Jerry Sanders was chosen by voters to continue as the 34th Mayor of San Diego during the June 2008 primary election. Mayor Sanders enters his second term dedicated to continuing efforts to restore financial stability and accountability to the City. He will also be working to reform the City's pension system, overcome a backlog of deferred maintenance needs and to restore the City's ability to access the public finance marketplace.

During his first term in office, Mayor Sanders successfully reformed the City's financial management and reporting processes. He implemented a broad-ranging Business Process Reengineering reform effort and cut more than 700 positions from the City's payrolls. The Mayor was also successful in initiating work to repair San Diego's deteriorating water and sewer system infrastructure and has consistently increased the miles of City streets and roadways being repaired during each year in office.

Over the course of his 30-year career, Sanders has proven skillful at transforming organizations so that they become more effective and efficient. That has been especially true during his career with the City. Before becoming Mayor, Sanders served as San Diego's Chief of Police from 1993 until 1999, capping a 26-year career with the Police Department. He streamlined the department and helped make San Diego's neighborhood-oriented policing a national model, reducing crime by 49 percent. After leaving the Police Department, Sanders became the CEO of United Way, taking over an organization that had lost some of the trust of its donors and the agencies it supported. He slashed bureaucracy, restored the organization's effectiveness and increased fundraising by almost 20 percent. In 2002, Sanders was appointed to the American Red Cross board after, amid controversy, the CEO and board of directors had been removed. He made finances transparent, oversaw major staff changes and restored the organization's credibility and trust. Mayor Sanders is committed to accomplishing the same for the City of San Diego.