SAN DIEGO — The race to lead one of the City of San Diego's most diverse districts is on.
Tuesday night, voters in District Four, which includes communities like Encanto, Chollas View, Lincoln Park and Skyline, had a chance to question the three candidates hoping to represent them on City Council.
San Diego's District Four has about 130,000 residents in total, and since early December, they have not had a city council member to represent them, after Monica Montgomery-Steppe was elected to the County Board of Supervisors.
On Tuesday though, voters had a chance to hear from the three candidates vying to take her place, each of whom emphasized their strong ties to this community. The special community forum was hosted by St. Stephen's Cathedral in Encanto.
"I come from a family that's been heavily involved in the community and politics, so I've been around it my whole life.," said candidate and mayoral aide Chida Warren-Darby.
"I'm definitely a fabric of this community," said candidate and state senate staffer Tylisa Suseberry.
"I was raised by the village, and I am proud of that," said candidate Henry Foster III, who is currently Montgomery-Steppe's chief-of-staff, "and I'm a product of the district."
Foster told CBS 8 his number one priority for the district is economic development.
"I think that would really work if we can get good-paying jobs, jobs where people can actually live here in San Diego," he added. "I think that's our number one priority."
For Warren-Darby, it's making sure that District Four's priorities are included in the upcoming city budget.
"We have a lot of infrastructure issues," she said. "We need to make sure infrastructure is taken care of, making sure the services that the city offers are actually being provided to the constituents in the district wherever we're lacking, making sure we can provide for those services."
Suseberry said that she is focused on the need to help grow small businesses here.
"Small business is the fabric of our community," Suseberry said, "and if you drive down Imperial Avenue now the buildings are vacant, abandoned... and so I want to bring back life into this community for it to thrive."
The primary election is set for Tuesday, March 5. If none of the three candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, then a run-off will be held in either June or July.
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