SAN MARCOS — San Marcos voters will see candidates for city, school district and community college district races in the November 8 general election, with several individuals bidding for available positions.
The election filing period opened July 18 and closes Aug. 12. Those interested in running for city positions must file with the city clerk, and those running for school and college districts must file with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
If the incumbent for a position that is up for election does not file by Aug. 12, the filing deadline will be extended by an additional five days.
There are three seats up for election on the San Marcos City Council, two seats on the San Marcos Unified School District board, and three seats on the Palomar College Board of Trustees.
The seats of Mayor Rebecca Jones, District 1 City Councilmember Maria Nuñez and District 2 City Councilmember Randy Walton are up for election in November. Jones, who has served on the council since 2007 and as mayor since 2018, will face two challengers in this year’s mayoral race — Walton, who has served on the council since 2018, and 24-year-old resident Jake James Henry.
The mayor is an at-large position requiring a citywide vote. For the remaining council seats, district voters elect their respective representatives.
With no incumbent running for Walton’s District 2 seat, three individuals have stepped up and pulled papers for the position as of Friday. These include Vallecitos Water District representative Mike Sannela, Jay Petrek, appointed to a two-year term to fill a vacant seat on the City Council in 2018, and Marine Corps veteran Lionel Saulsberry.
Nuñez was also elected to the council in 2018 and is the only person who has pulled papers for her position.
Up for election in the San Marcos Unified School District is the Area E seat of trustee and board president Stacy Carlson and the Area C seat occupied by trustee Sydney Kerr. The only individual who has pulled papers is Sharyl Cavellier for Area E.
The Palomar College Governing Board has three seats for election this November — the Area 1 seat held by Mark Evilsizer, the Area 4 seat held by Kartik Raju and the Area 5 seat held by Norma Miyamoto.
San Diego Asian Americans for Equality co-founder and Californians for Equal Rights Foundation President Frank Xu has pulled papers for the Area 1 seat. Small business owner and Ramona Community Planning Group representative Michelle Rains has pulled papers for Area 4.
Evilsizer has announced his intention to retire this year after 20 years of service on the governing board. Raju was appointed to the governing board in 2021.
Miyamoto was elected to her first board term in 2018 after serving as Dean of Arts, Media, Business and Computer Science at the college for nearly 20 years. No one has pulled papers for the Area 5 position as of Friday.
The official list of candidates who have filed paperwork will be announced after the Aug. 12 filing deadline. Information about candidates for city council races is available via the city clerk.
Information regarding candidates for the school district, community college, and service district races is available via the San Diego County Campaign Docs website at southtechhosting.com/SanDiegoCounty/CampaignDocsWebRetrieval.
