All six of the district seats on the Colorado Springs City Council are currently set to have competitive elections this spring.

Fifteen candidates had filed with the City Clerk’s office by the Tuesday afternoon deadline to run in the April 1 election.

The slate of qualified candidates includes a former city council member, two current area school board members, business leaders and multiple members of other local boards.

Only two current council members are running for re-election, Dave Donelson and Nancy Henjum. Yolanda Avila is term-limited from serving again after completing her second term on council. Three other council members chose not to run.

The list of candidates may be shortened by the end of the week. Candidates have until Friday to withdraw their name from the ballot or cure enough signatures they had gathered over the last three weeks to qualify for the election.

District 1: Donelson quickly became one of the most outspoken members of the council after taking office, occasionally courting controversy by going against other council members. Now the incumbent, Donelson will be facing off against retired Air Force veteran Lee Lehmkuhl.

District 2: In the race for the northernmost district in the city, Tom Bailey, the current chairman of the El Paso County Planning Commission and a previous member on the city Planning Commission, will be running against Frank Chrisinger. City Council President Randy Helms is not running for a second term.

District 3: Brandy Williams is running to return to the City Council after serving from 2011 to 2013. Williams worked as a city engineer for Fountain after leaving the council and currently works for civil engineering firm HR Green. The second candidate for the seat is Greg Thornton, a member of the Colorado Springs Parks Advisory Board for six years. The third candidate is Rick Gillit, who ran for a seat on the Cheyenne Mountain School District board in 2023.

The winning candidate will succeed council member Michelle Talarico.

District 4: Three candidates are likely running to represent southeast Colorado Springs for Avila’s seat. The biggest name in the race is Kimberly Gold, president of the Colorado Springs Black Chamber who was named the 2024 “Army Spouse of the Year” by Armed Forces Insurance. The other listed candidate is Sherrea Elliott-Sterling, who ran for the Harrison 2 School District board in 2023.

Chauncy Johnson, a community activist who organized against the TABOR funding vote for the Colorado Springs Police Department training academy, has also qualified to run for the seat.

District 5: Henjum is running for reelection to a second term on the council. The other candidate in the district is Christopher Burns, a former officer for the Colorado Springs Police Department who is currently on the Law Enforcement Transparency and Advisory Commission.

District 6: Two school board members are running to represent eastern Colorado Springs. One is Parth Melpakam, the school board president for Colorado Springs School District 11. The other is Roland Rainey Jr., an Air Force veteran who is on the board of directors for Banning Lewis Academy. Financial adviser Aaron Schick has also filed for the District 6 race. Councilman Mike O’Malley is not seeking reelection.