Myrtle Cole is an American politician who served as a member 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 2013 to 2018, representing District 4. A member of the Democratic Party, Cole was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman elected to the city council and served as council president from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, Cole lost a bid for re-election, becoming one of the first incumbent council members to lose re-election since 1992.

San Diego City Council

Myrtle Cole was first elected to office in the 2013 special election to fill the District 4 seat of the city council vacated by Tony Young,.. District 4 includes the neighborhoods of Alta Vista, Broadway Heights,

Chollas View Chollas View is an urban community in the southeastern section of San Diego, California. It is bordered by Webster and California State Route 94 on the north, Mount Hope and Interstate 805 on the west, Emerald Hills and Euclid Avenue on t ...

, Emerald Hills,

Encanto ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American animated Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, co-directed by Charise Castro Smith, and ...

, Greater Skyline Hills, Jamacha,

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

, Lomita Village, North Bay Terrace, Oak Park, O'Farrell, Paradise Hills, Redwood Village, Rolando Park, South Bay Terrace, Valencia Park, and Webster. She won re-election to a four-year term in the June 2014 primary election, drawing 57% of the primary votes. Her second term began in December 2014. In December 2016, Cole ran against fellow Democrat David Alvarez for the position of council president. The council president is responsible for setting the council's agenda and making committee assignments and chairmanships. Cole was chosen by her colleagues on a 6–3 vote, securing the votes of all four Republicans on the City Council as well as Democrat Barbara Bry. Although both Cole and Alvarez were Democrats, Cole was seen as the more moderate of the two. In the November 2018 election, Cole lost her reelection bid to civil rights attorney and former staffer Monica Montgomery. This marked the first time that an incumbent had failed to be reelected to the City Council since 1992.

Controversy and other information

Myrtle Cole received some criticism during her time on the San Diego City Council. For example, in 2016, she said, during a council meeting discussion of racial profiling by police, "There is more black on black shootings in our nation than ever before...That's why when someone says, 'Do you think there is racial profiling?' Yeah, because blacks are shooting blacks." Critics argue that this is what resulted in decreased support in her role in 2018. In 2018, she was asked to speak at the National University Southern California Commencement as a National University Alumna. In addition to being the keynote speaker, she also received an honorary doctorate.

Electoral history

References

Living people San Diego City Council members California Democrats Women city councillors in California Year of birth missing (living people) African-American city council members in California 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American women politicians 21st-century American women politicians {{California-politician-stub