Mayor Jerry Sanders won a majority of the vote in five of the city’s eight council districts during his 53 to 46 percent triumph over Councilmember Donna Frye in the Nov. 8 election, according to data recently released from the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters.

Frye, a vocal supporter of the GLBT community, was able to win a majority of the vote in City Council District 3, capturing 64 percent of the vote compared to Sanders’ 35 percent. The district, which has a high GLBT concentration, includes Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park, Kensington, Normal Heights, South Park and Talmadge.

Frye also won Council District 4 with 52 percent of the vote and Council District 8, earning 54 percent.

Stephen Whitburn, president of the San Diego Democratic Club, said Frye captured every precinct in Hillcrest and North Park, winning each of them with at least 64 percent of the vote and as much as 80 percent of the vote in some areas.

“I was delighted to see that the GLBT community overwhelmingly voted for Donna Frye. I think that was expected,” Whitburn said. “… The GLBT community is overwhelmingly Democratic and will vote for a Democrat who supports marriage equality over a Republican who doesn’t,” he added, referring to Sanders.

Sanders has gone on record in support of civil unions for same-sex couples and said at a pre-election candidate forum that he does not believe in same-sex marriage for religious reasons.

Despite Sanders’ opposition to same-sex marriage, GLBT Vote San Diego endorsed Sanders for mayor, as did the San Diego chapter of Log Cabin Republicans.

Ralph Denney, a Log Cabin Republican board member, said he was not surprised with Council District 3’s results and believes more GLBT Republicans are emerging.

“An increasing number of us are finally seeing that it’s OK to be social moderates or liberals and fiscal conservatives, which generally means Republican,” Denney said. “That Frye only captured 64 percent in arguably the most liberal district in the city shows that change is happening.”

Whitburn said he welcomes the difference of opinion within the community. “There are certainly groups like GLBT Vote and the Log Cabin Republicans who have their own perspectives on candidates, and I think that the more politically active groups that we have in the GLBT community the better,” he said. “I think that the more political discussion and the more perspective that we share in our community, the more informed a decision the GLBT community can make.”

Sanders significantly dominated the vote in three of the five council districts he won. In Council District 1 he earned 58 percent, in Council District 5 he captured 66 percent and in Council District 7 he garnered 59 percent of the vote. These districts include affluent communities such as Rancho Bernardo, Del Mar Heights, La Jolla, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sorrento Valley, Tierrasanta and Scripps Ranch.

The only council district where Sanders won a relatively close contest was in Council District 2, where he received 51 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Frye.

Adrian Kwiatkowski, a lobbyist with The Monger Company, said he was not surprised Sanders dominated the vote within Council Districts 1, 5 and 7, because voters within those districts are generally more conservative, and have a high voter turnout.

“They did not align themselves with her [Frye’s] political view, and they just outvoted the areas where she did win in sheer numbers,” he said.

Although Frye captured Council Districts 4 and 8, only 45 percent in each district voted. Fifty-eight percent of registered voters showed up to the polls in Council District 1, 59 percent in Council District 5 and 57 percent in Council District 7.

“The reality is, when it comes to special elections, conservative Republicans are more reliable voters than Democrats,” Kwiatkowski said. “That’s why you see the percentage in turnout higher in the northern and eastern part of the city in the suburban areas than you do in the central core or south part where you have a Democratic stronghold.”

Denney agreed that higher voter turnout among Republicans is common, but said it will not always be the case in other elections. “It is truly unfortunate that those who actually have the most to lose in an election are many times the ones who feel most disenfranchised by the election process and fail to vote,” he said. “But I caution all politicians [that] the less affluent, historically, will reach a point of – for lack of a better term – anger and frustration. And when that happens, they go to the polls almost en masse. And when they do, all bets are off.”

Jesse Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said it was difficult for Frye to do well in all council districts because she did not have enough financial support. He said that due to a lack of resources, the Democratic Party was only able to spend $6,000 to support Frye in the general election campaign, but had contributed significantly more during her primary campaign.

“The main thing was she was outspent by a significant amount of money and it made it tough for her to get her message out compared to the amount of money her opponent had so he was able to go up on TV,” Durfee said. “The Republican Party spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on him [Sanders], which also enabled him to get his message out better. Frye was not being backed by the downtown business interests, [and] didn’t have the resources to get her message out as effectively.”

Frye did not win Council District 6, which she represents, receiving 47 percent of the vote compared to 52 percent for Sanders. The district includes the communities of Clairemont, Bay Park, Kearney Mesa, Mission Valley and Linda Vista, among others.

Kwiatkowski said losing Council District 6 may have negative repercussions for Frye. “I think that there will be people who will view the election result and try to challenge her next year when she runs for re-election. I still give her a very high chance of getting re-elected, but I think losing her district is not a good thing.”

Durfee disagreed: “I think this was a vote for mayor. It wasn’t a vote for city council. I don’t think she will have any difficulty being re-elected to the City Council in June.”

Frye told the Gay & Lesbian Times that she thanks the GLBT community for their support in the mayoral race and said she does not believe the results from the mayoral race in Council District 6 reflect on her prospects for District 6 re-election. She had no other comments regarding the election results.