City of San Diego · Statewide General Election
San Diego City Council, District 2
Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.
On the ballot
- Nicole Crosby — Deputy City Attorney
- Richard Bailey — San Diego Business Owner
This person holds your district's seat on San Diego's 9-member City Council: city laws, the budget, and land use.
Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby advanced from June's seven-candidate primary — the cycle's most crowded San Diego council field — for an open coastal seat covering Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, the Peninsula and Clairemont (per KPBS and the city clerk's roster). San Diego's charter sends the top two to November in every council race.
The winner holds one of nine seats on the San Diego City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and the land-use decisions behind the district's biggest fights. A four-year term.
The district's live issues are the coastal ones KPBS's explainer catalogs — backlash over accessory dwelling units, short-term rentals, the Midway Rising redevelopment, and what "neighborhood character" should mean for housing growth. The runoff pairs a former mayor of a neighboring city running without a party against a labor-backed deputy city attorney.
Richard Bailey
A business owner and the former mayor of Coronado, running with no party preference — KPBS notes he is a former Republican. His stated platform is "attainable housing growth" and repealing new fees and taxes, and he led the field's fundraising at over $200,000 with strong business backing (per KPBS).
Strengths
Executive experience running a city — mayor of Coronado — plus the field's largest reported fundraising (per KPBS).
Trade-offs
His mayoral record is another city's; District 2 voters are being asked to hire an executive from outside the city he would help govern.
Keep in mind
He dropped his Republican registration to run without a party (per KPBS) — weigh whether that reads as independence or as positioning for a Democratic-leaning district.
Nicole Crosby
A deputy city attorney with a prosecution background, endorsed by labor. Her stated focus is affordability and safety, including gun-violence prevention; she raised roughly $27,000 in the primary (per KPBS).
Strengths
City-government legal experience — she works inside the government the council oversees — with labor backing.
Trade-offs
A staff-level record rather than elected office, and primary fundraising roughly an eighth of her opponent's (per KPBS).
Keep in mind
This is the money-versus-machine race in miniature: whether organized labor's ground game can offset a heavily out-fundraised campaign.
Source review: Very strong (95/100) · 2 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with a narrow source base.
- sandiego.gov (opens in a new tab)San Diego City Clerk — 2026 election information (November runoff rosters)
- kpbs.org (opens in a new tab)KPBS — San Diego City Council races explainer, Districts 2, 4, 6, 8 (Apr 30, 2026)
Last updated August 22, 2026.