The 2026 races for two open San Diego City Council seats are both shaping up to be fierce contests with several quality candidates — but both races are still considered wide open with plenty of time for new candidates to emerge. The race for District 2, which stretches from Clairemont to Point L oma and Ocean Beach, won’t feature an incumbent for the first time in nearly two decades, as Councilmember Jennifer Campbell faces term limits. Declared candidates so far already include Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby, former City Hall staffer Josh Coyne, Point Loma neighborhood leader Mandy Havlik and dentist Linda Lukacs, who lost in a 2022 runoff for the seat. Havlik also ran for the seat in 2022, finishing fifth in a six-candidate primary. The sixth-place finisher that year, Bay Ho resident Daniel Smiechowski, has filed papers to run again in 2026. There are already four strong candidates expected in the race to succeed termed-out Vivian Moreno in District 8, which reaches from Sherman Heights and Barrio Logan in the north to San Ysidro and Otay Mesa in the south. The candidates who have already declared include San Ysidro school board member Antonio Martinez, real estate agent Rafael Perez and longtime City Hall staffer Venus Molina, now Campbell’s chief of staff. Gerardo Ramirez, Moreno’s chief of staff, is also expected to run. Martinez lost to Moreno in runoffs for the seat in both 2018 and 2022. Two other council seats on the 2026 ballot aren’t shaping up to be competitive for the incumbents seeking re-election — Kent Lee in north central District 6 and Henry Foster in southeastern San Diego’s District 4. No challengers have filed papers so far to run against either Lee or Foster. With 14 months until the June 2026 primary, Crosby and Coyne could be early frontrunners in District 2 because of their City Hall experience. But neither is a proven fundraiser or has a track record of connecting with voters or landing key endorsements. An endorsement from the county Democratic Party could be key to winning District 2, where registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans 42,377 to 24,243 through Tuesday. Lukacs, who lives in Ocean Beach, is the only Republican in the race. The rest are Democrats. If elected, Crosby would follow in the footsteps of Raul Campillo and Marni von Wilpert, two deputy city attorneys who successfully won council seats — Campillo in eastern District 7 and von Wilpert in north inland District 5. Crosby, who lives in Clairemont Mesa, has been with the City Attorney’s office for more than a decade. She has worked as a prosecutor and has focused on domestic abuse, sexual predators and preventing gun violence. Coyne, who lives in Point Loma, knows District 2 well from serving on Campbell’s staff from 2019 to 2021. He now works for the nonprofit Downtown Partnership. When she ran in 2022, Havlik focused on maintaining the city’s 30-foot coastal height limit for development and fighting proposals for higher-density housing she argued would damage the character of beach communities. Lukacs, who lives in Sunset Cliffs, focused in the 2022 race on requiring developers to fund infrastructure along with new projects. Andrea Schlageter, leader of an umbrella organization for neighborhood groups called the City Planners Committee, said she is also considering a run. Another potential candidate is former Assemblymember Lori Saldaña. She said this week that she has been discussing the possibility of running with supporters. In District 8, a key factor in the race is expected to be how Moreno fares in the crowded race for an open seat on the County Board of Supervisors. If Moreno wins that race, the city would have to hold a special election to replace her because there would be more than one year left in her council term. If that happens, it could affect who runs. A Moreno win would seem likely to boost the chances of Ramirez, her chief of staff, because she is supporting his candidacy and could have more influence with labor unions and the county Democratic Party if elected supervisor. But her loss would eliminate that potential advantage for Ramirez, who’s been a staffer in the District 8 council office for eight years. Molina, who lives in Otay Mesa, is considered a strong candidate because of her City Hall experience. But that can sometimes work against candidates, especially in District 8 where political consultants say grassroots organizing is especially important. Martinez also brings notable experience to the race, serving on the school board since 2012 and on various neighborhood groups. But losing twice to Moreno is viewed as a hurdle he will have to overcome. Perez, who lost to Sean Elo-Rivera for a San Diego Community College board seat in 2018, could focus his campaign on his knowledge of the local housing market — a key issue citywide. A Sherman Heights resident, Perez previously served on the city’s equal opportunity commission and now serves on the San Diego Regional Airport Authority Board. All four candidates for District 8 are Democrats, who outnumbered registered Republicans in the district 40,055 to 15,860 through Tuesday. ...read more read less