San Diego City Mayor Todd Gloria and police officer Larry Turner were the top two vote-getters in early returns Tuesday, while public interest attorney Geneviéve Jones-Wright was a distant third.

San Diego voters were choosing between five candidates for San Diego mayor in the primary election that will determine who is on the ballot in the Nov. 5 general election.

Gloria is seeking a second term. The two challengers mounting serious campaigns are Turner and Jones-Wright. Landlord Dan Smiechowski and special education assistant Jane Glasson have had a limited campaign presence.

Why it matters

Gloria has touted his reforms to encourage more home construction, his establishment of safe campsites on the fringes of Balboa Park and his ban on public encampments as evidence that he’s tackling the city’s most pressing problems. He holds a significant advantage in terms of fundraising, high-profile endorsements and name recognition.

Both Turner and Jones-Wright have criticized Gloria’s housing and homelessness policies. Jones-Wright says the camping ban has simply moved homeless individuals out of the public eye without actually solving their homelessness. She argues stricter regulations of short-term home rentals would bring more housing onto the market.

Closer look

Jones-Wright is seeking to position herself as a more progressive alternative to Gloria and recently won the endorsement of San Diego County Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe — her highest-profile endorsement by far.

Turner supports the concept of concentrating homeless individuals in a large camp far removed from the city’s neighborhoods, though neither the location nor funding sources have been identified.

A lawsuit filed by Gloria’s supporters claims that Turner failed to establish residency in the city of San Diego by the legal deadline, making him ineligible to run. A judge declined to rule on the matter before the Mar. 5 primary.

Turner has dismissed the claims as a political hit job. He says he lived on a yacht at Shelter Island from early 2022 to mid-2023 while his wife and kids lived in Alpine due to COVID concerns. He says he then lived in an East Village condominium from July to December 2023, when the deadline to establish residency occurred. The plaintiffs in the case say the address is owned by Turner’s campaign manager.