Todd Gloria

Todd Gloria
Member-elect of the California State Assembly
from the 78th district
Taking office
December 5, 2016
Succeeding Toni Atkins
Member of the San Diego City Council
from the 3rd district
Assumed office
December 8, 2008
Preceded by Toni Atkins
Interim Mayor of San Diego
In office
August 30, 2013 – March 3, 2014
Preceded by Bob Filner
Succeeded by Kevin Faulconer
Personal details
Born Todd Rex Gloria
(1978-05-10) May 10, 1978
San Diego, California
Political party Democratic
Residence San Diego, California
Alma mater University of San Diego
Website City Council District 3 Website

Todd Rex Gloria (born May 10, 1978) is an American politician who has been elected to the California State Assembly. A Democrat, he will represent the 78th Assembly District, which encompasses much of San Diego.

Prior to his election to the Assembly in 2016, Gloria served as the interim Mayor of San Diego after the resignation of former mayor Bob Filner in August 2013. His term as interim mayor concluded on March 3, 2014, when Mayor Kevin Faulconer was sworn in.[1] In addition to serving as interim mayor, Gloria served as a San Diego City Councilmember representing District 3. He also served as president of the nine-member Council from 2012 through 2014.

Life and career

Gloria is a third generation San Diegan, all four of his grandparents having moved to San Diego because of their involvement with the military.[2] He has described his ethnic background in an interview as being: "[b]asically half Native American (Tlingit-Haida, an Alaskan tribe), a quarter Filipino and then a little bit of Dutch and Puerto Rican."[2]

He grew up in the Clairemont neighborhood and attended Madison High School. He was interested in politics from childhood. At age 10 he was runner-up in a "mayor for a day" contest. At 14 he volunteered to work for Democratic candidates in the 1992 election.[3]

Gloria graduated summa cum laude from the University of San Diego, with majors in history and political science.[4] While a student at USD, Gloria was active in the effort to add "sexual orientation" to the campus nondiscrimination policy.[3]

U.S. Congresswoman Susan Davis has been his political mentor ever since they first met in 1993, when Gloria was a high school freshman and Davis was the director of the Aaron Price Fellows Program, a San Diego leadership program for high school students focused on civic education and cross-cultural understanding.[4] In 2002, Gloria became Davis's district director,[4] a position he held until being elected to the city council in 2008.[5]

While working for Davis, Gloria also served as a San Diego Housing Commissioner from 2005 until 2008. Openly gay, he is also a former chairman of the San Diego LGBT Community Center and was a resident panelist on San Diego's Prostitution Impact Panel.[6]

San Diego City Council

Council Member Todd Gloria speaking at a San Diego Workforce Partnership function

Gloria ran for the District 3 seat vacated by the termed-out Toni Atkins in the 2008 election. He received a plurality of votes in the June 2008 primary election, leading to a November run off election against fellow Democrat Stephen Whitburn, a former journalist, community activist and ally of then District 6 councilmember Donna Frye.[6][7] Gloria defeated Whitburn with 54.3% of the vote.

In the 2012 election, Gloria ran for re-election unopposed and was re-elected in the June primary.[8] As of his second term, District 3 includes the neighborhoods of Balboa Park, Bankers Hill/Park West, Downtown San Diego, Golden Hill, Hillcrest, Little Italy, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, North Park, Old Town, and University Heights.[9] In December 2012, at its first meeting after new members took office, Gloria was unanimously elected to serve as Council President, replacing retiring President Tony Young.[10]

Gloria and San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer at a San Diego Comic-Con event in 2014

Gloria has been chair of the city's Budget and Finance Committee since 2011. Gloria represents San Diego on the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System Board and SANDAG, where he chairs the transportation committee.[11]

Upon the resignation of Mayor Bob Filner on August 30, 2013,[12] Gloria became the interim mayor of San Diego, with limited powers.[13] This made San Diego the second largest city in the United States (after Houston) to have an openly gay mayor at that time.[14][15] He served until March 3, 2014 when mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer was sworn in. While serving as interim mayor he remained the city councilmember for District 3 and retained the title of city council president; however, City Council President Pro Tem Sherri Lightner carried out the duties of the council president.[16] Gloria was considered a possible candidate to replace Filner, but he chose not to run.[17]

As interim mayor Gloria reversed several of Filner's actions. In September 2013 he ordered city police and zoning code officers to resume enforcement actions against medical marijuana shops; in one of his first actions as mayor, Filner had ordered city staff to stop such enforcement.[18] He also announced the city will re-hire lobbying firms in Sacramento and Washington that Filner had fired.[19] He ordered that public records be made more quickly and easily available to citizens, in contrast to the cumbersome centralized process established by Filner.[20]

On December 10, 2014, the city council voted 4–5 on a motion of whether to reappoint Gloria as council president for the new term, with Sherri Lightner joining the four council republicans to defeat the measure. The council then voted 7-2 to appoint Lightner as council president, with Gloria and David Alvarez in opposition.[21]

California State Assembly

On April 7, 2015, Gloria announced that he will run in 2016 for the California State Assembly 78th district seat held by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, who will be termed out. Gloria was immediately endorsed by Atkins and by Sarah Boot, who had earlier announced her own candidacy for Atkins' seat, but withdrew upon Gloria's announcement.[22]

2016 California State Assembly candidacy

California's 78th State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Todd Gloria 91,602 71.8
Republican Kevin D. Melton 36,013 28.2
Total votes 127,615 100.0
General election
Democratic Todd Gloria 122,828 68.9
Republican Kevin D. Melton 55,414 31.1
Total votes 178,242 100.0

References

  1. ↑ Alford, Matt Johnson, Abbie. "Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer expected to be sworn in March 3".
  2. 1 2 Scannell, Christy (December 29, 2009). "Todd Gloria's juggling act part 2". San Diego News Room. via Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Rowe, Peter (August 24, 2013). "Todd Gloria, in the mayor's office -- at least temporarily". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "ASIAN JOURNAL a San Diego original. The 1st Asian Journal in Ca,USA. A Filipino American weekly. Online - Digital - Print Editions.".
  5. ↑ Writer to hold funeral for unpublished novel | The San Diego Union-Tribune
  6. 1 2 Steele,, Jeanette (Oct 18, 2008), "District 3 candidates are alike but different", San Diego Union Tribune, p. CZ-1
  7. ↑ Opposing forces | The San Diego Union-Tribune
  8. ↑ "County of San Diego, Presidential Primary Election, Tuesday, June 5, 2012" (PDF). San Diego County Registrar of Voters. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  9. ↑ "Communities - City of San Diego Official Website".
  10. ↑ "Gloria succeeds Young as City Council president". CBS-8. December 3, 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "About Todd Gloria". San Diego City Council. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Bob Filner Resigns: San Diego Mayor Agrees To Step Down Amid Sexual Harassment Scandal". Huffington Post. August 23, 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  13. ↑ Dotinga, Randy (August 22, 2013). "The Differences Between an Interim Mayor and a Strong Mayor". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  14. ↑ "Todd Gloria to serve as interim mayor following Bob Filner's resignation". LGBTQ Nation. August 24, 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  15. ↑ Ring, Trudy (August 23, 2013). "San Diego Mayor Resigns; City Will Have Gay Interim Mayor". The Advocate. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  16. ↑ Gustafson, Craig (August 30, 2013). "Q&A with Todd Gloria, interim mayor". Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  17. ↑ "Former Councilman Carl DeMaio, Supervisor Ron Roberts will not run for San Diego mayor". ABC 10 News. September 3, 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  18. ↑ Gustafson, Craig (September 12, 2013). "Gloria: Med pot shops illegal: Interim mayor says he'll enforce de facto ban on pot shops". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  19. ↑ Gardner, Michael (September 11, 2013). "Gloria wants lobbyist for San Diego". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  20. ↑ Seibert, Trent (September 10, 2013). "Public records start to flow under Gloria". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  21. ↑ Mento, Tarryn; Trageser, Claire (December 10, 2014). "Gloria Ousted As San Diego Council President; Fellow Democrat Lightner Elected". KPBS. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
  22. ↑ Garrick, David (April 8, 2015). "Gloria to run for Atkins' Assembly seat". San Diego Union Tribune.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Bob Filner		 Mayor of San Diego, California (interim)
2013–2014 		Succeeded by
Kevin Faulconer
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