Six months after Democratic Mayor Bob Filner left office in disgrace because more than a dozen women had stepped forward to accuse him of sexual harassment, San Diegans have chosen a Republican to take over.
On Tuesday, "Kevin Faulconer was elected by a wide margin over fellow Councilman David Alvarez," our colleagues at KPBS report. "The veteran Republican councilman soundly defeated his Democratic opponent 55 to 45 percent (with 86 percent of the vote counted.)"
The San Diego Union-Tribune says Faulconer's victory marks "a new chapter for the city" after Filner's "scandal-plagued tenure." Also, the Union-Tribune says:
"A Faulconer victory breathes new life into the local Republican Party by restoring its control of the mayor's office that its candidates have occupied for much of the past four decades. Faulconer also becomes the only Republican mayor of a top 10 U.S. city, making him one of the party's highest-profile leaders in the state.
"The results dashed the hopes of Alvarez to become San Diego's first Latino mayor and its youngest in nearly 120 years."