Myrtle Cole is an American politician in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. She was 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, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts ...

representing City Council District 4 from 2013 until 2018. Cole served as president of the City Council from 2017 until 2018. In 2018 Cole lost a bid for reelection, becoming one of the first incumbent council members to lose a reelection campaign since 1992. She was the first African American woman elected to the city council. She is a Democrat, although city council positions are officially nonpartisan per

state law.

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 AltaVista was a Web search engine established in 1995. It became one of the most-used early search engines, but lost ground to Google and was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, which retained the brand, but based all AltaVista searches on its own sear ...

Broadway Heights Broadway Heights is a small community in the southeastern section of the city of San Diego. It is bordered on the north, east, and west by Lemon Grove, and on the south by Encanto and Mallard Street. The predominantly African-American community ...

Chollas View Chollas View is an urban community in the southeastern section of the city of San Diego. 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 the ea ...

Emerald Hills Emerald Hills is a neighborhood in the southeastern section of the city of San Diego, California, United States. It is bordered by Oak Park and California State Route 94 on the north, Chollas View and Euclid Avenue on the west, Encanto and Skyl ...

Encanto ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared Bush ...

, 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 seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

, Lomita Village, North Bay Terrace, Oak Park, O'Farrell, Paradise Hills, Redwood Village, Rolando Park, South Bay Terrace,

Valencia Park Valencia Park is an urban community in the southeastern section of the city of San Diego. It is bordered by Emerald Hills and Market Street on the north, Lincoln Park and Euclid Avenue on the west, Encanto on the east, and Alta Vista and Nationa ...

, 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 Barbara Bry (born April 9, 1949) is an American businesswoman and politician in San Diego, California. She served as a member of the San Diego City Council representing City Council District 1 from 2016 to 2020 and was a candidate for mayor of S ...

. 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 Monica Montgomery Steppe (born 1978) is an American politician in San Diego, California. She currently serves as a member of the San Diego City Council representing City Council District 4. She is a Democrat, although city council positions are of ...

. 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 African-American women in politics 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 {{California-politician-stub