Municipal elections in California are officially non-partisan, although most members do identify a party preference.

A two-round system was used for the election, starting with a primary in June followed by a runoff in November between the top-two candidates.

The incumbent City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, was ineligible to run for reelection after eight years in the position due to term limits.

[2] In the June primary, Republican Robert Hickey and Democrat Mara Elliott received the most votes and advanced to the November runoff election.

Elliott's second-place victory in the June primary was considered an upset due to her opponents out raising and out spending her.