Roberts Earns San Diego Runoff; 3 Others Clustered
County Supervisor Ron Roberts easily grabbed one of the finalists’ spots for the November runoff for mayor, but banker Peter Q. Davis remained in a tight race Wednesday with Superior Court Judge Dick Murphy and Councilwoman Barbara Warden.
With approximately 45,000 absentee ballots to be counted today, Davis led Murphy by 268 votes and Warden by 1,332 votes. All are Republicans hoping to succeed Mayor Susan Golding.
Roberts placed first, with 25.52% of the vote, followed by Davis (15.68%), Murphy (15.56%) and Warden (15.11%). Eight other candidates trailed.
On Wednesday, Roberts said one of his priorities if elected would be to renegotiate the contract between the city and the Chargers so that the professional football team remains in San Diego. Roberts has charged that the contract negotiated under Golding leaves the team free to leave after 2003.
With $1.25 million of his own money, Davis waged the most expensive mayor’s race campaign in city history. Murphy spent $175,000, Warden $450,000, and Roberts $700,000.
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