California Today: A Conversation With Todd Gloria, San Diego’s Mayor-Elect (nytimes.com)

San Diego is California’s second biggest city. Its population of roughly 1.4 million also makes it the nation’s eighth biggest city, just after San Antonio and before Dallas.

It often feels like a smaller town, though — especially in its local politics. As the Voice of San Diego reported recently, its mayor-elect, Todd Gloria, currently a state assemblyman, aims to change that.

Mr. Gloria will be the city’s first mayor of color and first openly gay mayor.

He may also be the most powerful mayor the city has ever had, The Los Angeles Times reported, as a Democrat leading a Democratic-majority council in the city’s “strong mayor” system.

This week, I spoke with Mr. Gloria about his win and his priorities. Here’s our conversation, lightly edited and condensed:

Tell me about how you’re feeling and what it means to have all these historic distinctions, especially in the context of Kamala Harris’s win.

As a native San Diegan, this feels particularly sweet because growing up, I didn’t see a lot of people like me in government and that is now changing. And I think about what this accomplishment may mean for children of color, young L.G.B.T.Q. youth, who question if there’s a place for them in the city. And I hope that my election tells them that there is, if they’re willing to work hard.