# San Diego City Council, District 6 Compare records and positions simply between Mark Powell or Kent Lee for San Diego City Council, District 6 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-6 - 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 - **Mark Powell** — Business Owner/Educator - **Kent Lee** — City Councilmember · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Kent Lee faces Mark Powell in a two-candidate race covering University City, Kearny Mesa, Sorrento Valley and Mira Mesa. With only two candidates, both were guaranteed to advance from June (per KPBS); San Diego's charter stages the decisive vote in November either way. 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. This is the cycle's cleanest ideological contrast in San Diego: an incumbent Democrat running on housing attainability and fiscal accountability against a Republican challenger who opposes new parking fees and density and supports removing bike lanes (per KPBS). The district's street-redesign fights make those abstractions concrete. ## Kent Lee The sitting councilmember, a Democrat and former arts-nonprofit director. His stated priorities are housing attainability and fiscal accountability; he raised about $37,500 in the primary (per KPBS). In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes himself as a father of two young children with years of community volunteering before office. He says his first term delivered street repaving, park and community-space investment and protected services, and that he took a leadership role on the city budget. His three stated priorities are housing that is attainable for people who live and work in District 6; well-maintained parks, libraries and community spaces, with ongoing repairs to streets, sidewalks and streetlights; and restoring trust through fiscal accountability and transparency as budget pressures grow. For the long term he says he proposed a ballot measure to strengthen checks and balances, with oversight funding, more Council authority over the budget and a restored Chief Operating Officer, and that he opposed water rate increases over transparency concerns. On climate he favors housing near jobs and transit and limits on development in fire-prone rural areas. **Strengths:** A first-term record to point to and the incumbent's command of the district's active files, including street redesigns, growth planning and the city budget. **Trade-offs:** The district's development and street-redesign tensions cut across his own coalition; his votes are the record his opponent runs against. **Keep in mind:** The results he cites, such as street repaving and park investment, are his own account in a candidate questionnaire, not verified independently here. ## Mark Powell A Republican real-estate broker and former school-board member. He opposes parking fees and added density, supports removing bike lanes, and raised over $50,000 in the primary (per KPBS). **Strengths:** Prior elected service on a school board and primary fundraising ahead of the incumbent's (per KPBS). **Trade-offs:** His platform runs against the council's prevailing direction on housing and streets; effectiveness would depend on colleagues who mostly disagree. **Keep in mind:** His platform here rests on KPBS reporting. His positions on parking, density and bike lanes are specific enough to vote on directly. ## 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 6' 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. Answers on file from Kent Lee. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/san-diego-council-6.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) ## The rest of the ballot San Diego City Council, District 6 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 6 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-diego-council-6 (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.