Following months of heated debate, former Police Chief Jerry Sanders has defeated Councilmember Donna Frye to become San Diego’s 34th mayor.

Though Frye managed to narrow the gap on Sanders’ 20 percent lead early Tuesday night, in the end Sanders walked away with nearly 54 percent of the vote to Frye’s 46 percent. During the past two weeks, the candidates sparred over each other’s plans to solve the city’s estimated $1.4 billion pension liability. Sanders criticized Frye’s proposal to put a half-cent sales tax before the voters as unrealistic, while Frye said Sanders’ plan to issue pension obligation bonds would push the city further into debt.

During her concession speech at Golden Hall Tuesday night, Frye professed an affinity for Sanders, vowing to work in concert with him to solve the city’s fiscal problems.

“What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives,” Frye told her supporters, quoting an essay by political scientist Howard Zinn. “If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.”

Following an introduction by openly lesbian San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, Sanders declared victory.

“Donna Frye and I engaged in a thorough debate about the finance of our city and municipal reforms,” Sanders said. “It’s been a vigorous and healthy debate.”

Though both candidates received support from within the GLBT community, Frye’s support of same-sex marriage and rejection of the Boy Scouts’ preferential land lease in Balboa Park set the contenders apart on social issues important to the community.

Speaking with the Gay & Lesbian Times following the election, Dumanis said her longtime friendship and working relationship with Sanders factored into her decision to endorse his candidacy. Sanders helped Dumanis established a municipal drug court while she served as a superior court judge. He also helped her with her transition team when she was elected district attorney, volunteering to serve on an ethics panel that helped to set merit-based guidelines for promotions, she said.

“One of the reasons why I picked him was because he was so well-respected in the community,” Dumanis said. “Jerry is a consensus builder. He’s always embraced diversity. He likes to get everybody to the table to participate. He sincerely cares about San Diego and the people and the quality of life for those who live here.”

Dumanis also said she believes Sanders will work to improve communication and collaborative efforts between city and county government.

Stephen Whitburn, president of the San Diego Democratic Club, said he believes Sanders will be amenable to working with the GLBT community, and dealing with its issues.

“Jerry Sanders has been characterized as someone who will work well with the GLBT community, and I’m sure that Donna Frye and Toni Atkins and our other allies on the City Council will work to encourage him to do that,” Whitburn said.

Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, was somewhat less optimistic about the city’s prospects with Sanders at the wheel.

“I think we’re going to find that he wasn’t truthful – that there’s no way that the city can move forward and deal with our debt issues without putting some sort of tax measure up to the voters,” Durfee said. “His only option is going to be to send the city further into debt and have future generations pay for that debt.”

Though City Attorney Mike Aguirre did not lend his support to either candidate, he endorsed Frye’s financial recovery model.

Speaking with the GLT at Golden Hall Tuesday night, Aguirre said he would respect the voters’ wishes and work with Sanders.

“You can’t say that you’re a people’s champion and ignore what the people say,” Aguirre said. “If they vote Jerry Sanders in as their representative, they’ll have my support and he’ll have my cooperation.”

Frye will face a primary election in June to retain her seat on the City Council, with a potential runoff election in November. She finished with 43 percent of the vote in July’s primary election, while Sanders received 27 percent and Republican Steve Francis garnered 23 percent. After losing in the primary, Francis lent his support to Sanders.

Both candidates also were critical of each other’s financial contributors, Frye attacking Sanders for his contributions from developers and Sanders assailing Frye for labor support.

“Labor’s gotten a bad rap lately and I don’t think that helped Donna Frye,” Durfee said. “A lot of the pension crisis is being blamed on the pressure that labor put on the pension board.”

All eight propositions on the Nov. 8 ballot were defeated by voters, including proposals to extend the time it takes for a teacher to receive tenure and to give retired judges the power to redraw legislative and congressional districts – part of a package of four initiatives supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Whitburn said he sees the defeat of the governor’s initiatives, Propositions 74-77, as a positive sign for the GLBT Californians.

“California said no to Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that’s important for the GLBT community,” Whitburn said. “He attacked working people, he vetoed marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples, and he has become the partisan Republican that he promised not to be. The state said no and I think that strengthens the hand of the GLBT community.”

Though Schwarzenegger’s propositions were defeated statewide, in San Diego County each received more than 50 percent of the vote. Also receiving more than 50 percent of voters’ support in the county was Proposition 73. The measure would have required a doctor to notify a girl’s parents within 48 hours of performing an abortion. Opponents claimed the measure’s true intent was to chip away at a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.

Though the majority of voters in the city of San Diego are Democrats, the county still votes Republican, Durfee noted.

“San Diego is still a county that has more Republicans than Democrats,” he said. “Keep in mind that Schwarzenegger was here no fewer than five times in the last two weeks of the campaign. If he had not done well in San Diego it would be incredible, actually, because of the amount of emphasis he put in San Diego County.”

Alhough San Diego has more registered Democrats, said Whitburn, more Republicans typically show up at the polls.

“It hurts us badly in San Diego and nationwide,” Whitburn said. “If we could find a way to make sure that every eligible adult voted, we’d elect a lot more GLBT and GLBT-friendly Democrats.”

The top contenders vying to fill council vacancies left by former Councilmembers Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza – both scheduled to be sentenced this week on bribery, extortion and wire fraud convictions – will advance to a Jan. 10 election. In District 2, Lorena Gonzalez, endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Times and the San Diego Democratic Club, moves on to face Republican Kevin Faulconer. In District 8, top vote recipients Ben Hueso and Luis Acle will face off. GLBT favored candidate Remi Burmudez received only slightly more than 15 percent of the vote in the largely conservative, Latino district.