OB Rag Staff Report
Our “Follow the Money” series on the biggest contributors in city elections continues with this review of the latest figures from Campaign Disclosure Reports (Series 400) of two District 6 City Council candidates, incumbent Kent Lee and challenger Mark Powell.
These reports fulfill the Rag’s promise to “scrutinize the candidates in the 2026 primary: who they are, what they’ve done, what they say, and most importantly, where their money comes from.”
District 6 includes Kearny Mesa, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City.
Kent Lee
Lee is in first place in D6 fundraising totals with $60,633. That money includes the maximum $1,600 donation from 16 individuals, some of whom are listed below. According to the Voters’ Voice Initiatives, Lee has raised almost 9 times more money from outside D6 than from inside. His contributors include Rep. Scott Peters ($800), Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera ($320), and Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe ($100)
Lee’s $1,600 contributors include:
- Katherine Johnston, Everlift Public Insights (lobbyist)
- Elvin Lai, Ocean Park Inn
- Nan Lai, Ocean Park Inn
- Wilbur Lai, Ocean Park Inn
- Quan Le, Crab Hut Inc.
- Michael Li, Crab Hut Inc.
- Kim Phan, Crab Hut Inc.
- Lorraine Lee, Chinatown Service Center (La Puente)
- Ming Lee, Templify Inc. (NYC)
Campaign website: https://www.kentleeforsd.com
Mark Powell
Powell entered the race after the deadline for filing campaign disclosure reports, so there is no publicly available information on his financial supporters.
Campaign website: https://markpowellforcitycouncil.com/
For your next article, please include PARTY contributions and independent expenditure committees or PACs
The big players do not contribute to the candidates directly e.g. SEMPRA/SDGE, Labor Unions, and the like
Mark Powell (Republican) has no money. His campaign so far consists of videos on Nextdoor complaining about bike lanes and how the council is trying to “force us out of our cars.”
Mark Powell is not a Republican but, like Kent Lee, is running as Nonpartisan. A candidate’s party doesn’t really matter unless the point is simply to cast aspersions by association. What matters is what a candidate wants to do for residents. There are lots of issues in University City and throughout the San Diego besides whether bike lanes make sense vs cost and actual projected use.
He was formally endorsed by the Republican Party of San Diego and that makes him a Republican candidate as far as most people are concerned (everyone running for council is non-partisan). And “doesn’t really matter” is what a candidate says when they know it’s a huge negative to belong to a party that is captive to a deranged pedophile who explicitly wants to increase carbon emissions, ban abortion nationwide and withdraw from NATO. The party has to be defeated at every level of government, including municipal.
Ned, actually I read somewhere that the local GOP disavowed him for being a “traitor” by resigning from the Republican Party. This doesn’t mean he hasn’t been endorsed by the GOP in the past.
That’s an old map of D6.
Correct. Clairemont is no longer in D6.
Okay Steph, I posted supposedly the correct map of D6 above. How could it be that the first map which I lifted right off the city’s website be incorrect? This second map is from the County Registrar of Voters.
It’s not easy to find the current maps on the city website. You have to click on the councilperson’s “Communities” tab, and they don’t all use the same map. Lee’s map is also kind of blurry. If anyone knows a site where you can see all 9 district maps clearly, I’d love to know the link.
The map posted above was taken straight from the city’s website as the official map of D6.
I loved how you broke down the money flow in District 6! I remember attending a city council meeting once, feeling so lost about where the funding was going. Your insights really shed light on these important issues—thanks for making it clearer!