Maienschein could give the mayor an advantage over the council with the city attorney’s office, that might give some members pause heading toward November.

The city attorney prosecutes misdemeanors, represents the city in civil cases, provides legal advice to the mayor and council and helps them draft ordinances. Notable conflicts have erupted between past city attorneys and other elected officials at City Hall.

It may be too early to conclude Ferbert is now the favorite heading into November, when there will be a much bigger and different electorate. But it’s reasonable to suggest Maienschein is back on his heels.

The big advantage that helped boost Ferbert to a strong primary showing is simple and obvious: the title “chief deputy city attorney.” That’s a quick shorthand to denote a level of experience for voters.

Many voters are not inclined to delve into the detailed positions of candidates for city attorney as much as they are, say, of candidates for mayor, Congress and City Council. Arguably, so-called “low-information voters” lean more on ballot titles to make their decisions in city attorney elections than in other races.

Those voters also often decide later in the process than people paying closer attention, and it may be noteworthy that Ferbert’s lead increased as the late ballots were counted. There will be more low-information voters for the city attorney’s race in the fall, when people are focused on the presidential and U.S. Senate elections and other high-profile races.

But there also will be more Democrats voting, and they will continue to get mailers and other political messages financed by labor and the Democratic Party that promote Maienschein, which is something Ferbert isn’t likely to match.

The ballot title was widely acknowledged as a big reason Elliott first won the office in 2016. The political establishment and San Diego media often treated the then-chief deputy city attorney as an afterthought. But in the primary, Elliott outdistanced three fellow Democratic candidates, including former city Ethics Commission Chair Gil Cabrera and then-Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos, the favorites of the Democratic establishment.

Elliott, who was the only woman on the ballot, finished a close second behind Deputy District Attorney Robert Hickey, a Republican. Among other things, the Democratic power structure swung to Elliott in the November election.

That’s not likely to happen this time around, though Ferbert is a Democrat and has notable pockets of support. In addition to endorsements from various attorney groups and Elliott, the San Diego Municipal Employees Association has backed her.

The MEA endorsement could be crucial in the general election if the MEA starts spending money on Ferbert’s behalf. The MEA spent nothing on Ferbert in the primary.

The Ferbert camp itself didn’t spend much money during the primary — nor did it have much — and was outspent by Maienschein forces. His supporters will be expected to pour more resources into the November election.

Maienschein has stressed his legislative experience as an example of his ability to collaborate with disparate factions — he points to that in suggesting he would avoid some of the battles between Elliott and the council and mayor.

Ferbert has stressed the need for a city attorney independent of the council and the mayor, while suggesting relationships could be improved.

Maienschein points to his work as chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and in teaching law at the University of San Diego as evidence of his legal acumen.

But he hasn’t been a practicing attorney in two decades, which is something Ferbert and her supporters pounced on in an unsuccessful effort to knock Maienschein off the ballot and, subsequently, on the campaign trail.

On key issues, Ferbert and Maienschein now hold similar views on improving gun safety and protecting reproductive rights.

Maienschein had been a Republican until 2019, when he switched to the Democratic Party. Before then, he cast votes contrary to his current positions on guns and abortion — something Ferbert has brought up repeatedly.

Maienschein may be the Democratic Party favorite, but that wasn’t always the case.