In an election year of close calls, the race to fill the vacant San Diego City Council District 4 seat was still undecided the day after the Nov. 16 election.

As of press time, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, former District 4 Councilmember George Stevens garnered 34.8 percent of the vote, with Young trailing substantially behind at 22.9 percent and Crenshaw just behind him at 21.3 percent. Stevens, a Baptist minister, fell considerably short of the 50 percent he needed to win the eight-candidate race outright, and his success in capturing the majority of the vote in the Jan. 4 runoff is up in the air, as is Young’s current tenuous lead over Crenshaw: With roughly 1,400 absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted, Young’s less than 200-vote lead could change in a flash.

Young, chief of staff to Councilmember Charles Lewis, who died suddenly in August, and Crenshaw, a community development director who ran for the District 4 seat in 2002 against Lewis and lost by a narrow margin, were considered the frontrunners in the race until Stevens joined in after an Oct. 6 court hearing ruled term-limits laws would not apply to Stevens in this race because he had not held the seat for two years while Lewis served.

GLBT community endorsements were primarily split between Young and Crenshaw, with Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins endorsing Young and the San Diego Democratic Club and the Gay & Lesbian Times backing Crenshaw. Young and Crenshaw both favor GLBT-friendly legislation while supporting civil unions. Stevens’ prior 11 year tenure on city council was peppered with anti-gay rhetoric and consistent refusals to sign proclamations for San Diego LGBT Pride. Lewis, who had been Stevens’ chief of staff, proved to be generally supportive of the GLBT community, siding with the majority of the council to terminate the city’s lease with the Boy Scouts in Balboa Park, supporting needle-exchange programs and signing proclamations in support of Pride celebrations.

“When Charles came into office in 2002 he actively sought out our community in an effort to work with us on our issues, and in many instances he was there for us, most notably on the clean syringe exchange program and the identification program for medicinal marijuana patients,” Atkins said in her endorsement of Young. “Based on my conversations with Anthony, I believe he’ll continue this new level of cooperation and understanding between the Fourth District and the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities.”

“Charles and I believe that we should treat all people with respect and dignity, that’s including the gay and lesbian community; and that’s what our faith tells us,” Young told the Gay & Lesbian Times earlier in the race. “Talk to some folks in the community. They know how accessible I have been as chief of staff, and I will continue to do those same types of things as council member.”

“I think as an African-American male, equal rights, equal opportunity, civil rights are vitally important to me,” said Crenshaw, who is gay. “I think even on some of those issues there’s distinction between me and my opponents in this race. We have candidates who don’t support separation of church and state…. I think the community knows my work; I’ve worked in the community, I’ve been treasurer of the [San Diego] Democratic Club, I’ve been active in the community for a number of years; I will be a strong GLBT advocate.”

There were five other candidates in the race. Marissa Acierto, a businesswoman, gained 9.1 percent of the vote; Bruce Williams, community affairs director for Mayor Dick Murphy, gained 6.7 percent; Jim Galley, a water treatment plant operator, gained 1.9 percent; Gloria Tyler-Mallery, a real estate broker, also gained 1.9 percent; and Patrick DeShields, a publisher and editor, gained 1.5 percent.

A projected 9,000-voter turnout in the Nov. 16 election proved to be accurate, representing less than 20 percent of the district. Attention paid to the Nov. 2 presidential elections is cited as one reason for the low turnout in the district, with voters suffering from post-election political burnout. Focus on the as-yet-undecided mayoral race between incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy and Councilmember Donna Frye, a write-in candidate, is also to blame.