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County · Statewide General Election

San Diego County Board of Supervisors, District 4

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person is one of five supervisors governing San Diego County -- the state's second-most-populous county, home to about 3.3 million residents: the county budget, land use in unincorporated areas, and county health, parks, probation, and social-service departments. A 4-year term.

Incumbent Monica Montgomery Steppe, on the Board of Supervisors since December 2023 and a two-term San Diego City Councilmember before that, faces Kristine Alessio, a former La Mesa Councilmember and attorney, for the District 4 seat -- the only county Board of Supervisors primary with just two candidates, so it skipped straight to a November-only vote.

This person holds one of five seats on the Board of Supervisors, which sets San Diego County's budget, decides land use in the unincorporated county, and oversees county health, parks, probation, and social-service departments. A 4-year term on a board governing about 3.3 million residents.

Montgomery Steppe is campaigning on her record: affordable-housing dollars, a violence-interruption program in her old council district, and the county's response to the January 2024 floods. Alessio is campaigning against the sitting board's recent conduct -- a reserve-fund vote and a term-limits ballot measure she and the Union-Tribune's editorial board both call misleading -- and frames herself as an independent check rather than part of the current board majority.

Monica Montgomery Steppe

Monica Montgomery Steppe won a November 2023 special election for this seat, succeeding Nathan Fletcher, after two terms on the San Diego City Council representing District 4 (2018-2022). She holds a J.D. from California Western School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Spelman College.

Strengths

A full council term plus two years as supervisor, plus a signature initiative: a violence-interruption program police credit with a 54% drop in non-fatal shootings in her old district.

Trade-offs

The Union-Tribune editorial board, which praised her 2023 win for "courage and independence," now says she voted for two board decisions it calls seriously off track.

Keep in mind

Her own campaign material lists program wins but doesn't address the editorial board's specific criticisms directly -- see her opponent's profile and Financial info for the other side.

Kristine Alessio

Kristine Alessio is a former La Mesa City Councilmember and attorney making her first run for county office. A UCSD graduate, Cal-Access shows she has filed campaign committees for La Mesa city races going back to 2012.

Strengths

The Union-Tribune editorial board crossed over to endorse her, citing an "independent streak" on a Democratic-leaning board and her opposition to the two votes it calls a bait-and-switch.

Trade-offs

She has never held county-level office; her prior elected experience is one term-equivalent on the much smaller La Mesa City Council, a jump in budget and scale she'd make on day one.

Keep in mind

Cal-Access committee history shows multiple past La Mesa candidacies (council, mayor, council again in 2024) -- a long local political career, not a first bid for office, even though this is her first county-level run.

Source review: Strong (86/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board -- "Alessio for supervisor: She won't go along with efforts to dupe voters" (published May 8, 2026, updated May 11): endorses Kristine Alessio over incumbent Monica Montgomery Steppe, citing a Dec. 9, 2025 board vote to tap county reserve funds for one-time employee bonuses on a simple-majority vote and an April 21, 2026 vote advancing term-limits ballot language the board says is written to look pro-term-limits while allowing a third term may have more bias because it is an editorial endorsement source compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 4 (candidate pages for Monica Montgomery Steppe and Kristine Alessio): confirms the June 2, 2026 primary was canceled -- only two candidates filed -- and both advance directly to the November 3, 2026 general, with Montgomery Steppe's officeholder bio (SD City Council 2018-2022, county supervisor since Dec. 2023) and Alessio's own campaign-site text (former La Mesa Councilwoman)
  • sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board -- "Alessio for supervisor: She won't go along with efforts to dupe voters" (published May 8, 2026, updated May 11): endorses Kristine Alessio over incumbent Monica Montgomery Steppe, citing a Dec. 9, 2025 board vote to tap county reserve funds for one-time employee bonuses on a simple-majority vote and an April 21, 2026 vote advancing term-limits ballot language the board says is written to look pro-term-limits while allowing a third term
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- "STEPPE FOR SUPERVISOR 2026; RE-ELECT MONTGOMERY" (Filer #1470155), status ACTIVE; no Form 460/461/450 electronically filed for the 2025-2026 cycle as of this retrieval
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- "ALESSIO FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR D4 2026; KRISTINE" (Filer #1489745), status ACTIVE; no Form 460/461/450 electronically filed for the 2025-2026 cycle as of this retrieval

Last updated August 31, 2026.