Mayor of San Diego; California

Kevin Faulconer (born January 24, 1967) is the mayor of San Diego, California. He was elected in a special election in February 2014 and is serving the balance of his predecessor's term, through the end of 2016. He was sworn in as mayor on March 3, 2014. On June 7, 2016, he won re-election to a second term.

Prior to his election as mayor, Faulconer served as a San Diego City Council member representing City Council District 2. He served on the council from January 2006 to March 2014, including two years as the council president pro tem, the number two leadership position on the council.He is a Republican, although local government positions are officially nonpartisan per California state law.

Faulconer was born and raised in Oxnard, California, where he learned to speak Spanish in grade school. Graduating from San Diego State University in 1990, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and served one year as Student Body President of Associated Students. He and his wife Katherine, a small business owner, live in Point Loma with their two children. Before running for office he was an executive with the public relations firm NCG Porter Novelli and volunteered on the Mission Bay Park Committee.

In September 2013 Faulconer entered the race to succeed mayor Bob Filner in the special election. He was endorsed by the local Republican Party and by former Mayor Jerry Sanders, now president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Faulconer was also endorsed by former San Diego city attorney and mayoral candidate Mike Aguirre, a Democrat. He campaigned both in English and Spanish.

In the election held November 19, 2013 he received 43.58 percent of the vote and advanced to a runoff election against fellow city councilmember David Alvarez in February 2014. He was elected mayor on February 11 with 54.5% of the vote. He was sworn in on March 3, 2014.

In August 2014 he vetoed a measure passed by the City Council which would increase the minimum wage in San Diego. The Council overrode his veto by a vote of 6 to 2. However, implementation of the measure was delayed by a successful signature drive led by business groups, forcing a public referendum on the issue in June 2016.

A major issue during his first term has been a bid by the San Diego Chargers to move to the Los Angeles area. Faulconer has campaigned strongly to keep the Chargers in San Diego and has proposed that the city build a new stadium, financed in part by the city and county governments.

In 2015 he declared his intention to run for a second term in 2016. There will be a primary election in June 2016; if no one receives a majority of the votes, a runoff will be held in November. In January 2016, former state assemblywoman Lori Saldaña announced she would run against Faulconer.





San Diego

San Diego, is a major city in California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles (190 km) south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico.

With an estimated population of 1,394,928 as of July 1, 2015, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest in California. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second-largest transborder agglomeration between the US and a bordering country after Detroit–Windsor, with a population of 4,922,723 people. San Diego is the birthplace of California and is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches, long association with the United States Navy and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.

Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the entire area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly-independent Mexico, which reformed as the First Mexican Republic two years later. In 1850, it became part of the United States following the Mexican–American War and the admission of California to the union.

The city is the seat of San Diego County and is the economic center of the region as well as the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. San Diego's main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, and manufacturing. The presence of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), with the affiliated UCSD Medical Center, has helped make the area a center of research in biotechnology.