Faulconer thinks Republicans can eventually start to win in urban areas if they engage with the poor and with communities of color. Others do, too. The Republican National Committee gave Faulconer a prime speaking slot at its winter meeting after attributing the mayor’s victory to his outreach efforts. It’s easy to understand the attraction. Without Faulconer, none of the country’s 10 largest cities would have a GOP mayor.

It isn’t just his campaign style that is drawing attention. In the almost two years since his election, Faulconer’s advisers can tout approval numbers above 50 percent across the board, including from Latinos and voters who described themselves as “very liberal.” Plus, in a city where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 13 percentage points, Faulconer has attracted zero meaningful opposition to his reelection bid next year.

But if Faulconer is ultimately going to succeed in building a movement that can lead the GOP out of the wilderness and into the city, he’s going to have to do more than run a savvy campaign and be likeable. And that is where he runs into trouble: Faulconer has yet to propose any big-ticket items targeted toward the communities he says he wants to help. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidates’ increasingly inflammatory remarks about people of color, which Faulconer hasn’t publicly rebuked, undermine his efforts to connect with those same voters. And Faulconer’s perhaps biggest challenge is to stop playing it safe. He has never been one to say or do anything particularly controversial; instead, he recites well-rehearsed talking points and signs onto initiatives others started. It’s tough to imagine Faulconer becoming a model for GOP mayors if he doesn’t raise his voice or deliver on policies that meaningfully improve the lives of those targeted by his political rhetoric.

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Back in the 1990s, there was nothing special about a big-city Republican mayor. It was the era of Rudy Giuliani in New York and Dick Riordan in Los Angeles, mayors who promised to be tough on crime and streamline bureaucracy. But while New York and Los Angeles eventually fell back into Democratic hands, San Diego never stopped voting for GOP leaders.

Filner—San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in two decades—was supposed to end all that. President Obama won the city by 25 percent on the same ballot as Filner’s victory, and the city’s Republican registration started to shrink—it’s now just 26 percent of the city. But Filner’s implosion gave San Diego Republicans another chance. “Voters here, they’ll go for Obama,” said Jerry Sanders, San Diego’s Republican mayor from 2005 to 2012. “But when they look at how the city runs, they want fiscal conservatism.”

Faulconer, a city councilman before becoming mayor, has followed a long line of socially liberal and fiscally conservative San Diego leaders. He is pro-choice, pro-marriage equality, pro-comprehensive immigration reform, and pro-gun control. But on the economic side, Faulconer is against tax and minimum-wage hikes and in favor of pension reform and bidding out city services. But Faulconer’s real novelty lies in his efforts to engage diverse communities.