In the first 10 months of 2023, nearly 9,000 people countywide made the sometimes agonizing decision to file for divorce. For September, the tally was 843, say court records. And on Sept. 29, 45 began their marital breakup.
Among those 45 was Katherine Stuart.
Sometimes known as Katherine Stuart Faulconer.
The wife of former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer filed a petition for dissolution of marriage 80 days after her husband announced his race for county supervisor.
Two years earlier, Republican Faulconer took third (with 8% of the vote) in a field of four dozen potential replacements for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who beat a recall with 62% of those voting.
In court papers, Oklahoma native Stuart doesn’t specify why she’s seeking a divorce after 24 years of marriage. She just checked the box for “irreconcilable differences.”
Her filing says they separated Sept. 27 — two days before she filed for divorce. They have two adult children — a son attending Clemson in South Carolina and a daughter at the University of Arizona.
Last week, Faulconer’s campaign issued a joint statement from Katherine and Kevin, both 56, after an inquiry by Times of San Diego.
“We have decided to go our separate ways after many years together and raising two amazing children,” they said. “We ask for privacy for ourselves and our family during this time.”
When Faulconer revealed his first run for mayor in September 2013, he said on Facebook: “This morning, with my wife Katherine and children beside me, I announced my candidacy for Mayor of San Diego. I would be honored to have your support.”
Although he hasn’t featured his wife and kids in campaign commercials, he still listed himself Tuesday as “Husband, father” on his X and Facebook accounts.
On Thanksgiving, he posted a smiling video of himself with holiday greetings: “It’s turkey time. I can’t wait. … I’m excited my kids are coming back into town.” No mention of Stuart.
But as a San Diego councilman and mayor, Faulconer often shared pride in his wife’s accomplishments and successes.
In April 2016, he tweeted a picture of himself, his wife and Oprah Winfrey: “I’ve seen Katherine happy but never ‘I’m getting to meet @Oprah!’ happy.”
In February 2019, he tweeted: “So proud of my wife Katherine being honored tonight with a Humanitarian Award from the @SDImperialCourt. Her charitable work and support of the LGBTQ community make her a true inspiration to all allies.”
Stuart’s community work included serving as the co-chair of the San Diego AIDS Memorial Task Force — aiming to create and underwrite a permanent AIDS memorial in San Diego. She also was a member of Susan G. Komen San Diego’s Advisory Council.
But she’s best known as founder and president of Restaurant Events Inc., which plans block parties and other events and has deals with dozens of Gaslamp Quarter restaurants that cater to convention-goers.
(A KPBS profile said Kevin met Katherine at a San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau mixer in 1997, a year after she launched her company. They married July 24, 1999.)
“Restaurant Events is estimated to generate $456,323 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 4 people at this single location,” said one reference.
A CalMatters story called Stuart “the primary breadwinner” in the family.
In divorce filings, Stuart asks Judge Leah Boucek not to award Faulconer spousal support payments. Stuart also wants Faulconer to pay attorney fees and costs.
But Stuart wrote that she “anticipates that the parties will reach an agreement setting forth a disposition of all the issues in the case, including but not limited to, the division of community and co-owned assets and obligations.”
Stuart (represented by Julie R. Barnes) and Faulconer (whose attorney is Kyle Siems) will meet at a family resolution conference Jan. 17, 2024, in downtown Superior Court, according to records.
Since terming out as mayor in 2020, said a spokesman, Faulconer has been a visiting professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu and has a private consulting business.
Pepperdine pointed to his faculty page, which calls the San Diego State University graduate a “Visiting Professor for Community Leadership & Government Innovation” at its School of Public Policy.
In candidate disclosures, Faulconer said he earned between $10,000 and $100,000 in 2021 from Collaborate for California run by Aimee Faucett, his former chief of staff.
On Tuesday, Faucett sought to clarify where Faulconer lives, since he’s listed as “no known address” in court papers.
“Kevin’s residence remains 3330 Quimby St.,” she said via email. “He has lived in Point Loma for over 20 years and will continue living in Point Loma,” part of District 3 now represented by Democratic incumbent Terra Lawson-Remer.
In November 2021, according to the Registrar of Voters Office, Faulconer’s registration form listed 3330 Quimby (in Loma Portal, actually) as his home address.
Antonia Hutzell, a spokeswoman for the county Registrar of Voters Office, said address information for candidates is verified prior to nomination documents being issued.
“The Registrar’s office verified [Faulconer’s] current address provided against the one in our voter registration system,” she later added. “That address will be on the documents if filed by Dec. 8” — the deadline for nomination papers and statements of economic interest.
Divorces among politicians are no more rare than in the general population, and didn’t hurt Donald Trump in 2016 or even Gavin Newsom, who in 2006 split with Kimberly Guilfoyle (expected to be Trump’s daughter-in-law).
Indeed, Faulconer’s own parents divorced.
Carl Luna, a longtime local politics observer, is professor emeritus in political science at San Diego Mesa College and visiting professor of political science at the University of San Diego.
We asked him: How might voters regard the Faulconer divorce news?
He replied: “Most will react ‘Faulconer? Divorced? Wasn’t he mayor once? What ever happened to him? Running for District 3? Why?'”
Luna doubts incumbent Lawson-Remer will capitalize on the news.
“Given her ingrained [Democratic] voter edge in the district, Supervisor Lawson-Remer can and should take the high road and express sympathy for the Faulconer family and then follow up with a broadside on Faulconer’s policies and record (especially his image as a former — and, probably, last, for the near future at least — Republican mayor desperately looking for relevance in a San Diego age of Democratic-hegemony.”
(On Tuesday, the Lawson-Remer campaign said it had no comment on the pending Faulconer-Stuart split.)
How should Faulconer deal with public awareness of this news?
“Unless the divorce degenerates into a Nathan Fletcher level of controversy,” Luna said, “Kevin Faulconer should focus on politics and policy and not personality. It’s a private matter: ‘Let’s move on’ should be his stance.”
In any case, Luna said, voters in the coastal district from Carlsbad to Coronado won’t vote for or against Faulconer because of the divorce.