# San Diego City Council, District 4 Compare records and positions simply between Martha Abraham or Henry Foster III for San Diego City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on San Diego's 9-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. - Jurisdiction: City of San Diego - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-diego-council-4 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: October 6, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 95 out of 100 (Very strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Martha Abraham** — Neonatal ICU Nurse/Mother - **Henry Foster III** — Councilmember · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Henry Foster III faces Martha Abraham, a neonatal ICU nurse, in the runoff for southeast San Diego — City Heights, Encanto, Lincoln Park, a district KPBS describes as historically underserved with a redlining legacy. Both advanced from June's primary (per the city clerk's roster). The winner holds one of nine seats on the San Diego City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and the land-use decisions behind the district's biggest fights. The term is four years. The district's defining task is recovery and reinvestment: the January 2024 floods hit here hardest and remain unresolved, and infrastructure gaps predate them by decades (per KPBS). The choice is an incumbent running on delivery against a first-time candidate running on lived proximity to the district's needs. ## Henry Foster III The sitting councilmember and a former District 4 chief of staff. His campaign points to investments in the district's commercial corridors and flood recovery after the January 2024 disaster; he raised about $65,000 with county- and state-level endorsements (per KPBS). In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes himself as a third-generation District 4 resident with more than a decade of city service, including five years as the district's chief of staff. His three stated priorities are strengthening communities, improving quality of life and keeping neighborhoods safe. Under the first he lists restoring investment in libraries, recreation centers and reservoirs and expanding flood and disaster recovery; under the second, more investment in commercial corridors, balanced housing, homelessness solutions and upgrades to parks and roads; under the third, violence-prevention programs and job training and placement. His published answer breaks off while describing community relations with first responders. On climate he says that, as chief of staff, he recommended projects funded through the city's Climate Equity Index, and that after the January 2024 floods he moved millions of dollars from the climate equity fund to help affected families. **Strengths:** Incumbency plus years of district staff work before it, the deepest institutional knowledge of District 4's files in the race (per KPBS). **Trade-offs:** He owns the recovery record he runs on; voters still living with unresolved flood damage may read "progress" differently than City Hall does. **Keep in mind:** The flood-relief and Climate Equity Index results he cites are his own account in a candidate questionnaire, not verified independently here. His priorities answer is cut off mid-sentence in the League's guide. ## Martha Abraham A neonatal intensive-care nurse (her ballot designation adds "mother"), one of the challengers KPBS lists against the incumbent in a district focused on flood recovery, infrastructure, and affordability. In her Vote411 questionnaire she presents nursing as her qualification, citing training to listen first and public-health expertise on how housing, fresh food, schools and clean air affect health. She describes a long pattern of disinvestment in District 4, with uncleared storm channels, homes still flooding after the January 2024 storms and crumbling roads. Her three stated priorities are councilmembers who engage with residents regularly and transparently; more economically balanced communities, with housing types affordable at every income level; and planned development that gives residents access to healthy food, health care, jobs and local services. On climate she says the Climate Equity Fund must be protected from budget raids like the one in 2024, and she wants a public dashboard to track its spending. For the long term she would use zoning incentives and community benefit agreements to attract grocery retailers to neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park. **Strengths:** A frontline nurse who ties health to housing, fresh food and clean air, in a district whose floods, pollution and underinvestment land hardest on public health. **Trade-offs:** No government or elected service record is cited in press coverage or her questionnaire, which leans on nursing training rather than prior public office. **Keep in mind:** Her account of District 4 disinvestment is her own, from a candidate questionnaire. Making the runoff against a sitting councilmember is itself a signal of district appetite for change. ## Sources 1. [San Diego City Clerk — 2026 election information (November runoff rosters)](https://www.sandiego.gov/city-clerk/elections/city/electioninfo) 2. [San Diego County Registrar of Voters — certified June 2, 2026 results](https://sdvote.com/results) 3. [KPBS — San Diego City Council races explainer, Districts 2, 4, 6, 8 (Apr 30, 2026)](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/04/30/2026-primary-election-san-diego-city-council-races-explainer-districts-2-4-6-8) 4. [City of San Diego eFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://efile.sandiego.gov/public/search/campaign/by-name) 5. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of San Diego City Council Member, District 4' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- top three priorities, qualifying background, climate-change actions, and a long-term challenge. Martha Abraham and Henry Foster III both responded; Foster's priorities answer is cut off mid-sentence. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/san-diego-council-4.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) ## The rest of the ballot San Diego City Council, District 4 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "San Diego City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-diego-council-4 (sources last retrieved October 6, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.