With three highly qualified and experienced candidates to choose from, the race is on for the San Diego County District 4 seat.

Veterans advocate nonprofit CEO Janessa Goldbeck, San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery-Steppe, and State-licensed investigator and co-founder of ReOpen San Diego Amy Reichert, who ran against Fletcher in last year's election, all announced their candidacy for the position.

The Special Election will be held on August 15. If no candidate wins a majority, the race will go to a runoff on Nov. 7.

It's estimated to cost taxpayers between $2 million and $5 million.

The County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for a special election to be held after the resignation of Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher announced his resignation from the board back in March, which went into effect at 5 p.m. on May 15.

Home to nearly 700,000 residents, District 4 includes the city of Lemon Grove and dozens of San Diego metropolitan neighborhoods, including Azalea Park, Bankers Hill, City Heights, Clairemont Mesa, Hillcrest, Linda Vista, Rolando, Skyline, Spring Valley, University Heights and Valencia Park. It also contains three major tourist attractions: Balboa Park, Old Town and the San Diego Zoo.

The Fourth Supervisorial District continues to be served by the County government. Borrego Springs is in the Fifth District, with Jim Desmond as its Supervisor.

Reichert was the Republican candidate who ran for the District 4 seat in the 2022 election against Fletcher, but lost by a wide-margin.

She says she "believes in bringing positive change to the community and giving the residents of San Diego an improved quality of life."

"I am excited to announce my candidacy for the County Board of Supervisors for District 4. I am committed to rebuilding the trust in our elected officials and strengthening our communities," she said. "It is time we give them the leadership they deserve. I look forward to serving my fellow citizens and fostering positive change in our community."

Reichert grew up in the San Diego area as the oldest of three children. She graduated from San Diego State while majoring in Political Science and began her career as an investigator and worked to seek justice for clients, including locating missing persons and uncovering fraud.

She co-founded ReOpen San Diego, a non-profit community organization to ensure the safe reopening of schools, bring relief to struggling small businesses, and support first responders, healthcare workers, and teachers.

Some of her priorities include lowering the cost of living, solving the homeless epidemic, increasing public safety in our communities, helping struggling small businesses, prioritizing mental health and making the government listen.

She brought historical levels of investment to her district – bringing in over $100 million in new parks, paved streets, repaired sidewalks and street lights, a new senior center, a new library, graffiti removal, neighborhood clean ups, affordable and market rate housing, and small business support. She led the effort to ban the police carotid restraint, increase oversight over MTS security, and pass Measure B, creating a Commission on Police Practices with subpoena power and independent investigators. Monica also worked tirelessly during the budget process to create the Office of Race & Equity with a $3 million Equity Fund and an equity program for COVID-19 recovery funds. She helped lead the effort to keep renters in their homes and businesses during the crisis. Additionally, she worked with community leaders to create The Peace Movement: Let's Live, Let's Love to reduce neighborhood violence and ensure that seniors in the community who were impacted by the isolation of COVID-19 received necessary services, food, and other necessities.

Reichert and her husband live in La Mesa with their sons, Alex and Christian.

San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery-Steppe serves as council president pro tem, representing over 160,000 San Diegans and serves as chair of the Budget & Government Efficiency Committee – overseeing the process for the City's $5.2 billion dollar budget. She's also on the San Diego City-County Reinvestment Task Force, the board of MTS, the San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the San Diego Housing Authority.

Montgomery-Steppe was born and raised in San Diego and spent most of her life in District Four. She began her education at Pacific View Leadership Elementary. After completing her undergraduate degree at Spelman College, she returned to San Diego to earn her Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law.

Before entering elected office, she fought for families to stay in their homes during the foreclosure crisis in the Great Recession, worked at the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties as a Criminal Justice Advocate, and served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the City of San Diego with specific focus in the policy areas of criminal justice reform and public safety, neighborhood revitalization, workforce development, small business development, equal opportunity contracting, and youth services.

She brought in over $100 million in new parks, paved streets, repaired sidewalks and street lights, a new senior center, a new library, graffiti removal, neighborhood clean ups, affordable and market rate housing, and small business support. She also led the effort to ban the police carotid restraint, increase oversight over MTS security, and pass Measure B, creating a Commission on Police Practices with subpoena power and independent investigators. Monica also worked tirelessly during the budget process to create the Office of Race & Equity with a $3 million Equity Fund and an equity program for COVID-19 recovery funds. She helped lead the effort to keep renters in their homes and businesses during the crisis. Additionally, she worked with community leaders to create The Peace Movement: Let's Live, Let's Love to reduce neighborhood violence and ensure that seniors in the community who were impacted by the isolation of COVID-19 received necessary services, food, and other necessities.

"I will continue to fight for my community to have a voice wherever it is needed. And right now, that need is at the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. I ask that you stand with me to move the county forward," she said.

Janessa Goldbeck is a Veterans advocate and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, a national nonprofit that advocates for veterans and military families.

Goldbeck filed for candidacy in February before any allegations against Fletcher surfaced.

"I'm excited, this is a democracy, our fundamental right is to vote, and express ourselves. This is going to be a very short race, it's a very short amount of time to meet everyone in the district," Goldbeck said.

Goldbeck is a decorated Marine Corps veteran who, in addition to deploying overseas, fought a policy banning women from top jobs in the military and stood up for victims of sexual assault as a Uniformed Victim Advocate.

Vet Voice Foundation has more than 1.5 million members that gives veterans and military families a bigger say on the issues that matter – like lowering costs for families, confronting the climate crisis, standing up for workers' rights, addressing inequality, and ensuring safe and healthy communities.

Goldbeck grew up in San Diego County and cut short her career in the Marines to come home and take care of her mom, a retired public school teacher, in her final fight with Alzheimer's. That experience made her a fierce advocate for all caregivers. Before joining the Marines as a Combat Engineer Officer, she worked as a human rights advocate to protect civilians in conflict zones in Sudan and Myanmar. She holds a B.S. from Northwestern University and an M.A. from the University of San Francisco. Janessa and her wife Carol live in San Diego with their dogs and a small flock of hens.

"I'm not afraid of this challenge, this is certainly a more sped up race but the work that needs to be done at the county, the progress that needs to continue there to fight against the homelessness, to make sure San Diegans struggling with the skyrocketing cost of living here, to have the resources they need – that work is too important to stall out and I'm excited to get in the mix and be a part of the solution," Goldbeck said.