San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert announced her reelection bid Tuesday for the Council’s District 5 seat in 2024.
Von Wilpert has represented the northernmost district — which includes Black Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos, Scripps Ranch and Torrey Highlands — since 2020, when she defeated Joe Leventhal.
“When the voters elected me, I pledged to always put progress ahead of politics — and I’ve kept that promise,” said von Wilpert, a former deputy city attorney. “I’ve gotten big things done by listening to the people, focusing on the values that bring us together and always rejecting the extremist politics that only drive us further apart.”
She touted her success in spearheading the Eliminate Non-serialized Untraceable Firearm Ordinance to prohibit the possession, purchase, sale, receipt and transportation of the weapons, which are commonly known as “ghost guns.”
That ordinance was introduced after an April 22, 2021 shooting that killed a man outside a hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter, in which a ghost gun was used. The suspect, a convicted felon prohibited from owning firearms, also allegedly shot and wounded several other people nearby before being tackled by bystanders and arrested.
Von Wilpert also collaborated with Councilwoman Jen Campbell on the Stop Adolescent Addiction to Flavored E-Cigarettes Act to prohibit the sale of specified flavored tobacco and nicotine products in the city.
Additionally, she launched the Homelessness Conservatorship and Treatment Unit last year to “bring innovative action to the most tragic cases of mental health crisis on streets,” a campaign statement said.
She cited significant Democratic support, including endorsements from Mayor Todd Gloria, state Attorney General Rob Bonta, San Diego Reps. Mike Levin and Juan Vargas, multiple city council members, county supervisors and state senators and assemblymembers.
A graduate of Scripps Ranch High, von Wilpert represents the community where she grew up.
–City News Service