San Diego City Council Election: 5 Open Seats, 28 Candidates

SAN DIEGO — San Diego City Hall is getting a major governmental overhaul with more than half of the nine seats on the San Diego City Council up for grabs in Tuesday's primary election.

A total of 28 candidates are competing for five open council seats: eight for District 1, seven for District 9, five for District 3, four for District 5 and four for District 7. There are no incumbents on the ballot.

The two candidates who receive the most votes in each race will advance to the November general election.

District 1: Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who is running for mayor, has represented District 1 since 2016. The district covers La Jolla and the coast up to Del Mar, Carmel Valley and University City. These are the candidates:

• Aaron Brennan - firefighter and Naval Reserve Officer
• Joe LaCava - civil engineer and business owner
• Will Moore - small business attorney
• Sam Nejabat -small business owner
• Harid "H" Puentes - tech executive
• Louis A. Rodolico - environmental journalist
• James P. Rudolph - business attorney
• Lijun "Lily" Zhou - entrepreneur and instructor

District 3: Councilman Chris Ward, who is running for State Assembly, has represented District 3 since 2016. The district covers Central San Diego, including Old Town, Downtown, North Park, Normal Heights and Balboa Park. These are the candidates:

• Toni Duran - state Senate district representative
• Adrian Kwiatkowski - nonprofit CEO and strategist
• Michelle Nguyen - procurement specialist and military Reservist
• Chris Olsen - city's budget analyst and educator
• Stephen Whitburn - community nonprofit director.

District 5: Councilman Mark Kersey, who is termed out, has represented District 5 since 2012. The district covers north San Diego, including Black Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Penasquitos. These are the candidates:

• Joe Leventhal - attorney and small business owner
• Simon Moghadam - business owner
• Marni von Wilpert - deputy city attorney
• Isaac Wang - technology entrepreneur and Naval Reservist

District 7: Councilman Scott Sherman, who is running for mayor, has represented District 7 since 2012. The district covers north-central and northeast San Diego, including Mission Valley, Linda Vista, Serra Mesa and Tierrasanta. These are the candidates:

• Raul Campillo - deputy city attorney
• Monty McIntyre - mediator, arbitrator and business owner
• Wendy Wheatcroft - teacher
• Noli Zosa - small business owner

District 9: Council President Georgette Gomez, who is running for Congress, has represented District 9 since 2016. The district covers east-central San Diego, including Kensington, College Area, City Heights and Southeastern San Diego. These are the candidates:

• Kelvin H. Barrios - community outreach director
• Sam Bedwell - small business entrepreneur
• Sean Elo - San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees member
• Andrew Gade - small business owner
• Johnny Lee Dang - scientist
• Ross Naismith - music teacher and nonprofit executive
• Alex Soto - unmanned maritime systems manager

City News Service contributed to this report.