Challenger Martha Abraham continues to build momentum in her battle against incumbent Henry Foster to represent southeastern San Diego on the City Council — but Foster is also getting strong support in their runoff.
The Democrat-versus-Democrat battle has divided politicians at City Hall and the city’s labor unions, while also attracting new players to city elections: Abraham is getting money from a nurses union, and Foster is supported by domestic workers.
Business leaders, who stayed out of the race in the extremely close June primary, have started to line up behind Abraham. She’s been endorsed recently by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Partnership.
Abraham is also getting strong support from groups that generally oppose the city’s aggressive upzoning to allow dense housing development. But she has said that she is not part of groups like San Diego United Communities and isn’t aligned with them.
Mayor Todd Gloria is reportedly trying to rally opposition to Foster, who has been perhaps his most vocal critic on the City Council, while the most progressive members of the council are trying to bolster Foster’s campaign.
The Municipal Employees Association, which represents more than 40% of city workers, is sending mailers that support Foster and oppose Abraham. But the city’s firefighters union is sending mailers in support of Abraham.
A committee supporting Foster has received $29,000 from the United Domestic Workers of America, a group that doesn’t typically get involved in San Diego city electoral politics.
Abraham, a neonatal nurse, has benefited from $67,000 in support from the United Nurses Associations of California political action committee, a newcomer to city politics.
She said last week that if elected, she would be the first nurse ever to serve on the San Diego City Council.
A win for her would also be notable in another way: Only two incumbents have lost San Diego council races since 1992 — Lorie Zapf in District 2 and Myrtle Cole in District 4, both in 2018.
Abraham finished only 12 votes behind Foster in the June primary. The challenger who unseated Cole in 2018, Monica Montgomery Steppe, edged Cole by six votes in their primary.
One difference between 2018 and this year is that Cole maintained all her support from fellow City Hall politicians and labor unions in the runoff, but Foster hasn’t. The firefighters union supported him in the primary but has since switched to Abraham.
Foster has focused on his experience advantage over Abraham, who is a newcomer to politics.
He served as chief of staff to Montgomery Steppe before successfully running for her former seat in 2024 after she was elected county supervisor.
Since joining the council, he has written city ordinances that have become law, and as chief of staff to Montgomery Steppe, he helped write a voter-approved ballot measure that created a new watchdog panel for city police.
Abraham said last week that Foster’s experience hasn’t gotten District 4 the new businesses and grocery stores and other amenities that residents have been craving for years.
“We haven’t seen much of anything, and it’s been eight years,” she said. “Experience matters, but results also matter. We all want and need change and fresh ideas.”
Housing policy is an area where the candidates have some differences. Foster is generally aligned with the mayor and most of the council that San Diego needs new housing of all types as quickly as possible.
Abraham is more aligned with critics who say San Diego’s policies allow too much dense housing too quickly in areas they believe lacks adequate infrastructure to support so many new residents.
“If the infrastructure isn’t there to support the new housing, maybe we should reconsider the density,” she said last week.
During an election forum last month, Foster said that plans to update some neighborhood growth blueprints in District 4 could bring positive changes. Abraham expressed skepticism, suggesting the new blueprints would mostly bring massive upzoning without any complementary infrastructure.
Foster is likely to benefit from getting endorsed by the county Democratic Party in a district where registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans 41,112 to 16,249 at the start of the month.
Abraham said last week she thinks the party is just being loyal to an incumbent, not telling voters that Foster is more of a Democrat than she is.
“I registered as a Democrat when I turned 18, and I’ve always fought for what affects people’s lives — like no access to fresh food,” she said. “My values align with Democratic values.”
Abraham also said any support she is getting from the mayor is unsolicited. Earlier this month, Voice of San Diego reported that Gloria was urging city unions and other groups to support her instead of Foster.
“I’ve never had a conversation with the mayor, and he’s not endorsing me,” she said.
Abraham, 39, lives in Emerald Hills. Foster, 54, lives in Valencia Park.
District 4 includes Encanto, Skyline, Paradise Hills, Emerald Hills, Oak Park, Chollas View, Webster, Valencia Park and many nearby neighborhoods.