Incumbents lead council fund-raising

Seven candidates running for 2 open Lancaster seats

LANCASTER — City Council incumbents Ken Mann and Lauren HughesLeslie have the fundraising advantage among the field of seven candidates vying for two four-year council seats in the city of Lancaster’s April 9 municipal election.

Mann is running for what would be his fifth consecutive term on the City Council. Hughes-Leslie, who was appointed last September to complete the unexpired term of former Councilman Darrell Dorris, is running for her first four-year team.

Their challengers are Irvine Carrillo, Anthony Doeman, Robert Enos, Ayinde-Adisa Frazier and Fran Seresere.

Mann collected $11,000 in campaign contributions in the period between July 1 and Dec. 31, according to his Form 460. The largest contribution came from Vice Mayor Marvin Crist, who contributed $10,000 to Mann’s campaign from the Marvin Crist for City Council 2022 committee. He also received a $1,000 contribution from Vose Properties Inc. More recently, Mann filed a Form 497, used for contributions of $1,000 or more in the 90 days before an election, detailing $3,000 in total contributions of $1,000 each.

Hughes-Leslie received $12,000 in campaign contributions between Sept. 21 and Dec. 31, according to her Form 460 reports. The monetary contributions came from Crist, who also contributed $10,000 from the Marvin Crist for City Council 2022 committee. Hughes-Leslie also received a $2,000 contribution from the Charles Hughes for High School Board.

She filed two Form 497 reports on Feb. 1 for a total of $4,200 including a $2,000 contribution from Crazy Ot

to’s Diner and $1,000 from PMI Antelope Valley.

Only one of the five candidates challenging the two incumbents filed campaign finance reports, according to the City Clerk’s office.

Enos received a $25 monetary contribution between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023. More recently, Enos reported $4,670 in campaign contributions including $3,300 from Justin Rice, manager at World Energy LLC. Enos’ other campaign contributions ranged from $75 to $500.