Georgette Gómez

Georgette Gómez (born November 3, 1975) is an American politician and community activist who served as president of the San Diego City Council from 2018 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as a member of the city council from 2016 to 2020, representing District 9.

Georgette Gómez
President of the San Diego City Council
In office December 10, 2018 – December 10, 2020
Preceded by	Myrtle Cole
Succeeded by	Jennifer Campbell
Member of the San Diego City Council from the 9th district
In office December 12, 2016 – December 10, 2020
Preceded by	Marti Emerald
Succeeded by	Sean Elo-Rivera
Personal details
Born	(1975-11-03) November 3, 1975 (age 49) San Diego, California, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Residence(s)	Azalea Park, California, U.S.
Education	San Diego State University (BA)
Website	Government website

Gómez was an unsuccessful candidate for California's 53rd congressional district in the 2020 elections and for California's 80th State Assembly district in the 2022 special election following the resignation of Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez.^[1]

Early life and education

Gómez was born in San Diego to working-class immigrants. She was raised in Barrio Logan.^[2] Gómez attended Serra High School and later graduated from San Diego State University, where she studied environmental and natural resource geography.^[3]

Career

San Diego City Council

Gómez was a candidate for the ninth district of the San Diego City Council in the 2016 San Diego City Council election after incumbent Marti Emerald opted not to seek reelection.^[4] The ninth district includes the neighborhoods of Alvarado Estates, City Heights, College Area, College View Estates, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Mt. Hope, Rolando, Southcrest, and Talmadge.^[5] In the June 2016 primary, Gómez came in second to Ricardo Flores, Emerald's chief of staff. Since no candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary, a runoff election was held in November 2016 between Flores and Gómez. Gómez was then elected to the City Council in November with a majority of the votes.^[6]

On December 10, 2018, the city council voted unanimously to appoint Gómez to be the council president. In this role, she automatically gained a seat on the board of directors of the San Diego Association of Governments.^[7] She also served as the chairwoman of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System from January 2018 to October 2019.^[8][9] Under Gómez, the city moved to create a community choice energy agency called San Diego Community Power (as an alternative to SDG&E), a strategy which makes up half of the emissions reductions in the San Diego Climate Action Plan.^[10]

2020 congressional election

In September 2019, Gómez announced her candidacy in the 2020 elections to represent California's 53rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.^[11] Gómez and Sara Jacobs advanced to the November 2020 runoff election.^[12] In the runoff, Gomez campaigned as both a progressive and a strong supporter of Israel; she was endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, which caused her to lose support from the Justice Democrats.^[13] Jacobs beat Gomez 59.5%-40.5% in the November 2020 general election.

In June 2020, Gómez expressed support for a petition calling for a name change of the Andrew Jackson Federal Post Office in her district due to his history of owning slaves and his part in the forced displacement of Native Americans during the Trail of Tears.^[14]

On October 8, 2020, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that Gómez failed to pay taxes on her city council salary in 2017. Gómez admitted the mistake and amended her filing.^[15][16]

2022 California's 80th Assembly district election

Gómez announced her candidacy to represent California's 80th Assembly District on January 3, 2022; the same day Lorena Gonzalez announced her resignation.^[1] In the special election on April 5, 2022, no candidate received a majority of the votes. Gómez and fellow Democrat David Alvarez advanced to a runoff election to be held June 7, 2022.^[17] In September 2022, she withdrew from the race.^[18]

Endorsements

Organizations

• California Democratic Party^[19]
• California Nurses Association
• California Federation of Teachers
• Sierra Club California
• SEIU California
• Equality California
• Working Families Party^[20]

Individuals

• Lorena Gonzalez^[21]
• Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego^[21]
• Nora Vargas, San Diego Board of Supervisors^[22]
• Nathan Fletcher, San Diego Board of Supervisors^[19]
• Chris Ward^[23]
• Tasha Boerner Horvath^[23]
• Eloise Gómez Reyes^[23]

Election results

California's 80th State Assembly district special election, 2022
Vacancy resulting from the resignation of Lorena Gonzalez

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David Alvarez	13,117	38.4
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez	12,626	37.0
	Republican	Lincoln Pickard	8,399	24.6
Total votes			34,142	100.0
General election
	Democratic	David Alvarez
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez
Total votes				100.0
	Democratic hold

2020 United States House of Representatives elections in California^[24]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sara Jacobs	58,312	29.1
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez	39,962	20.0
	Republican	Chris Stoddard	25,962	13.0
	Democratic	Janessa Goldbeck	17,041	8.5
	Republican	Famela Ramos	15,005	7.5
	Republican	Michael Patrick Oristian	14,807	7.4
	Democratic	Tom Wong	7,265	3.6
	Democratic	Annette Meza	4,446	2.2
	Democratic	Joseph R. Fountain	4,041	2.0
	Democratic	Jose Caballero	3,226	1.6
	Democratic	Joaquín Vazquez	3,078	1.5
	Democratic	John Brooks	2,820	1.4
	No party preference	Fernando Garcia	1,832	0.9
	Democratic	Suzette Santori	1,625	0.8
	Democratic	Eric Roger Kutner	734	0.4
Total votes			200,156	100.0
General election
	Democratic	Sara Jacobs	192,897	59.5
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez	131,349	40.5
Total votes			324,246	100.0

San Diego City Council District 9 election, 2016^[6]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ricardo Flores	7,348	34%
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez	6,567	31%
	Democratic	Sarah Saez	5,023	23%
	Democratic	Araceli Martinez	2,589	12%
Total votes			21,527	100%
General election
	Democratic	Georgette Gómez	20,075	55%
	Democratic	Ricardo Flores	16,583	45%
Total votes			36,658	100%

Personal life

Gómez resides in the Azalea Park neighborhood within City Heights.^[25]

References

1. "Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez to Resign, Assume Union Leadership Role". NBC 7 San Diego. City News Service. January 4, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
2. "About Georgette". Gomez for City Council 2016. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015.
3. Burks, Megan (April 26, 2016). "Who's The Establishment Candidate In San Diego Council District 9?". KPBS Public Media.
4. "Marti Emerald Not Seeking Reelection, Political Future Uncertain - Times of San Diego". Times of San Diego. April 14, 2015.
5. "Communities - City of San Diego Official Website". Archived from the original on January 10, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
6. "Election History - Council District 9" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
7. KUSI Newsroom (December 10, 2018). "District 9 City Councilwoman Georgette Gomez elected San Diego City Council President -". KUSI News. Retrieved December 22, 2018. {{cite news}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
8. Bowen, Andrew (January 18, 2018). "MTS Board Elects Georgette Gomez Chairwoman". KPBS Public Media. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
9. Sklar, Debbie L. (October 10, 2019). "MTS Board Elects County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher as New Chair". Times of San Diego. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
10. Keatts, Andrew (November 16, 2020). "The Rise and Fall (for Now) of Georgette Gómez". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
11. Presha, Alex (September 14, 2019). "Georgette Gómez Announces Run for Congress in 53rd District". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
12. "Sara Jacobs, Georgette Gómez Officially Headed for Runoff in 53rd District". NBC 7 San Diego. April 8, 2020. Archived from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
13. "Justice Dems boosted this candidate until she disagreed with them on Israel". October 26, 2020.
14. Summers, Dave (June 24, 2020). "Petition Calls for Name Change at Andrew Jackson Post Office in Rolando". NBC 7 San Diego. Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
15. Rivlin-Nadler, Max (October 9, 2020). "Gómez's Tax Omission A Talker In 53rd District Congressional Race". KPBS Public Media. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
16. Dyer, Andrew (October 9, 2020). "City Council President Georgette Gómez failed to report more than $100,000 in income on taxes, records show". San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
17. Domenick, Candelieri (April 6, 2022). "Assembly District 80 race: Alvarez, Gómez projected to advance to runoff election". FOX 5 San Diego. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
18. Dyer, Andrew (September 21, 2022). "Georgette Gómez drops bid for 80th Assembly seat". San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
19. Jennewein, Chris (April 6, 2022). "David Alvarez, Georgette Gómez Headed for Runoff in 80th Assembly District Special Election". Times of San Diego. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
20. "Our Candidates". Working Families Party. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
21. Aere, Jacob (February 9, 2022). "Former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez endorses Georgette Gómez for District 80 seat, other contenders fighting for role". KPBS. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
22. "80th Assembly District special election: Democrats David Alvarez, Georgette Gomez advance to runoff". ABC 10 News San Diego. April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.
23. Jennewein, Chris (January 14, 2022). "Georgette Gómez Picks Up High-Profile Endorsements in Campaign for Assembly". Times of San Diego. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
24. "STATEMENT OF VOTE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION MARCH 3, 2020" (PDF). California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
25. Stone, Ken (November 11, 2016). "Ex-Green Georgette Gómez Vows to Make S.D. Blue". Times of San Diego. Retrieved December 7, 2023.

External links

• Council President Georgette Gómez government website
• Georgette Gómez for Congress campaign website
• Georgette Gómez at Ballotpedia
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart

Civic offices
Preceded by Marti Emerald	Member of the San Diego City Council from the 9th district 2016–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Myrtle Cole	President of the San Diego City Council 2018–present	Incumbent