REGION — North County voters will reshape city councils and school boards across the region this November, choosing among incumbents, first-time candidates and former officeholders in dozens of local races.
Mayoral contests are underway in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Escondido, San Marcos and Vista, while several communities are poised to welcome new council members as longtime officeholders step aside. Voters will also fill seats on school boards from Del Mar to Fallbrook and decide races for regional health care districts and the Fallbrook Community Planning Group.
In Oceanside, voters will weigh two ballot measures alongside council and school board races, including a proposed additional half-cent sales tax.
The following is a roundup of candidates and contests appearing on North County ballots Nov. 3.
Carlsbad City Council
Carlsbad voters will choose a mayor, representatives for City Council districts 1 and 3, a city treasurer and a city clerk in November.
Mayor Keith Blackburn is seeking reelection after first being elected in 2022. Blackburn previously served on the City Council for 18 years and spent 40 years with the Carlsbad Police Department.
Eric Nixon, who has worked as an emergency medical technician, CPR educator and in other public safety roles over the past 15 years, is running for mayor.
Bill Arsenault, a former U.S. Marine and international business owner, has also filed to run for mayor.
Emergency program supervisor Stephen Banister is also seeking the mayor’s office.
In District 1, incumbent Councilmember Melanie Burkholder, a mental health therapist and former Secret Service agent, faces Nate Larson, a local educator and youth theater producer who has served on the Barrio Public Art Subcommittee.
In District 3, incumbent Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel, a public health professional who chairs the North County Transit District board, faces Wayland Lim, a retired business consultant with experience in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.
Incumbent City Treasurer Christian Peacox is seeking election to the position he assumed in 2024. Investment manager Thomas Krouse is also running for treasurer.
City Clerk Sherry Freisinger is running unopposed for reelection.
Del Mar City Council
Four candidates are running for two open seats on the Del Mar City Council: one currently occupied by Councilmember Terry Gaasterland and another vacant since Dwight Worden retired in late 2024.
All seats on the council are at-large, and members serve for four-year terms.
Gaasterland is running for re-election to a third term against challengers Jeff Sturgis, Meghan Spieker and Jas Grewal. Gaasterland has served on the council since 2018 and twice as the city’s mayor, a role that rotates among council members, and is in her sixth year representing the city on the SANDAG Board of Directors.
Sturgis has served on the Del Mar Finance Committee for more than a decade. Spieker is a member of the Del Mar Planning Commission and a business litigator. Grewal is also a member of the Planning Commission.
Following the election, Del Mar will have a full five-person City Council again for the first time in two years.
Encinitas City Council
Two candidates are running for mayor, and two are running for each City Council seat on the November ballot.
Incumbent Mayor Bruce Ehlers is seeking a second term after being elected mayor in 2024. Ehlers was elected to the City Council in 2022 after serving for seven years on the city’s Planning Commission.
Rimga Viskanta is challenging Ehlers for mayor. She currently serves on the San Dieguito Union High School District Board of Trustees after serving in the same role for the Encinitas Union School District. Viskanta previously worked in Solana Beach’s finance and city manager’s offices.
Two candidates who have not previously served on the council are seeking the District 3 seat following Councilmember Joy Lyndes’ decision not to seek reelection.
Arielle Golden, a Cardiff-by-the-Sea resident, has filed to run for the District 3 seat. A community organizer with experience in agriculture and food supply policy, Golden has served as chair of the North County Food Policy Council and as the area representative to the California Food Policy Council.
Ed Sprague, who grew up in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, has also filed for the District 3 seat. A retired firefighter who achieved the rank of chief fire officer, Sprague has served as president of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, a commissioner on the San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission and a professor at Palomar College.
Councilmember Marco San Antonio is seeking reelection to the District 4 seat. A local business owner, San Antonio previously served on the Olivenhain Municipal Water District Board of Directors before being appointed to the council in 2025.
Brad Lefkowits is also running for the District 4 seat. A small-business owner, Lefkowits has served on the city’s Urban Forest Advisory Committee since 2023 and owns a landscape design business.
Escondido City Council
Three seats on the Escondido City Council are up for election this November, including the mayor’s office and the District 1 and 2 seats.
Elias Velazquez is challenging Mayor Dane White, who is completing his first term. The mayor is elected at large.
In District 1, voters will choose between Tanner Horsley and Vanessa Valenzuela. Incumbent Councilmember Consuelo Martinez is not seeking reelection.
In District 2, incumbent Councilmember Joe Garcia faces challenger Anthony DiMartino.
Oceanside City Council
Oceanside City Council districts 1 and 2 are up for election this November. In District 1, Michael Cline, a retired Army veteran, is challenging incumbent Deputy Mayor Eric Joyce.
In District 2, incumbent Councilmember Rick Robinson faces four challengers: Ricky James, a real estate broker; Oscarin Ortega, a nonprofit executive with Lived Experiences; Perry Alvarez, an automotive repair manager; and Emily Gonzales, executive director of The Swell Collective and a member of the Oceanside Planning Commission.
Oceanside voters will also decide two ballot measures. Measure R would amend the city charter to align the city with the state’s prevailing wage requirements. Measure S would impose an additional half-cent sales tax, increasing the city’s sales tax rate to 8.75%. Two years ago, Oceanside voters approved an extension of Measure X, the city’s existing half-cent sales tax.
San Marcos City Council
Three seats are up for election on the San Marcos City Council this fall, including the mayor’s seat and the District 1 and 2 seats.
Candidates who have filed for the mayor’s seat are District 2 City Councilmember Mike Sannella and former San Marcos City Councilmember Sharon Jenkins. Mayor Rebecca Jones is not seeking re-election as she runs for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 5 seat.
Sannella is in his first term on the City Council, and previously served on the Vallecitos Water District Board of Directors for eight years. Jenkins served 12 years on the City Council before being termed out in 2024; before that, she served 14 years on the San Marcos Unified School District board.
District 1 City Councilmember María Nuñez is running for re-election to a third term against Thomas Gabriele.
Two candidates are running for Sannella’s District 2 seat — San Elijo Hills Homeowners Association President Lindsey Smith and Justin Matsushita, former Santee Fire Chief and a member of the San Marcos Measure Q Oversight Committee.
Solana Beach City Council
The seats representing districts 2 and 4 on the Solana Beach City Council are up for election this November. Incumbent District 2 Councilmember Kristi Becker is running for re-election with no challengers filing at this time.
Jenna Wolfe-Dellamano has filed to run for the District 4 seat. Incumbent councilmember Jill MacDonald is not seeking re-election to a second term.
Because no incumbent is running, the filing period for the District 4 seat has been extended to Aug 12 at 5:30 p.m.
Vista City Council
Several candidates have filed to run for three open seats on the Vista City Council, including the mayor, District 1 and District 4 seats.
Mayoral candidates include former City Councilmember Joe Green, who served eight years on the City Council before retiring in 2024; graphic designer and Vista Homelessness Commission member Kenneth Zuniga; and Gabriel Chance and Alexandra Garcia Guzman.
After four years as mayor and 12 total years on the City Council, incumbent John Franklin is not seeking re-election. He ran for the county Board of Supervisors but did not receive the votes needed to advance past the Primary Election in June.
The filing period for the mayoral seat has been extended to Aug 12 at 5:30 p.m. because there is no incumbent candidate.
District 1 Councilmember Corinna Contreras is running for re-election to a third term. She previously ran for the 48th Congressional District earlier this year but did not advance past the primary.
Running against Contreras are Frank Nuñez, a small business owner and Vista Irrigation District board member, and Yolanda Kenniston-Alvarez.
District 4 City Councilmember Dan O’Donnell is running for re-election to a second term against software product manager Josh Davis.
Del Mar Union School District
On the five-person Del Mar Union School District Board of Trustees, three at-large seats are up for election.
Trustees Katherine Fitzpatrick, Doug Rafner, and Alan Kholos are all running for re-election, along with challenger Stephen Cochrane, a special education attorney.
Fitzpatrick is running for a third term, and Rafner is seeking a fifth term. Kholos was appointed to the board in 2023 to fill the vacancy left by Scott Wooden and then elected to fulfill the rest of the term in 2024. He is now running for a new four-year term.
Cochrane previously served on the Del Mar Union School District board from 2017 to 2019.
San Dieguito Union High School District
Three seats are up for election on the San Dieguito Union High School District Board of Trustees, which oversees the district’s 11 middle and high schools. The district spans Encinitas, Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and Carmel Valley, and the five board trustees represent different areas of the district.
None of the incumbents for the three seats have filed to run for re-election.
Candidates who have filed to run for the Area 1 seat, representing the district’s northwestern area in Encinitas, include longtime education advocate Amy Flicker and Cajon Valley Union School District Superintendent David Miyashiro.
Area 1 Incumbent Rimga Viskanta is running for the Encinitas mayoral seat rather than seeking a second term on the board.
Running for the Area 3 seat are Helen Doyle, a member of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation Board of Directors who previously ran for the Del Mar Union School District board in 2024, and special education instructional assistant Summer Boger. The seat is currently held by Jane Lea Smith and covers Cardiff, Solana Beach and Del Mar.
Justin Moodie, a photography teacher at Oceanside High School, and Ginny Merrifield, chair and director at San Diego charter school e3 Civic High, have filed to run for the Area 5 seat. Trustee Phan Anderson currently holds the seat, which represents Carmel Valley.
San Marcos Unified School District
Two seats are up for election on the five-person board of trustees for the San Marcos Unified School District. The district includes 19 schools ranging from grades K-12 in San Marcos, as well as portions of Carlsbad, Escondido, Vista and unincorporated San Diego County.
Area C Trustee Andrés Martín is running unopposed for his seat, which oversees the Palomar College area and parts of San Marcos Creek.
Parent Christine Baker and sales manager Derrick Davis are running for the Area E seat currently held by Stacy Carlson, who has been on the board since 2014 but has not filed to run for a fourth term. Area E oversees the district’s northern area including Twin Oaks and Deer Springs Road.
Solana Beach School District
Four incumbents are running unopposed for their seats on the Solana Beach School District Board of Trustees.
This includes Area 1 Trustee Debra Schade, Area 3 Trustee Katie Süel, Area 4 Trustee Gaylin Albaugh and Area 5 Trustee Jomi Richard.
Richard was appointed to the board in 2025 to fill a vacancy left by Tanya Koshy and must be formally elected to serve out the remainder of the term through 2028.
All of the other candidates are running for four-year terms.
Vista Unified School District
Two seats on the five-person Vista Unified School District Board of Trustees will be up for election this November.
The school board oversees 25 schools for grades K-12 and two adult education schools. The district’s boundaries include Vista as well as areas of Oceanside, San Marcos, Carlsbad and unincorporated San Diego County.
Area 2 Trustee Rena Marrocco is running unopposed as she seeks a second four-year term on the board.
Candidates for the Area 3 trustee race include incumbent Martha Alvarado, who is seeking a third term on the board, financial advisor Jonathan Moffett and parent Nataliya Holland.
Encinitas Union School District
Encinitas Union School District has six candidates running for three at-large positions on the board of trustees.
The district includes nine elementary schools serving grades K-6 under the leadership of Superintendent Andree Grey.
The candidates, all parents, include Michelle Clark; Jillian Cocayne, a policy advisor; Marika Dixon, elementary aide; Chris Hargrave, a teacher and principal; Jorge Sanchez, a firefighter; and Bill Shen, a business owner.
Carlsbad Unified School District
Carlsbad Unified has contested races for the board of trustees in areas 1, 4 and 5.
The school district includes two high schools, three middle schools and nine elementary schools under the leadership of Superintendent Andrea Norman.
Area 1 will be a contest between current Board President Michele Tsutagawa Ward and Amber Martinez, a real estate agent.
Area 4 will be contested between current Board Member Gretchen Vurbeff, a teacher, and Tracey Perrault, a teacher and associate principal.
Joel Gutierrez, an airline pilot, and Chris Waidelich, an attorney, have both filed to run for Area 5.
Oceanside Unified School District
Three seats on the five-member Oceanside Unified Board of Trustees are up for election. In Area No. 1, Jerry Garcia Avila is challenging incumbent Nancy Licona. Avila is a retired lieutenant commander, while Licona, who was first elected in 2022, is a school counselor.
In Area No. 3, Joey Pearson is running against Nicole Watson. According to the Registrar of Voters, Pearson is a professional learning director, while Watson is a businesswoman and mother.
Board President Stacy Begin, who currently represents Area No. 3, is not seeking reelection. According to Pearson’s website, Begin is supporting him for the seat.
In Area No. 4, Jason Bethurum, a father and local real estate agent, is challenging incumbent Trustee Raquel Alvarez.
Escondido Union School District
Three seats are up for election in Escondido’s public elementary and middle school district.
In Area 2, Chris Ranglas is running against Elizabeth Shulok. Current Trustee Joan Gardner is not seeking reelection.
In Area 4, Maggie Cascio is running against incumbent Zesty Harper. In Area 5, incumbent Frank Huston is running against challenger Bonnie Wagner.
Escondido Union High School District
Three seats are up for election. In Area 1, Nina Haines is challenging incumbent Bob Weller.
In Area 2, Rafaela Cervantes, Joe Hinrichs and Mark Lucas are seeking the seat. Current Trustee Carol Durney is not seeking reelection.
In Area 5, Georgine Tomasi is challenging incumbent David Vincent.
Fallbrook Community Planning Group
In Fallbrook, eight candidates are seeking seats on the Fallbrook Community Planning Group. They include incumbents Steve Brown, Eileen Delaney, Jeniene Domercq and J.J. Neese, as well as John Spencer, Lila Hargrove, Jonathan Smith and Emily Stadnik. Voters will choose seven of the eight candidates.
Fallbrook Union High School District
Fire Capt. Paul Christensen is running unopposed in Area No. 2. In Area No. 1, Stacey Nijst is running against incumbent Tauna Rodarte, and in Area No. 3, Tracy Daniel is running against Karen Weisberger.
Fallbrook Union Elementary School District
In the elementary school district, incumbents Frank Golbeck and Mary McBride are running unopposed in Area Nos. 1 and 5, respectively. In Area No. 4, Anabel Conseco is challenging incumbent Maria Moran.
Palomar Healthcare District
In the Palomar Healthcare District, Mike Pacheco is running for Area 1, while Area 3 incumbent Lauria Edwards-Tate is seeking reelection against challenger Sarah Telahun. In Area 5, Amanda Christensen is challenging incumbent John Clark, and in Area 7, Ian Butler is challenging incumbent Linda Greer.
Tri-City Healthcare District
Three seats on the seven-member Tri-City Healthcare District Board of Directors are up for election this November.
In Zone 2, former Oceanside Councilmember Jerry Kern faces registered nurses Kayla Lauriano, who works for MiraCosta College, and Marilyn Piek, who works for Genex Services.
Incumbents George Coulter and Tracy Younger are running unopposed in zones 4 and 6, respectively.
The Coast News reporters Samantha Nelson, Leo Place and Cameron Adams contributed to reporting.
