San Diego’s District 5 council race could shift politics at City Hall

The San Diego City Council race expected to have the most impact on City Hall politics is in suburban District 5, where two Republicans and two Democrats are facing off in the March 3 primary.

Registered Democrats recently surpassed registered Republicans by a small margin in District 5, which includes Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch and northern Rancho Penasquitos.

If Democrats take the seat, which has been safely Republican for years, they would increase their six-vote majority on the council to seven. Incumbent Mark Kersey, who recently switched from Republican to independent, is termed out.

Republican Joe Leventhal and Democrat Marni von Wilpert have secured most of the key endorsements in the race, and many expect them to take the top two slots in the primary and advance to a November runoff.

Leventhal, a private sector attorney who worked as an aide to former Vice President Dick Cheney, has been endorsed by many prominent local Republicans, the county Republican Party and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Von Wilpert, a San Diego deputy city attorney who served in the Peace Corps, has been endorsed by many prominent Democrats, the county party, the labor union for city firefighters and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

The other Democrat in the race is technology worker Isaac Wang, who says he cares less about ideology and more about making sure the city studies nationwide best practices and implements solutions that work.

The other Republican in the race is restaurant owner Simon Moghadam, who describes himself as a political rebel frustrated by corruption at City Hall. He says local leaders only care about poor people if they can make money off them.

Simon Moghadam is a candidate for District 5 of the San Diego City Council.

(Courtesy photo)

Leventhal, 42, said in an interview this week that it’s important for City Hall to continue to have members that bring a conservative perspective.

“Even when I talk to Democrats, they talk about the importance of not having single-party control at any level of government,” he said. “I think it’s important to maintain that different perspective.”

But Leventhal said he also understands how to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats to solve problems.

“Voters want to see people willing to work with others for the common good,” he said.

Von Wilpert, 37, said the race is a real opportunity for the city’s north inland suburbs.

“This is the first time the voters in D5 will have a real choice in 20 years,” she said.

But like Leventhal, she said her ideology won’t overshadow her desire to help the city solve its problems.

“It doesn’t matter which party I’m from as long as I understand the district and understand how to get things done at City Hall,” she said. “I will reject all of the anger and division going on in politics right now. I will bring people together.”

Von Wilpert said her knowledge of City Hall and recent work under City Attorney Mara Elliott set her apart from the other candidates.

“I will hit the ground running from day one,” she said. “I’m the only candidate who has worked in government, and I have worked at City Hall.”

Leventhal said he is a better choice because of his business experience and leadership experience, which he says is “unmatched” by the other candidates.

He founded his own law firm seven years ago and has watched it grow rapidly thanks partly to a merger with a large Cincinnati firm.

“So I not only have experience being a small business owner in San Diego but also being part of a larger business in San Diego, and I understand a lot of those challenges,” he said. “I think it helps to have someone on the council with experience hiring and retaining talent.”

His business experience also would help Leventhal analyze the city’s budget at a higher level than his opponents, he said.

Leventhal said that road repair and public safety are among his priority issues.

“We’ve made a lot of progress n our roads, but a lot of voters still see roads that need desperate repair,” he said, suggesting the city should explore new repair materials and revamp its utility undergrounding to accelerate road repairs.

On public safety, he said the city should consider greater use of senior volunteers, so that full-fledged police officers can concentrate more on real crimes and less on traffic issues.

Von Wilpert agrees that roads and public safety are crucial but, she said, greater focus should be on preparing for wildfires and meeting the needs of the city’s aging population —especially in District 5.

Leventhal has criticized Von Wilpert for spending much of her life outside the area, while he and his wife are raising kids in District 5, where they’ve lived for 15 years.

“I think that matters to certain voters — it matters to me,” he said.

Von Wilpert notes that she grew up in the district, that her parents still live there and that she returned in 2017. She left to attend college and law school and for a stint in the Peace Corps and a job at the National Labor Relations Board during the Obama administration.

On homelessness, Von Wilpert said she is superior to the other candidates because of her recent work with the Police Department to get people off the street and into treatment.

“I’m the only candidate who is actually working on homelessness right now,” she said. “No one else really has street cred.”

Leventhal said he would urge the city to focus more on data collection, so that homeless people with vastly different problems could receive the kind of help they individually need.

Wang, who helps lead the Open San Diego technology project, said he would make the council more tech-savvy. He also touts leadership skills he acquired during a nine-year stint in the military.

“If you want a good City Council member, you want someone with leadership experience, who understands cities and has a forward-thinking outlook on urban planning,” said Wang, 33.

Moghadam, who owns Greek Corner Cafe in Carmel Mountain Ranch, said his focus would be on infrastructure and cleaning up corruption.

“Something’s really fishy in San Diego and no one wants to talk about it,” he said.

Von Wilpert and Wang live in Scripps Ranch; Moghadam, 46, lives in Carmel Mountain Ranch, and Leventhal lives in Torrey Highlands, west of Rancho Bernardo.