Updated 11/03/2026
Election Day is nearly here, and Coronado voters will weigh in on races and measures from City Hall to Congress. Here’s a look at what we’re watching on the ballot, and how results could affect Coronado. We’ll be posting results as they come in starting Tuesday evening, so check back for results.
City Council races
Four candidates are running for two at-large seats on the Coronado City Council, each a four-year term ending in December 2030. The seats are currently held by Councilmember Kelly Purvis and Councilmember Carrie Downey, who is not seeking re-election.
Andrew Gade is making his second run after an unsuccessful run in the 2024 council race. He has served on the city’s Mobility Committee and the Coronado Fourth of July board, and owns a window-tinting business in La Mesa. His priorities include filling vacant Orange Avenue storefronts and cutting delays in capital improvement projects. Read more about his platform and background here.
Ricky Hoyt, a first-time candidate, came to Coronado in 2015 when he was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island and now flies the V-22 Osprey as a Navy Reserve pilot while owning a small business in Coronado. He calls himself data-driven and fiscally conservative. His priorities include traffic safety, particularly e-bikes, infrastructure maintenance and the beach sewage crisis. Read more about his platform and background here.
Rebecca King, a retired military spouse who came to Coronado with the Navy in 2007, served on the city’s Planning and Design Review Commission and practiced law for more than a decade, mostly as a Deputy and Assistant City Attorney for Norfolk, Virginia. Read more about her platform and background here. Read more about her platform and background here.
Purvis is seeking a full term after the council appointed her to fill the vacancy created when John Duncan was elected mayor, a seat she has held since early 2025. Before joining the council, Purvis worked for the city for more than a decade. Read more about her platform and background here.
CUSD Trustee races
Four candidates are running for three seats on the Coronado Unified School District Board of Trustees: incumbents Alexia Palacios-Peters and Malachy “Mal” Sandie, and newcomers Peggy Duncan and Kaye Schneider. The board is elected at large, so the top three vote-getters win. Whoever wins will help steer the district through a big financial shift. CUSD is expected to reach Basic Aid status on July 1, 2027, when it will be funded by local property taxes and see ongoing revenue increases of $10 million to $12 million a year.
Peggy Duncan, an attorney, also served for three years as a trustee at Francis Parker School, where her children attended. Her top priorities are student mental health, especially in middle school, and thoughtful technology policies, including AI. She is married to Coronado Mayor John Duncan. Read more about her platform and background here.
Alexia Palacios-Peters, an attorney, is seeking a second term. She is campaigning on collaboration, facilities improvements and a review of technology in the classroom. She served two years as board president and says her perspective as a military spouse, former educator and parent of CUSD students shapes her work on the board. Read more about her platform and background here.
Mal Sandie, a retired Navy captain whose four sons attended Coronado schools, is also seeking a second term. On the board, Sandie has been a persistent advocate for restricting cell phones. For a second term, Sandie says he wants to use Basic Aid revenue to raise teacher pay, and he wants solar power and air conditioning in classrooms so students aren’t learning in sweltering rooms. Read more about his platform and background here.
Kaye Schneider taught middle school in Arizona for more than a decade before moving to Coronado in 1992. She later served as Coronado Middle School PTO president. She wants more chances for parents to connect with teachers, including evening conferences for working parents. As the district approaches Basic Aid, she says it needs to rebuild reserves and look closely at building needs, class sizes and the interdistrict transfer program. She also notes the new revenue could help pay for long-needed air conditioning. Read more about her platform and background here.
Measure D: Orange Avenue building heights
Voters will decide whether to permit four-story structures in a section of Orange Avenue. Ballot Measure D was approved by the City Council during its May 19 meeting, but council members were clear: This was not our idea.
The measure targets the R-4 zone between Second and Eighth Streets on Orange Avenue, which currently caps building heights at three stories and 35 feet. If passed, the limit would increase to four stories and 42 feet for multifamily development. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) determined that Coronado’s existing height limit in the R-4 zone would constrain residential development at the zone’s allowed density of 40 units per acre.
As a result, HCD required the city’s latest Housing Element to include a commitment to pursue a height increase. Because the current, three-story limit was established by voters in 1972, it can only be changed by voters — hence the ballot measure.
A countywide half-cent sales tax
Measure B would enact a countywide half-cent sales tax. It’s known as the Protect San Diego County Health and Safety Act, and revenues from it could be used for matters of public health — including mitigating the ongoing sewage from Tijuana. Supporters project the measure would generate $400 million to $450 million annually, with 22.5 percent dedicated to Tijuaan River pollution solutions. (Prior estimates set the revenue at $360 million per year.)
County leaders have said revenue from this measure could help fund additional infrastructure in the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis.
Measure A: County charter changes
Measure A would amend the county charter to create an independent ethics commission, an independent budget analyst and an independent program auditor. It would also require the county to post spending and performance data online and give supervisors greater authority over the appointment of certain senior county officials. The most debated piece would extend supervisors’ term limits from two four-year terms to three, which would apply to sitting supervisors.
Congress: 50th District
The only federal race on Coronado ballots pits a seven-term congressman against a first-time candidate who spent decades covering local politicians from the newsroom.
Democratic Rep. Scott Peters has represented the area since 2013. For Coronado, his most visible work has been on the Tijuana River sewage crisis, which he has called “the biggest environmental catastrophe in the Americas.” He has pushed Congress for sewage funding and helped lead San Diego delegations related to the matter. If reelected, he says he’ll keep working on cross-border pollution and the region’s housing crisis. He has also introduced legislation to limit “military-style” tactics by immigration agents and require body cameras.
Republican Steve Cohen, 79, was KUSI’s news director for more than 20 years and has worked in broadcast journalism for about five decades. Cohen is running on what he calls a “San Diego Affordability Agenda”: expanding housing supply and job growth, lowering health care costs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, and cutting federal spending. He supports strong immigration enforcement and ending sanctuary city policies. He also backs expanding natural gas production and fracking.
State races and propositions
At the top of the ballot, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton are running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is termed out. Voters will also decide 14 statewide propositions. Prop 1, for example, is an $11.25 billion bond for veterans and affordable housing. The full list, with summaries and arguments, is in the state’s Official Voter Information Guide.
A familiar name across the Bay
Former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, who has since moved to Point Loma, is running for San Diego City Council District 2 against Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby. Bailey left the Republican Party in February and is running with no party preference.
