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City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner held onto the District 1 council seat on Tuesday.
Lightner defeated challenger Ray Ellis 54.18 percent to 45.82 percent with all precincts reporting early Wednesday, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
District 1 includes La Jolla, University City and much of the Carmel Valley area.
Lightner’s win will usher in a Democratic majority on the council, a dynamic that appears likely to enable Democratic Mayor-Elect Bob Filner’s agenda.
Lightner and her supporters unofficially declared the incumbent the victor at Tuesday night’s election gathering at Golden Hall.
There, Lightner told Voice of San Diego she looks forward to continuing to work on water conservation strategies, pension changes and hopefully, to restore library and park services lost in recent years. She said she couldn’t guess what the environment might be like with a new mayor.
Lightner, a mechanical engineer, was first elected to the city council four years ago as the economy floundered and the city’s long-term liabilities, namely hefty pension bills, hit the city’s budget hard. (For more on Lightner’s background, check out this story.)
Since then, she’s developed a reputation as a councilwoman who isn’t tied to party positions. She has the rare distinction of being a Democrat who is harshly critiqued by union leaders for her support of public bidding for city services and a ballot initiative to overhaul the city’s pension system.
The former La Jolla town council president still sees herself as a neighborhood representative.
Some supporters view her that way too. Activist Deborah Knight is one of them.
Knight leads Friends of Rose Canyon, a group that opposes bridge that backers say would relieve traffic in University City.
“Sherri ran for City Council because she saw that the neighborhoods did not get a voice at city hall, that developers go downtown and get whatever they want,” said Knight, who said she was not speaking for her organization.
Lightner made that case to voters and emphasized improvements to the city’s financial situation since she took office. She also sold herself as the experienced incumbent who could keep the city on the right path and restore services that had been cut.
Lightner has said she’d like to use competitive bidding to improve city services and not just perform them at a cheaper rate. She also focused on the city’s infamous potholes during her campaign.
Ellis, a businessman, focused largely on the city’s pension woes. He also argued Lightner hadn’t done enough to solve the city’s financial woes and said he’d do a better job implementing new policies.
Ellis said Wednesday that he wished Lightner the best in her second term.
“I am tremendously proud of support we received from the community and friends and family,” Ellis said. “We knew it was going to be very tough to run against an incumbent and unfortunately we did not prevail.”
Lightner hailed the election results as a sign that most District 1 residents appreciate her leadership style and advocacy for neighborhood issues.
This story has been updated to reflect final vote tallies.
Lisa Halverstadt is the newest reporter at Voice of San Diego. Know of something she should check out? You can contact her directly at lisa.halverstadt@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0528.
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Disclosure: Voice of San Diego members and supporters may be mentioned or have a stake in the stories we cover. For a complete list of our contributors, click here.