Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez led their respective races to be National City’s first-ever District 2 and 4 City Council representatives, according to early returns Tuesday. Bush and Rodriguez have served on the dais at large since 2020. The city of about 56,000 transitioned to a by-district election system in April 2022. In the District 2 contest, Bush led Victor Arreola, a nonprofit executive. Daniel Perez, a mortgage loan officer, followed in third. In the District 4 race, Randi Castle-Salgado, a Realtor and National City planning commissioner, was widely trailing Rodriguez. Voters also appeared to be disapproving Measure R, a parcel tax on some property owners to fix streets and alleys and improve aging parks. The measure was placed on the ballot by a citizen initiative, led by Rodriguez and several other residents. Proponents say funds will be used exclusively for much-needed improvements and that a citizens committee would oversee the spending. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association opposed the proposal, saying it “appears to be a discriminatory tax structure” because “certain property owners pay more or less than others without some analytical basis as to impact to the economy or impact to property owners.” One big campaign issue for all candidates was the topic of the controversial $100,000 district budgets. The current council approved giving themselves those budgets without a policy for how to spend them, which officials later adopted. Ultimately, the incumbents favored having the funds because it employed staff in their offices. However, others argued that funds could be better spent on fixing infrastructure or creating city programs.