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5 Ogden City Council hopefuls vying for District 4 seat

By Rob Nielsen - | Aug 30, 2023

Photos supplied

Five candidates are facing off in the primary for the District 4 seat on the Ogden City Council. They are, clockwise from top left, Steve Van Wagoner, Austin Raymond, Sebastian Benitez, Alexander Castagno and Dave Graf. Voting ends on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023.

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 class ring, graduation, yearbook and championship jewelry 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 and details of Graf’s prior employer.

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