Republican Kevin Faulconer will be sworn in as the next mayor of San Diego on March 3. He defeated young Latino Democrat, David Alvarez, by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent.

His political career is a bit of déjà vu.

He first ran for city council in 2002 but narrowly lost to former deputy mayor and Democrat Michael Zucchet. In 2005, Zucchet took over as acting mayor, then resigned three days later due to allegations of involvement in an extortion scandal involving San Diego’s “no touch” policy at strip clubs.

Amid 17 candidates, Faulconer won entry into a runoff election that allowed him to win a special election for Zucchet’s city council seat in January 2006.

Fast forward to 2013. He announces his bid for mayor after Democrat Bob Filner vacated the office due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Another special election was organized and Faulconer again found his way through a host of candidates into the top two vote getters of the Feb. 11 runoff election.

Throughout his campaign, he promoted a unifying, bipartisan approach to governing , speaking of getting the city “back on track.”

“…That every San Diegan has the chance to succeed, that every San Diegan has a seat at the table. This is what this campaign has been since the very, very beginning,” Faulconer promised to the election-night crowd at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Faulconer, 47, holds a political science degree from San Diego State University and lives in Point Loma – also the home base for his wife Katherine’s restaurant event planning business.

They have two kids, Jack and Lauren.

Born in San Jose, Faulconer went into public relations after graduating SDSU, eventually serving as an executive for the international firm, Porter Novelli.

Editor’s Note: When this story was first published on sdcitytimes.com on February 22, 2014 the infographic appeared without a source. The information was obtained from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters and a caption has been added to the graphic to reflect this.