After suspending campaign, Barrios says he will serve if elected to San Diego council

When Kelvin Barrios announced Monday he was suspending his campaign for the San Diego City Council District 9 seat, he resisted stating categorically that he is out of the race and would not serve if elected.

Now he has reversed course and says his political future is in voters’ hands, so if they elect him, he may serve.

“At this time, I don’t know what the outcome of this election will be,” Barrios told The San Diego Union-Tribune late Thursday. “I know my district is capable of making this decision, and I will respect the will of the voters.”

He made similar comments to other news media this week.

“Yes, I would have to think what to do at that moment, because that would mean the voices of our district still wanted that I be their voice in the city,” he told Univision San Diego.

The issue is important because even though Barrios announced publicly he was suspending his campaign, his name will still appear on the ballot because, with the election only a month away, it is too late to remove it.

County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu said Barrios would be certified as the winner if he collected more votes than rival Sean Elo-Rivera. It would be up to Barrios to not accept the job, or for others to begin a recall campaign to remove him from office, Vu said.

When Barrios made his announcement, he declined to commit to not accepting the seat if he receives the most votes.

“I can’t say I have something to say on that; there is just a lot going on right now,” he said in a text message Monday afternoon.

Barrios said Thursday that the ordeal has taken a personal toll on him.

“The allegations against me have impacted me and my family and I am not prepared to further discuss this,” he wrote.

The Barrios campaign website remains active and makes no mention of the suspension he announced early this week. It appears to still be accepting political contributions, although campaign contribution reports for the period from Sept. 20 to Oct. 17 are not due until Oct. 22.

However, three separate advertisements Barrios had been running on Facebook are now inactive, and two of those were suspended Sept. 29.

Barrios won the most votes in the March primary election but suspended his campaign Sept. 28 after a series of high-profile Democratic Party officeholders withdrew their endorsements and political support for the campaign.

Those actions came after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Barrios was the subject of a criminal investigation for his handling of contributions to the San Diego County Young Democrats political committee between 2015 and 2017, when he volunteered as the group’s treasurer.

Bank records provided to investigators show at least 29 questionable expenses, including dozens of transfers of committee funds directly into a personal account.

Barrios recently had to amend his state-required disclosures twice, after the Union-Tribune and the Voice of San Diego reported discrepancies between what Barrios reported and what other public records indicated.

The Aug. 31 amendment showed that Barrios spent one week early last year working for both Council President Georgette Gómez and for his new employer, the Laborers International Union of North America Local No. 89, at the same time.

“Overlap due to prior employer’s (City of San Diego) request to train my replacement and conduct exit interviews,” Barrios explained in a footnote to his amended filing. “No conflicts arose during this brief period.”

Barrios also had to amend his income disclosure because he initially failed to report that LIUNA Local 89 paid Barrios $86,810 in 2019 for work as a director of community outreach.

Late last year, the Fair Political Practices Commission fined Barrios more than $4,000 for mishandling almost $8,000 in donations to two other political committees. The council candidate admitted to the allegations and called them a mistake.

Last month, Gómez and other elected officials began to withdraw their endorsements. On Monday, labor union officials also distanced themselves from Barrios.

“The leadership of LIUNA Local 89 has concluded that it is in the best interest of the labor movement to withdraw our efforts for Kelvin Barrios,” Secretary-Treasurer Valentine Macedo said in a letter to his members.

Elo-Rivera said in a statement Thursday that Barrios continues to mislead the community by sending mixed signals about his political intentions.

“Barrios’ statements, the active status of his website and his continued political maneuvering indicate that the ‘suspension’ of his campaign was just an attempt to avoid the media’s scrutiny and the democratic process while leaving open the possibility of serving in a position of public trust,” he said. “Out of respect for our community and democracy, it is time for Barrios to officially end his campaign.”

Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party, declined to comment on Barrios or his status in the council campaign.

The District 9 council seat represents some of the most diverse communities in San Diego, including City Heights, the College Area, Kensington, Talmadge and Mountain View. District residents are 46 percent Latino, 25 percent White, 13 percent Asian, 12 percent Black and a handful of other ethnicities, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.

San Diego County’s Registrar of Voters will send all 1.9 million registered voters mail ballots starting Monday, and military and overseas voters have begun casting ballots. People also can vote in-person at one of 235 “super poll” locations beginning Oct. 31.