COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- There is six weeks left before the May 6 primary election where three Columbus City Council candidates will face off with two moving on to the November ballot.  The race is for the District 7 seat, made up of mostly the city’s central neighborhoods. All Columbus voters , not just those who live in District 7, will choose the next councilperson.  The three Columbus City Council candidates are running to fill the seat left vacant when former Councilwoman Shayla Favor became Franklin County Prosecutor. The seat is now filled by Otto Beatty, who was appointed by council. He is not running to keep the seat.  What Columbus City Council’s priorities are for 2025, and who will be up for reelection NBC4 had conversations with each of the three candidates, asking why Columbus City Council and why now? We break down what you need to know before you head to the polls.  The three candidates are Kate Curry-Da-Souza, former chair of the Near East Area Commission; Jesse Vogel, an immigration attorney; and Tiara Ross, an assistant city attorney.  “I was born here in Columbus,” Ross said. “My grandparents raised me. They were pastors of a church here, actually in District 7. That truly kind of, I feel is where my introduction to service to the community started.”  “I love Columbus. This is where I was born. This is where I've built my work the past five years I've lived and worked in District 7,” Vogel said. “I think Columbus is a great, growing city made great by its diversity.”  “We've just really become part of the Columbus community and really have enjoyed making Columbus a home, but also just really see the opportunity to become something more,” Curry-Da-Souza said.   NBC4 asked each of them about their top priorities. Ross said public safety with accountability, Curry-Da-Souza said food stability, Vogel said public education. They all emphasized the importance of affordable housing but differed in the ways they hope to address it.  Curry-Da-Souza said she once used a housing voucher, which helps low-income families find safe and affordable housing. She said she knows just how long it can take to get into a home and wants the city to focus on corporations that own many buildings here that have been left vacant.  “We need to have housing at many different entry points for people, right? You need to have apartments and you need to have, you know, different amounts of bedrooms because you have different families with different sizes,” Curry-Da-Souza said.   Ross says her experience on the city’s property action team has helped her prepare to tackle the housing issue.  “We need more housing, period, for everyone, right, because, you know, if I can pay for this house, but there's not enough housing at that income level, then maybe I'm buying at the next income level down,” Ross said. “It puts pressure on the system.”  Vogel has represented tenants in housing matters and said this has shown him how large the challenge is.  “Housing is a crisis. We have rising rents and rising evictions and we have solutions, I think, to those crises, and I'd like to focus on that day one. For one, our voters over the past few years have authorized the city council to raise money on the bond market to invest in affordable housing,” Vogel said.   When it comes to fundraising, NBC4 asked how each candidate is working to convince voters they are the right choice for the council seat.  Vogel has raised more than $70,000, with his last financial report showing about half of the donations from out of state. He says he's focusing on grassroots efforts with many of the donations coming from door knocking. “The money that we've raised has been, you know, from individuals who want to see something different,” Vogel said. “It's been from individuals rather than from corporate PACs or corporate contributions. It's people pitching in who want to see something different and I think that speaks to the moment we're in.”  Curry-Da-Souza started fundraising recently, so she does not have a report available yet, but said she is not accepting funds from large corporate donors.  “I know that I'm very supported by those in my community and I know that I will continue to advocate for those in need and those who want to have their voice heard,” Curry-Da-Souza said.   Ross’s financial report shows a majority of donations coming from within Ohio, with some coming from city employees. Current councilmembers Beatty and Rob Dorans and the city attorney's fund have donated.  “My personal Rolodex here in the city of Columbus is broad and again, I think it is because I've spent my entire life here. So I've had 37 years really to develop relationships with folks who are excited,” Ross said.   Each spoke about how they want to be transparent with the community if elected.  NBC4 also asked each candidate about what they want to see from the city following the massive cyber-attack that hit last summer.   “I'd like to be part of the conversation and would be up there asking questions of members of the executive branch and throughout the city to make sure that we're prepared to have infrastructure in place to protect our residents' data, which unfortunately we didn't do in the past. We have to do something different by asking tough questions, and I'm committed to doing that when I get on council,” Vogel said.  “So first of all, I want to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to make sure that we are future-focused, protecting people from being compromised. So what are we doing to build into our apps so that we do not have people's information compromised moving forward? Right. So we need to be having common-sense things that are built into our agreements that we're using with our vendors to make sure that people's information is protected,” Curry-Da-Souza said.   “My goal would be really to work with the Department of Technology. I think Council has an oversight function if we are operating according to how we should operate, we should be oversight for that department, which means like how often are we are we checking in on audits? How often are we making sure our technology is working as it should?” Ross said.   Ross has dealt with some controversy so far in her campaign. Her residency was challenged by a local political blogger and during the Franklin County Board of Elections hearing it was revealed she had almost $4,000 in parking tickets as well as a suspended license.  “I have paid those parking tickets, and so they are no longer outstanding,” Ross said. “I absolutely don't believe that my personal mistake has gotten in the way of my record of service to this community. It certainly hasn't changed how passionate I am about this community and how much I am both willing to sacrifice for the benefit of of the residents that live here in the city of Columbus and while it is a concern, and I think that the folks who are concerned about it deserve accountability from me, and I want to do that and be transparent about that accountability.”  ...read more read less