SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The city of San Diego's primary election ballot was finalized Friday as the clerk's office announced that Mayor Kevin Faulconer and numerous other candidates qualified for the June 7 vote.
To qualify, hopefuls were required to turn in petition signatures by March 10 and have them validated by city elections officials. The number of signatures needed varied depending on whether they were running for a citywide or district office.
Faulconer is finishing out the term of former Mayor Bob Filner, who resigned in August 2013. Faulconer defeated Councilman David Alvarez in a special election the following February, and is talked about in Republican circles as having potential for higher offices.
His opponents will be lifeguards union chief and onetime fill-in Councilman Ed Harris and former state legislator Lori Saldana. Six other mayoral hopefuls failed to qualify.
All of the expected City Attorney candidates qualified, including lawyer and convention center director Gil Cabrera, attorney and Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos, Deputy City Attorney Mara Elliott, Deputy District Attorney Robert Hickey and lawyer Bryan Pease.
They're running to succeed City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, who is being termed-out in December.
The five odd-numbered City Council seats are also up for election.
Qualifying for District 1 were entrepreneurs Barbara Bry and Ray Ellis, City Council staffer Kyle Heiskala, former hospital architect Louis Rodolico and Bruce Lightner, the husband of City Council President Sherri Lightner, who is also being termed-out.
For District 3, being vacated after Councilman Todd Gloria's two terms, qualified candidates include his council staffer Anthony Bernal, former Green Beret Scott Sanborn and Chris Ward, chief of staff for Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego.
Incumbent Councilman Mark Kersey qualified to run for reelection in District 5, where he will be up against Trader Joe's employee Keith Mikas and salesman Fotios "Frank" Tsimboukakis.
Another incumbent councilman, Scott Sherman, qualified and will be challenged for the District 7 seat by Jose Caballero, a former Navy nuclear engineer, and Justin DeCesare, a Navy veteran and real estate broker.
Several residents of District 9 expressed interest in running for the seat held by Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who has served her two terms.
The candidates who made it onto the primary ballot are her chief of staff, Ricardo Flores, environmental health advocate Georgette Gomez, lawyer Araceli Martinez, and taxi driver union head Sarah Saez. Four others failed to qualify.
City voters will also vote on nine ballot measures, including whether to raise the minimum wage.
The others would amend the City Charter, the primary municipal governing document -- and doing so requires a public vote. While most of the proposed charter revisions are routine in nature, one backed by Kersey would direct millions of dollars in future revenues toward infrastructure projects.
