Bisexual San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert aims to return out female leadership from her city to the state Senate in 2026. She is seeking the open Senate District 40 seat, as Senator Brian Jones (R-San Diego) will be termed out of office next year.
Should she survive next June’s primary and be elected to the Legislature’s upper chamber next November, von Wilpert would be the third Democratic LGBTQ female leader from San Diego County to serve in it. The first, lesbian former senator Christine Kehoe, was elected in 2004 and termed out in 2012.
Lesbian former senator pro tempore Toni Atkins was the second. She termed out last year and is now running for governor in 2026.
Like von Wilpert, Atkins and Kehoe both had served on the San Diego City Council before being elected to the Statehouse, though they began their legislative tenures in the state Assembly. The former state legislators have both early endorsed von Wilpert’s Senate bid, as has the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus.
“One of the reasons I am running is I think we do need strong LGBTQ leadership in this part of San Diego,” von Wilpert, 42, told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent phone interview.
She pointed to the ongoing legal fight state officials have waged against the Cajon Valley Union School District after it removed mention of LGBTQ people from its sex education materials last year in violation of state law. It is part of the 40th Senate District, which includes the cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, and Santee, along with various northern San Diego neighborhoods and northeastern unincorporated parts of the county.
“I didn’t see the incumbent, who is a Republican, do anything about this,” said von Wilpert.
Two years ago, von Wilpert had gotten involved when two conservative patrons of the San Diego Public Library branch in Rancho Peñasquitos, where she grew up, checked out all of its LGBTQ books during Pride Month and refused to return them. As it is in her council district, von Wilpert put out a public call for help in replacing the books.
The successful effort led to a story that July in the New York Times in which von Wilpert came out publicly for the first time. But the article only identified her as being “a member of the LGBTQ community,” leading to some local media outlets incorrectly referring to her as a lesbian.
“I am openly bisexual and very proud of it,” von Wilpert told the B.A.R., adding that she has not felt discriminated against since coming out. “I know, unfortunately, the history and experience of many bi people. I have not felt that at all.”
While currently single, von Wilpert has dated both men and women. She recalled how her showing up to events with people of different sexes has caused some confusion for people due to the misreporting about her sexual orientation.
“I have felt wholeheartedly embraced by the LGBTQ community here in San Diego. But the funny thing is I find, for myself, I have to keep coming out over and over again,” said von Wilpert.
She first won her council seat in 2020, flipping it from being held by a Republican to a Democrat. Last year, in seeking a second term, von Wilpert was unopposed and won outright on the March primary ballot.
As of Tuesday, she was listed as the lone Democrat to have pulled papers for the state Senate race by state elections officials. A trio of GOP candidates have done so, including former state Assembly candidate Kristie Bruce-Lane and San Marcos City Councilmember Ed Musgrove.
Von Wilpert acknowledged that “heavy on my mind in this campaign is I am running in a very purple district and I know that.”
It remains to be seen what impact, if any, her being an out bisexual elected official will have on her Senate chances. Last November saw voters in parts of the Senate district elect gay Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) to his District 75 seat, making him the first out GOP elected member of the Statehouse.
DeMaio is expected to seek a second term next year, while gay Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) is also expected to run for reelection to his District 78 seat. Gay state Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) also plans to seek another term representing Senate District 18, with the three out legislators favored to win due to their incumbency.
Along with the trio of out male lawmakers from San Diego County, von Wilpert if elected also would serve alongside Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra), whose election last November to a four-year term made her the first bisexual woman to serve in the upper chamber. The election of Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-South Los Angeles) last year made her the first bi female serving in the lower chamber.
“I guess I just have a screw loose to want to keep running for office in this day and age,” quipped von Wilpert when asked why she wanted to serve in the Legislature.
A 2005 graduate of UC Berkeley, where she earned a degree in peace and conflict studies, von Wilpert entered the Peace Corps and cared for people living with HIV and AIDS in rural Botswana. She later received a law degree from Fordham University in New York in 2011.
“I will come to San Francisco,” she said when asked about having a fundraiser in the Bay Area.
Her career has spanned a federal appellate court clerkship and being an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board and the Economic Policy Institute to six years with the San Diego City Attorney’s office. She left after winning her council seat, which includes her hometown’s northern neighborhoods of Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Torrey Highlands, and Rancho Peñasquitos.
“It is an honor to serve the people that I love and raised me,” she said.
Part of her wanting to now represent them in Sacramento stems from seeing how laws enacted in the Statehouse oftentimes negatively impact cities despite based on good intentions, von Wilpert told the B.A.R. She wants to be able to raise those concerns in order to ensure legislation assists local officials in tackling myriad issues, from housing and homelessness to public safety and drug addiction.
“There are big ideas coming out of Sacramento that are good but are not hitting the ground in San Diego like they were intended to,” said von Wilpert, noting they also carry fiscal impacts for cities that need to be addressed. “It is not their budget being hit by this; it is mine. I want to make sure our local voices are heard and the great ideas they have are improved upon.”
LGBTQ candidate list continues to expand
Fifteen out of California's 120 state legislators hail from the LGBTQ community. The Statehouse is now at 12% out representation, an increase from the 2022 election that saw the Golden State's Legislature become the first to have 10% of its membership be queer. (There are no transgender state lawmakers.)
It could continue to see its LGBTQ ranks increase come December next year when the winners of the 2026 contests are sworn into office. The list of LGBTQ legislative candidates across the state continues to grow ahead of next March’s filing deadline.
The B.A.R. is aware of at least 17 out candidates who have pulled papers to seek either an Assembly or Senate seat in 2026. Ten are incumbents expected to seek reelection, including the current lone bi male legislator, Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose).
Looking to join him is bisexual Corte Madera Town Councilmember Eli Beckman, who is seeking the open Assembly District 12 seat straddling Marin and Sonoma counties in 2026. As the Political Notebook column reported in early April, he would be the first out state legislator from the North Bay.
Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who is queer and bisexual, is again seeking the 58th Assembly District seat. She lost by less than 600 votes in 2024 to Assemblymember Leticia Castillo (R-Corona), who will be seeking a second two-year term.
The seat was formerly held by Cervantes’ lesbian older sister, Sabrina, elected last November to the state Senate's District 31 seat. Her colleague, lesbian Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley), will be seeking reelection to her Senate District 18 seat in 2026.
The race for the open Senate District 24 seat in Los Angeles County has already drawn two out Democratic candidates. Gay West Hollywood City Councilman John Erickson and Ellen Evans, a lesbian who co-founded the Doheny/Sunset Plaza Neighborhood Association, are among the more than half dozen running to succeed termed out Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica).
Having begun exploring a possible Senate bid last year, von Wilpert officially announced her campaign March 17. She just had her campaign kickoff event in late April.
Running in a purple district with close to 1 million people, von Wilpert told the B.A.R. it is necessary for her to start early and begin talking to voters. She does have the advantage of her City Council constituents comprising the biggest voting bloc in the Senate district.
And should she remain the sole bold-faced Democratic candidate in the race, von Wilpert could also benefit from multiple GOP candidates splitting the vote. Under the state’s open primary system, the top two vote-getters regardless of party affiliation move on to the general election.
“It is going to take a lot of ground work and a lot of time to flip it,” noted von Wilpert. “My city council bloc is the biggest voting bloc in the district, so I have a big leg up in the race. It is still going to be a very competitive race, though, since a lot of folks will be running for the open seat. I have a lot of work to do to get my message out.”
To learn more about von Wilpert’s candidacy, visit her campaign website at marnivonwilpert.com.
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column reported on queer Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran’s reelection kickoff in early May.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko and on Bluesky @ https://bsky.app/profile/politicalnotes.bsky.social.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected].
San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert is seeking a state Senate seat next year. Photo: Courtesy the candidate
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