Scratch San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer from the list of possible successors to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who announced Thursday that she will not seek reelection next year.
Faulconer caught the attention of state and national GOP leaders when he was elected mayor, and his name was the first on a list of potential GOP candidates published by the Sacramento Bee — and compiled by a former U-T San Diego political reporter.
Faulconer, however, said he wasn’t interested.
“My focus is on leading San Diego and continuing to write our city’s comeback story,” he said.
Faulconer, 47, served two terms on the City Council before winning a special election in February to replace disgraced former Mayor Bob Filner.
Though often successful in San Diego area elections, Republicans have come up short in runs for statewide office over the past dozen or so years, winning only in exceptional cases, such as when ex-Gov. Gray Davis was recalled.
Boxer, a 74-year-old who first came to prominence in Marin County and now lives in the desert city of Rancho Mirage, said in an online video that she plans to focus on her PAC for Change to help make sure the Senate remains progressive. She wants to see a Democratic president elected in 2016 too.
Other potential GOP candidates on the SacBee list include former gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari, onetime Senate candidate Carly Fiorina and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Among the Democrats being talked about are Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Kamala Harris and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
—City News Service
