Meet the candidates for the El Cajon mayoral primary race

• Party: Peace and Freedom
• Professional background: Alexander Kraft said he worked in retail, technology and education. He’s currently a clerical employee for the County of San Diego and involved in political and labor organizing. He says he holds elected office in his union, and he’s a delegate to the San Diego Imperial County Labor Council
• Top three priorities:
  
  • Reducing housing costs: Kraft believes the way to reduce housing costs is through direct municipal investment in housing. He said he would make it a priority for the city to create and provide low-cost housing stock and put downward economic pressure on housing costs throughout the city with direct investment in housing. He sees this as a way for the city  to generate revenue that isn't based on taxes. He also would like to require a tax for “big billionaire” out-of-town landlords who own more than 50 units in the city. He would like to use the money generated from that tax as seed money for municipal investment in housing. 
  • Increasing wages and employment opportunity: Regarding wages, Kraft said one of his priorities would be to institute a city minimum wage that matches San Diego's so that El Cajon is competitive in the local job market. He also expressed interest in pushing for a national $30 minimum wage. He also would want to prioritize creating project labor agreements and prevailing wage requirements for city projects. He wants to invest in local infrastructure, including the redevelopment of Parkway Plaza, to bring short-term job growth while the projects are underway, and long-term growth by creating a revitalized shopping district. “Under my leadership, City Hall will be a partner to workers who want to unionize, offer tax and fee incentives to employers who pay their workers a thriving wage, and create an Office of Labor Standards to proactively investigate and enforce labor laws,” Kraft said.
  • ICE activity and immigrant protections: Kraft intends to audit and stop any police collaboration with ICE. Kraft said on day one he would repeal El Cajon’s controversial ICE resolution (see below), and replace it with one directing the police to protect everyone in El Cajon’s community, regardless of race/ethnicity, where they're from or how long they've been in El Cajon. “El Cajon is proud of its small-town history and its small-town values … like hospitality, generosity, loving thy neighbor,” Kraft said. “We are a community of immigrants and refugees in 2026. We are a community of color. We are a community that values our safety and our security, and we want our neighbors to be able to go to work, go to school, go to their places of worship and walk down the street without getting a bag thrown over their head, dragged into the back of an unmarked van and taken off to some concentration camp somewhere.”
    

• San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council 
• Latinos En Acción
• Democratic Socialists of America

https://kraftformayor.com/

• Party: Registered Republican
• Professional background: Bill Wells has been the mayor of El Cajon since 2013. His website says he worked in healthcare, has a doctorate in clinical psychology and is a former emergency room nurse.
• Top three priorities:
  Wells did not reply to KPBS’ interview request. The following information came from Wells’ campaign website.
  
  
  • Stopping taxes: Wells acknowledged the impact of rising living costs and critiqued how much the public pays in state and county taxes. He advocates for “Not one more tax on the backs of El Cajon families.”
  • Homelessness: Wells sees accountability and treatment as the way to address homelessness. He said he’s fought the County to stop housing people experiencing homelessness in El Cajon's motels without warning. He’s advocating for mandated mental health and addiction treatment, transitional housing and family reunification. 
  • Supporting police and first responders: Wells said he will fight to hire more officers, support first responders and make sure El Cajon stays a place where families feel safe on their own streets. He advocates for fully funding the police. 
    

• Republican Party of San Diego County
• No endorsements were included on Wells’ website.
  

https://www.votebillwells.com

Throughout San Diego County, communities are dealing with soaring living costs, including El Cajon. The city has been impacted by rising housing costs and community members have grappled with homelessness. KPBS reached out to the candidates to learn more about their thoughts on housing development and homelessness.

• Wells did not respond to KPBS’ interview requests. However, he indicated on his website that homelessness should be addressed through mandated mental health and addiction treatment, transitional housing and family reunification.
  
• Kraft sees homelessness as a multi-faceted issue but said housing is one of the most critical elements. He would want to get housing costs down and bring wages up. Kraft wants to guarantee affordable housing by direct municipal investment. He said he would make it a priority for the city to create and provide low-cost housing stock and put downward economic pressure on housing costs throughout the city with direct investment in housing. 
  

The City of El Cajon came under fire last year for passing a controversial resolution that declares El Cajon is not an immigrant sanctuary city. Some community members have protested this decision while others supported it. The city then announced a lawsuit in April against California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the state’s sanctuary law. KPBS asked the candidates for their opinion on the implementation of California’s sanctuary law at the local level. KPBS reached out to the candidates to learn more about their opinion on the implementation of California’s sanctuary law at the local level and how they, as mayor, would address community concerns about the city's resolution.

• Wells did not respond to KPBS’ interview requests, but he is a main proponent of the city’s sanctuary city resolution. In past KPBS reporting, he’s been quoted as saying: “We're not asking our police officers to break the law. What we did was we voiced our opinion that the federal law supersedes the state law. That's it.”
• Kraft said on day one he would want to repeal El Cajon’s ICE resolution and replace it with one directing the police to protect everyone in El Cajon’s community, regardless of race/ethnicity, where they're from, or how long they've been in El Cajon.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the city of El Cajon regarding its Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR)/Flock camera data sharing. KPBS asked the candidates about their thoughts on how El Cajon Police Department is using ALPR/Flock for police surveillance. And KPBS asked the candidates how they would balance the community's privacy and the police’s duty to protect and serve the community. KPBS reached out to the candidates to hear their thoughts on how the El Cajon Police Department is using ALPR/Flock for police surveillance and how they would balance the community's privacy and the police’s duty to protect and serve the community.

• Wells did not respond to KPBS’ interview request, but issued a statement last year regarding the lawsuit. His statement included the following: "Let's be clear — this is nothing more than a political stunt and an attempt to bully a conservative city for standing up for public safety," Wells said in his written statement. "For years, Sacramento has looked for ways to punish cities like ours because we refuse to fall in line with their ideology. They've chosen politics over people, and now they're using the courts to intimidate those of us who disagree with them.”
  
• Kraft sees the El Cajon Police Department’s current sharing of Flock data as a violation of state law. He expressed concerns about how the data is used by federal agencies, given the rise of ICE raids. He also worries about the cost of the lawsuit — “The El Cajon taxpayer is facing the cost for it,” Kraft said.

Parkway Plaza historically has been a major shopping mall in East County but has floundered in recent years. The City of El Cajon recently discussed options for redevelopment, but concrete plans are in limbo. KPBS asked the candidates what they would like to see happen to Parkway Plaza.

• Wells did not respond to KPBS’ interview request, but said on Facebook that he’s committed to help revitalize the mall. He said the city council is looking at what it would take for the city to step in and help guide the property's future, given that it used to bring in about a quarter of the city's sales tax revenue. 
• Kraft would like to redevelop Parkway Plaza for mixed-use, including housing, shopping and recreational activities. He said he envisions it as a walkable, “human-oriented,” transit-connected hub for the city. He would want to maintain some existing spaces, like the parking structure and movie theater, and collaborate with existing business owners in Parkway Plaza to ensure that the redevelopment would enhance their business.

• Kraft has raised a total of $28,319 (as of Sept. 30). He donated $1,000 of his own money in 2025 to his campaign. Almost two-thirds of the contributions came from individuals, according to the campaign finance data tracker Ballot Book. The majority of contributions came from outside of El Cajon, according to the Ballot Book. His biggest contributor is SEIU Local 221.
• Wells has raised a total of $279,152 (as of Sept. 30). The majority of the contributions he received came from individuals, according to the campaign finance data tracker Ballot Book. A little less than half of the contributors were located in El Cajon, according to Ballot Book. The top individual contributors were David and Connie Wick ($25,000 combined) and Dan and Jamie Feder ($40,000 combined).