Marina City Council is projected to become more diverse after their first district-based election.

It was only last year that the threat of a lawsuit pushed the city of Marina to switch from at-large elections to district elections. Ironically, the Voting Rights Act claim was that at-large elections create a lack of diversity, and diversity may be the very thing Marina is the most proud of.

But the Marina City Council’s history doesn’t lie. It has been predominantly white, despite Marina being the eighth-most diverse city in California.

The council voted 3-2 to finalize a district map on Dec. 3, 2019. Opposition to that map became a central piece of the campaign platforms for two new councilmembers-elect who are poised for victory based on early results: Kathy Biala in District 2 and Cristina Medina Dirksen in District 3.

Another change to campaigning in Marina adopted this year is campaign finance reform, with a $200 cap on individual contributions and PAC donations banned. The intention of the reform was to incentivize more people to run against incumbents. (Medina Dirksen and Biala were frustrated by the fundraising restrictions, and began campaigning before they took effect.)

It made 2020 a test run of Marina’s new election policies and, in many ways, city council’s intentions came true: Biala is Japanese-American and Medina Dirksen is Latina.

Despite her earlier criticism, Biala began to see benefits of a district election as she campaigned: “I only have to reach 2,700 voters instead of four times that number,” she says. “It helps people who are first-time runners like Cristina and I.”

As of 10am on Nov. 4, Biala was winning handily, with 1,145 votes over challenger and first-time candidate Brad Imamura’s 481 votes. (Imamura also ran for a seat on Marina Coast Water District, where he is also currently losing.)

In District 3, Medina Dirksen led the way with 664 votes, 42 percent of the total, over incumbent Gail Morton, who had 545 votes, and newcomer Les Martin, with 394 votes.

“I love being an underdog,” Dirksen says. “People underestimate me because they don’t know me. I kind of appreciate that because that makes me work harder.”

With a chill crowd watching the presidential election and with the smell of French fries, along with wine and beer, Dirksen celebrated the early results Tuesday night at Marina’s English Ales, outside on the brewery’s patio. Around 30 of her family and friends stopped by to support her.

Dirksen maintains her opposition to the city’s map-drawing process for districts, and commits to redrawing the districts with more public input once 2020 Census data is tabulated.

“When the map was made, it was a ‘come to us’ model. I was at the Mexican market telling people about this – not as a candidate, I was just being me,” she says. “That’s what they should have been doing.”

Marina voters also decided on two ballot measures, which both passed overwhelmingly. Measure Q would recertify the city’s urban growth boundary and Measure Z would update the city’s cannabis ordinance.