5 Ogden City Council hopefuls vying for District 4 seat

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OGDEN — Primary Election Day is less than a week away and five candidates are looking to represent Ogden City’s Fourth District as a member of the City Council.

Between Austin Raymond, Dave Graf, Alexander Castagno, Steven Van Wagoner and Sebastian Benitez, two candidates will advance to the November general election. District 4 is currently represented by Ben Nadolski, who has opted to run for mayor of Ogden.

Recently, the Standard-Examiner reached out to the City Council hopefuls to allow the public to get to know them a little better.

Name: Austin Raymond

Age: 21

Occupation: He is a political consultant at Avalanche Politics.

Political experience: This is his first time seeking political office.

Ogden roots: He was born and raised here and has family roots to the first pioneers in the state, he says.

Education: He went to Bonneville High School and briefly attended Weber State University, where he studied economics.

Name: Dave Graf

Age: 66

Occupation: He is retired but spent several decades as a sales professional with Jostens, the school portrait company.

Political experience: He spent seven years on the Ogden City Planning Commission.

Ogden roots: He moved to Ogden from Colorado in 2014.

Education: He graduated from Eau Claire Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1975. He then attended the University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1979.

Name: Alexander Castagno

Age: 31

Occupation: He is the “Agile Team Leader” for ARUP Laboratories.

Political experience: He has not held office previously but ran for state Senate in Sandy with the United Utah Party.

Ogden roots: He has lived in Utah all his life and moved to Ogden two years ago.

Education: He graduated from Brighton High School in Sandy. He also attended the University of Utah in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in political science and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for a master’s in political management.

Name: Steven Van Wagoner

Age: 46

Occupation: He is the owner of We Store More LLC, proprietor of Biz Real Estate and founding president of Ogden Soccer.

Political experience: He previously ran for mayor in 2011.

Ogden roots: He is originally from Midway and moved to Ogden permanently in 2006.

Education: He graduated from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, California, and pursued a trade in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Name: Sebastian Benitez

Age: 60

Occupation: He is an entrepreneur, owning and operating Intermountain Property Cleaning Services for over 27 years.

Political experience: He has not held office but ran for Ogden mayor in 2015 and for Ogden City Council in 2021.

Ogden roots: He moved to Ogden in 2000 but grew up in Spain and previously lived in Paraguay and other South American countries.

Education: He is a licensed electrician and has a degree in business administration.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct details of Alexander Castagno’s roots in Utah.

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