5 Ogden City Council hopefuls vying for District 4 seat
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.