From her first days in office, Mara Elliott has transformed the San Diego City Attorney’s Office with her passion for protecting San Diego families. Mara Elliott is recognized as a national leader in preventing gun violence, a fierce champion for consumers and the environment, and a staunch protector of victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking.
As the first woman, and the first Latina, elected to her position, Mara has been fearless in standing up to special interests, safeguarding taxpayer dollars, and advancing programs that keep our most vulnerable citizens safe, particularly elders who face abuse and exploitation.
On taking office, Mara launched San Diego’s pioneering Gun Violence Restraining Order program to stop senseless violence by keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Through Mara’s leadership, courts have removed over 400 firearms, including 40 assault weapons, from people who posed a threat to themselves and others, including stalkers, students, and the mentally ill.
Mara is also the author of San Diego’s Safe Storage of Firearms Ordinance which requires responsible storage of weapons in the home to prevent child gun deaths and crack down on stolen guns. Mara’s innovative gun safety agenda has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post.
As City Attorney, Mara relaunched the San Diego Family Justice Center to bolster support for victims of domestic violence and expand its services to victims of sex trafficking. Every year, the Family Justice Center offers hundreds of San Diego families legal, medical, counseling and other support services in a safe and private setting. Mara also hired more domestic violence prosecutors to hold abusers accountable, achieving a 95% conviction rate.
Mara has prioritized consumer and environmental protection and created a civil enforcement unit that takes on major corporate offenders: Experian for violating San Diegans’ privacy, Purdue Pharma for knowingly addicting vulnerable San Diegans to opioids, and Instacart for exploiting workers. Mara has prosecuted poachers and polluters who flout California’s environmental laws, and protected endangered elephants by prosecuting traffickers in the biggest ivory bust in California history.
The daughter of a longshoreman father and immigrant mother, Mara was the first in her family to graduate from college, attending UC Santa Barbara and McGeorge School of Law. Always dedicated to public service, Mara served as legal counsel to public schools, the transit district, and the County of San Diego and was a Chief Deputy City Attorney before winning election in 2016.
Mara is past president of the City Attorneys Association of San Diego County and past president of the San Diego Law Library Board of Trustees, an organization focused on ensuring access to justice. Mara and her husband, Greg, live in the Scripps Ranch community of San Diego with their two children.