SAN DIEGO — On the first day of their runoff campaign, Councilwoman Donna Frye and former Police Chief Jerry Sanders promised a rancor-free race, which would be something unusual in a San Diego mayoral contest.
They also promised to wake up voters to the seriousness of the city's problems.
Frye, a Democrat, had hoped for an outright win Tuesday but captured 43% of the vote, short of the majority needed for a victory without a runoff.
On Wednesday, several analysts suggested that she was now the underdog, although Sanders, a Republican, came in a distant second with 27%.
A second Republican, healthcare business owner Steve Francis, had 24% of the vote, and many political watchers believe that most of Francis' votes will go to Sanders.
"Sanders has to be considered the favorite at this point," said pollster John Nienstedt, whose firm, Competitive Edge Research, is not affiliated with any candidate. "The police chief beats the surfer chick, the moderate Republican beats the liberal Democrat."
Nienstedt said polling showed that Frye, as the only Democrat in the race to succeed Dick Murphy, got 85% of the Democratic vote. Sanders and Francis split about the same percentage of the GOP vote, he said.
Nienstedt said Frye could be helped if more Democrats and labor union members vote in the November election, which is tied to a statewide ballot. Turnout on Tuesday was 44%.
At his first post-primary news conference, Sanders called for clean campaigning: "I think it's important we talk about issues -- that we not talk about each other."
But Sanders also criticized Frye for being "a member of the City Council that has mismanaged public money and lost the public trust."
Frye's campaign said Sanders' criticism shows that he has no plans to stick to his clean-campaign promise and that he lacks experience as an elected official.
"I am the only candidate who has been in the hot seat at City Hall, with all the pressures," Frye said. "I know what's wrong with the city and I know how to fix it."
The Nov. 8 runoff will be the fourth time in 17 months that San Diego voters have gone to the polls to elect a mayor. Murphy was reelected last November but resigned July 15 amid continued criticism of his leadership style and the city's $2-billion pension deficit.
