In the race to represent San Diego’s District 8, three candidates were within a few hundred votes of each other in a four-person field — plus two write-in candidates who jumped in – as returns continued to come in Wednesday morning.
Antonio Martinez led with almost 28.9% of the vote, followed by Gerardo Ramirez at just shy of 23.6% and Venus Molina, with 21.5%.
Councilmember Vivian Moreno, who has served the community since 2018, is termed out; 840 votes separate the trio in closest contention for the seat.
“We still have a long way to go,” Martinez said. “The truth is, is that this is the first step. The real results are in November, but I can tell you, I’m very happy.”
The race features two city council chiefs of staff – Ramirez, who works for Moreno, and Molina, who serves District 2, represented by another termed-out council member, Jennifer Campbell.
Molina secured the most prominent endorsements, including Mayor Todd Gloria, Campbell and Councilman Stephen Whitburn.
Martinez, who also snagged plum endorsements, including county Supervisor Paloma Aguirre and state Sen. Steve Padilla, has run for the seat twice before. In 2018, he proved an able challenger to Moreno, capturing 49% of the vote, but by 2022, Moreno easily outpaced the San Ysidro school board member. She won the general election with 63% of the vote.
A fourth candidate, Rafael Perez, a Realtor who sits on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority’s board, also is the former president of the Sherman Heights Community Center board. He attracted 17.6% of the vote in the second Registrar of Voters update, after 10 p.m.
Write-in candidates, including Mike Ochoa, who cites experience in banking, entrepreneurship and community engagement, and Kenia Peraza, like Martinez, a San Ysidro school board member, were splitting 8.55% of the vote.
The registrar only cited the total write-in votes cast, without attributing them to particular candidates in the returns.
District 8 includes a cluster of communities south of downtown – with Barrio Logan, Grant Hill, Logan Heights and Shelltown among them – and a swath of the South Bay near the border – including Egger Highlands, Nestor, Ocean View Hills and parts of Otay Mesa.
The seat is among four on the city council up for grabs, including districts 2, 4 and 6. District 8, like District 2, is an open race due to the termed-out members.
Updated 3:41 a.m. June 3, 2026.
Andi Ruiz contributed to this report.
