Georgette Gómez (born November 3, 1975) is an American politician and community activist who served as president of the

San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the City of San Diego. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council is part of a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts as th ...

from 2018 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as a member of the city council from 2016 to 2020, representing District 9. Gómez was an unsuccessful candidate for

California's 53rd congressional district California's 53rd congressional district was a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. It was last represented by Sara Jacobs, who succeeded Susan Davis (politician), Susan Davis following the 2020 United States House of Repres ...

in the 2020 elections and for

California's 80th State Assembly district California's 80th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by of after winning a special election to succeed Lorena Gonzalez, who resigned on January 5, 2022 to become leader of th ...

in the 2022 special election following the resignation of Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez.

Early life and education

Gómez was born in San Diego to working-class immigrants. She was raised in Barrio Logan. Gómez attended Serra High School and later graduated from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

, where she studied environmental and natural resource geography.

Career

San Diego City Council

Gómez was a candidate for the ninth district of the

in the 2016 San Diego City Council election after incumbent Marti Emerald opted not to seek reelection. The ninth district includes the

neighborhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

of Alvarado Estates, City Heights, College Area, College View Estates, El Cerrito,

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, Mountain View, Mt. Hope,

Rolando Rolando may refer to: Entertainment *'' Rolando'', a 2008 puzzle-adventure video game *'' Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid'', a 2009 puzzle-adventure video game *"Rolando", a song by Roland Kirk from the album ''Domino'' People *Rolando (gi ...

, Southcrest, and Talmadge. In the June 2016 primary, Gómez came in second to Ricardo Flores, Emerald's chief of staff. Since no candidate received a majority of the votes in the primary, a runoff election was held in November 2016 between Flores and Gómez. Gómez was then elected to the City Council in November with a majority of the votes. On December 10, 2018, the city council voted unanimously to appoint Gómez to be the council president. In this role, she automatically gained a seat on the board of directors of the

San Diego Association of Governments The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for San Diego County, California. It is an association of local county governments, with policy makers consisting of mayors, councilmembers, and Coun ...

. She also served as the chairwoman of the

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) is a public transit service provider for San Diego County, California. The agency operates a transit system that includes the San Diego MTS bus system, San Diego Trolley, and Rapid (San Diego), Rap ...

from January 2018 to October 2019. Under Gómez, the city moved to create a community choice energy agency called San Diego Community Power (as an alternative to SDG&E), a strategy which makes up half of the emissions reductions in the San Diego Climate Action Plan.

2020 congressional election

In September 2019, Gómez announced her candidacy in the 2020 elections to represent

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Gómez and

Sara Jacobs Sara Josephine Jacobs (born February 1, 1989) is an American politician and heiress who has been the U.S. representative for since 2023, previously representing the 53rd congressional district from 2021 to 2023. Her district includes central an ...

advanced to the November 2020 runoff election. In the runoff, Gomez campaigned as both a progressive and a strong supporter of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

; she was endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, which caused her to lose support from the Justice Democrats. Jacobs beat Gomez 59.5%-40.5% in the November 2020 general election. In June 2020, Gómez expressed support for a petition calling for a

name change Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name. The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have looser procedures for a name chan ...

of the

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

Federal Post Office in her district due to his history of owning

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

and his part in the forced displacement of Native Americans during the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

. On October 8, 2020, the

San Diego Union Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

reported that Gómez failed to pay taxes on her city council salary in 2017. Gómez admitted the mistake and amended her filing.

2022 California's 80th Assembly district election

Gómez announced her candidacy to represent California's 80th Assembly District on January 3, 2022; the same day Lorena Gonzalez announced her resignation. In the special election on April 5, 2022, no candidate received a majority of the votes. Gómez and fellow Democrat David Alvarez advanced to a runoff election to be held June 7, 2022. In September 2022, she withdrew from the race.

Election results

Personal life

Gómez resides in the Azalea Park neighborhood within City Heights.

References

External links

Council President Georgette Gómez
government website
Georgette Gómez for Congress
campaign website * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gómez, Georgette 1975 births California Democrats Hispanic and Latino American politicians American lesbian politicians LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people American LGBTQ city council members LGBTQ people from California Living people San Diego City Council members Women city councillors in California San Diego State University alumni Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections 21st-century American women politicians