Meet the candidates running for San Diego City Council

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Two races remain for voters to decide the makeup of the San Diego City Council for the next four years.

Residents in the third and ninth districts will be selecting their chosen representative on the council in the upcoming November election. Both races are between an incumbent seeking re-election and a challenger to their seat.

Voters living in the boundaries of the District 3 will have the choice between current Councilmember Stephen Whitburn and attorney Coleen Cusack. Those in District 9 will be selecting either Council President Sean Elo-Rivera or retired police officer Terry Hoskins.

Three other city councilmembers whose terms are up this year ran unopposed and won their seat outright during the March primaries.

Early voting is set to begin on Monday, Oct. 7 via mail, drop box and at the Registrar of Voters office in Kearny Mesa. The final day to cast a vote in the election will be on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

For those looking for more information on the remaining city council seats’ races, here is an introduction to each of the candidates.

What does the city council do?

The city council is San Diego’s legislative body. Members on the council can pass new laws for the city and amend existing ones, either by proposing changes on their own or at the suggestion of the mayor.

It is intended to act as a check on the mayor. With this role, one of the most important duties the council has relates to the process of setting the city’s annual budget and monitoring spending throughout the year. In April and May, the city council reviews the budget proposed by the mayor before putting it to a final vote of approval in June.

City councilmembers also approve mayoral appointments, levy taxes and provide services to constituents in their district.

Similarly to other legislative offices, city councilmembers are divided up by districts, meaning residents are only able to vote for candidates looking to represent their area. To find out what district you live in, you can search using your address on the city’s website or view the list of communities by district here .

Who are the candidates for city council?

Here are the candidates, listed in district and alphabetical order by last name:

District 3

Stephen Whitburn is seeking re-election to the District 3 seat on the San Diego City Council. Attorney and activist Coleen Cusack is running against him.

In the primary , Whitburn sailed to a first-place finish with over 50% of the vote, while Cusack narrowly bested two other challengers to the city councilmember with 21%.

District 3 covers central San Diego, including downtown, Hillcrest, Bankers Hill, Normal Heights, North Park, Old Town, South Park and University Heights.

Coleen Cusack

Coleen Cusack is a trial attorney, educator and community activist. A longtime resident of District 3 and self-identified progressive Democrat, the political newcomer is best known for her advocacy for San Diegans experiencing homelessness and her pro bono legal services.

According to Cusack, public safety, education and housing are the pillars of her campaign platform. The attorney says she would focus on these issues in a way that prioritizes “people over property,” should she be elected to office.

Tackling homelessness is an exemplar of this focus, and is where Cusack differs the most from her opponent. Cusack has been an outspoken critic of the city’s ban on encampments , which Whitburn championed alongside Mayor Todd Gloria.

She has argued the law aggravates the problem without adequate housing or shelter by effectively criminalizing unhoused residents and making it harder to exit homelessness. She has proposed boosting housing construction, expanding rental subsidies and shoring up “housing navigation supports” instead.

Cusack has received serval endorsements from community leaders and organizations per her website, including former mayoral candidate Geneviéve Jones-Wright, the San Diego Progressive Democratic Club, California Democratic Renters Council, Defense of Democracy, San Diego Education Association, and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action.

Recent campaign finance disclosures show most of her funding has come from small dollar donations, with just one hitting the city’s limit of $750 . As of late September, she has about $4,000 on hand in her candidate-controlled committee.

Cusack will be interviewed on KUSI on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 5:20 p.m.

Stephen Whitburn

Stephen Whitburn is the current representative for District 3. The Democrat was first elected in 2020 when Chris Ward vacated the seat for higher office. Prior to his current role, Whitburn served in various nonprofit leadership roles, including director of San Diego Pride.

According to Whitburn’s campaign website, the councilmember’s re-election platform centers homelessness, housing and neighborhood quality. Whitburn points to his record on these issues as indicative of his goals for a second term.

Whitburn says he aims to expand shelter offerings and safe camping sites to allow enforcement of his camping ban with the goals of moving people off the streets. He also would seek to further new unit construction to lower the cost of housing, according to his campaign.

On the issue of neighborhood quality, the city councilmember said he would emphasize investment in “quality of life” infrastructure projects, such as street and sidewalk repairs, libraries and tree planting, as well as public safety improvements.

Whitburn has a significant funding advantage over Cusack, with recent campaign finance disclosures showing he has over $75,000 on hand. On top of that, he has received a number of endorsements from local organizations with deep pocketbooks who can spend to support his candidacy independent of his campaign.

Among the organizations who have endorsed Whitburn are the state and county Democratic Party; Equality California; LGBTQ Victory Fund; the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council; the Downtown San Diego Partnership; and the municipal workers, police and fire unions.

Whitburn has also been endorsed by Mayor Gloria; Reps. Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs; State Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins; Supervisor Nora Vargas; and councilmembers Joe LaCava, Jennifer Campbell, Marni von Wilpert and Raul Campillo.

Whitburn will be interviewed on KUSI on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 4:20 p.m.

District 9

City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is currently running for re-election in District 9. Retired San Diego police officer Terry Hoskins is challenging him in his bid.

Elo-Rivera won handily in the primary , earning 51% of the vote. Hoskins edged out one other challenger with 30% of the vote to make it to the general runoff.

District 9 covers southeastern San Diego, including neighborhoods like City Heights, College Area, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Rolando, Southcrest and Talmadge.

Sean Elo-Rivera

Sean Elo-Rivera is the current representative for District 9, having been elected to the council seat in 2020. He was named president of the council the following year. Prior to assuming office, the Democrat worked for several local nonprofits and was a member of the San Diego Community College Board of Trustees.

According to his campaign, Elo-Rivera is focused on issues he describes as creating “a San Diego where every person in every neighborhood has an opportunity to reach their potential and thrive,” namely housing and homelessness, healthy neighborhoods and safety.

He specifically has centered policies expanding tenant protections to prevent homelessness, addressing the city’s budget deficit on infrastructure projects, and pursuing an “all of the above” approach to address public safety and racial inequities in policing.

“Who are we going to fight for? Are we going to fight for the folks who already have what they need? The businesses that have what they need, the folks who have already made it?” Elo-Rivera said during a recent District 9 forum . “Or are we going to fight to expand opportunity? Are we going to fight for the neighborhoods that haven’t seen the investment they need?”

Elo-Rivera has received a slew of high-profile endorsements including: the San Diego County Democratic Party; the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce; Planned Parenthood Action Fund; the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council; the San Diego Education Association; and the city lifeguards union.

Elected officials like San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, State Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins, supervisors Nora Vargas and Monica Montgomery Steppe, and councilmembers Joe LaCava and Kent Lee have also backed his candidacy.

According to campaign finance disclosures , Elo-Rivera has about $31,850 on hand from contributions to his candidate-controlled committee, putting him at a funding advantage over his opponent.

FOX 5/KUSI has reached out to Elo-Rivera to schedule an on-air interview about the race.

Terry Hoskins

Terry Hoskins is a retired community relations officer with the San Diego Police Department and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He has not run for or held political office before, although he holds a doctorate in public administration from California Baptist University.

While Hoskins is also a Democrat, he has taken opposing stances on a number of policies tied to homelessness, housing and public safety from Elo-Rivera in their respective campaigns for the District 9 seat.

Chief among these differences is regulations around accessory dwelling units and incentives for housing developers to spur new home construction — policies Hoskins says he is against.

“Developers are being incentivized. They’re the ones that’s buying up all the housing, they’re the ones that are flipping them. “They’re the ones that are creating the price of housing and why it’s going up,” Hoskins said during a District 9 forum. “Elo-Rivera’s polices have not worked.”

The former police officer has also promised to oppose new taxes, such as a tax collection fee set to go into effect next year, and create a city-level “Navigation-Triage Center” to provide homelessness services and “track programs for efficiency,” his campaign website says.

According to his campaign, Hoskins has been endorsed by the San Diego Police Officers Association (POA) and former San Diego City Councilmembers Myrtle Cole and Marti Emerald.

Recent campaign finance disclosures show Hoskins has about $11,702 in cash on hand in his candidate-controlled committee.

While Elo-Rivera has a slight edge in funding, the backing of the POA is significant. Earlier this year, the union independently nearly $10,000 on mailers to bolster Hoskin’s bid, campaign finance disclosures show — support it could show again in the lead up to Election Day.

FOX 5/KUSI has reached out to Hoskins to schedule an on-air interview about the race.

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