SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Two wide-open races to fill the seats of departing San Diego City Council members Jennifer Campbell and Vivian Moreno will highlight ballots for portions of San Diego voters in the primary election.
Voters in the city of San Diego will also have the choice between incumbents and just one or two challengers in two other council races on their June 2 Primary Election ballots.
Council District 2 -- which represents Mission Beach, Clairemont, Midway, Mission Bay Park, Ocean Beach, Old Town and Point Loma -- has seven qualified candidates. Democratic incumbent Campbell is ineligible to run due to term limits. She ousted incumbent Lorie Zapf in 2018 and beat Republican challenger Linda Lukacs by a 13-point margin in 2022.
The candidates for the race are former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, Josh Coyne, a former aide to Campbell and chief of staff at Downtown San Diego Partnership, Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby, community activist Mandy Havlik, chemist Jacob J. Mitchell, Merchant Marine Michael Rickey and attorney Paul Suppa.
Bailey, who served as a Republican mayor of the affluent suburb Coronado from 2016-2024, renounced his membership in that party in February and has received the endorsements of Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, a former City Councilman who has courted his own controversies from both Democrats and within his own party. The San Diego Union-Tribune has also backed Bailey, along with the Lincoln Club Business League and Larry Turner, Mayor Todd Gloria's opponent in the 2024 election.
Coyne and Crosby, both Democrats, have split many Democratic endorsements between them, and they will likely fight for the second place in the primary to take on Bailey in the general election.
Coyne is backed by Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, Assemblyman Chris Ward, D-San Diego, and San Diego City Councilman Stephen Whitburn.
Crosby earned the endorsements of California's Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblywoman Darshana Patel and former Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, San Diego County Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Monica Montgomery Steppe, City Councilman Henry Foster III and has the official endorsement in this race from the San Diego County Democratic Party.
Havlik is endorsed by the Point Loma & Ocean Beach Democratic Club and the OB Rag newspaper. Rickey has the backing of the San Diego Libertarian Party.
The other race without an incumbent is for District 8, which represents the southern parts of the city, including Barrio Logan, Sherman Heights, San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Grant Hill. Democratic incumbent Moreno is ineligible to run due to term limits. She beat Democratic challenger Antonio Martinez with a 50.9% to 49.1% advantage in 2018 and again by more than 25 points in 2022.
Martinez, a member of the San Ysidro School District Board of Education, is running for the position once again, competing against three other candidates and two write-in candidates. Those candidates are Venus Molina, chief of staff to City Councilwoman Campbell, Rafael Perez, an educator, Moreno's own Chief of Staff Gerardo Ramirez and Miguel M. Ochoa and Kenia A. Peraza.
Endorsements in this race are widely spread, with Martinez securing the backing of former Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, Supervisor Aguirre, and councilmen from Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and National City.
Perez has been endorsed by Geysil Arroyo, San Diego Community College District board president, Cody Petterson, San Diego Unified School District trustee, councilmembers from National City and La Mesa, and the California Working Families Party.
Molina has the support of Toni Atkins, former President pro tempore of the California State Senate, Assemblywoman LaShae Sharp-Collins, D-San Diego, San Diego Councilwoman Campbell and Councilman Whitburn and Mary Salas, former Mayor of Chula Vista.
Ramirez has been backed by the Union-Tribune, Councilwoman Moreno, Assemblyman David Alvarez, D-Chula Vista, multiple unions, including the San Diego Police Officers Association and the Lincoln Club Business League.
Peraza is a DeMaio-supported candidate.
In City Council District 4, incumbent Henry Foster III is seeking a second term. This district represents Chollas View, Rolando Park, Emerald Hills, Encanto, Lincoln Park and other southeast neighborhoods.
Running against Foster are Martha Abraham, a nurse, and Johnny Lee Dang, an administrative assistant. Abraham has the backing of the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint newspaper, while Dang has the endorsement of the San Diego County Republican Party.
Foster has most of the rest, including the Union-Tribune, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber (and her daughter, Sen. Akilah Weber, D-San Diego), San Diego City Council members Sean Elo-Rivera, Kent Lee and Moreno, and Council President Joe LaCava, along with the official Democratic party endorsement.
Council District 6 is an even simpler choice, with incumbent Kent Lee facing just one opponent, businessman Mark Powell.
Lee has the endorsements of the San Diego County Democratic Party and AFSCME Local 127. Powell has DeMaio's support, along with the county Republicans and the Union-Tribune.
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