Meet Nicole
About Nicole
A proud daughter of California, Nicole grew up in a working family. Her mother retired from SEIU after working the night shift for more than 30 years. When Nicole and her brothers were young, her family relied on employer-provided medical insurance and childcare benefits to get by, an experience that shaped her lifelong commitment to economic fairness. She was the first in her family to attend college, working both on and off campus to make ends meet. She later earned her law degree and a master’s degree in tax law, driven by her understanding that too often the system is stacked against regular people.
Nicole lives in Clairemont with her husband, Josh, and their 8-year-old daughter, Audrey, who attends their neighborhood public school. Local families elected Nicole to serve as President of the Holmes Elementary PTA. Her neighbors also elected her President of the Clairemont Town Council, where she now serves as Immediate Past President and current board member.
Nicole currently serves as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of San Diego, where she civilly prosecutes slumlords who exploit renters. Over the course of her career, she has prosecuted hate crimes, domestic violence, elder abuse, and gun crimes, with a focus on expanding access to justice for victims with limited English proficiency. She created a successful program to help connect high utilizers of emergency services to stable housing environments, providing lifesaving mental and behavioral health services to unhoused individuals, while also saving the City’s police, fire and ambulance services time and money.
Nicole believes that no one who works full-time should live in poverty. She will fight to make San Diego more affordable for families, strengthen local businesses, and build a more equitable city.
Nicole knows how city government works and ways that City Hall needs to deliver better results for our communities. She understands how to create sustainable revenue streams to build and maintain infrastructure, parks, and libraries, with full transparency so San Diegans know how their money is spent and the return they receive on their investment.
Fighting Crime & Gun Violence
Nicole joined the San Diego City Attorney’s office as a prosecutor in 2014, continuing her work fighting domestic abusers and sexual predators. Nicole has earned a reputation as one of California’s strongest and most innovative advocates to protect our community from gun violence. As a Chief Deputy, Nicole worked on establishing and supervised the City Attorney’s Gun Violence Response Unit, which is now recognized as the state model. Nicole made history by successfully arguing a now published case of first impression before the California Court of Appeal to uphold and protect the state’s Gun Violence Restraining Order (GVRO) law. She also trained law enforcement agencies across California on how to use the civil court GVROs, rather than relying solely on criminal prosecution, to remove firearms from individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others.
Protecting Our Kids & Communities
In the City Attorney’s Office, Nicole prosecuted slumlords, spearheaded efforts to connect seniors with city and county services, and worked to ensure homeless individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction have the shelter and services they need. She served on the San Diego Unified School District Multi-Agency Task Force to protect kids from harassment and abuse.