San Bernardino uses a top-two primary, and the first round of voting was held on June 7, 2022.

Seven candidates took part in the primary election, including incumbent mayor John Valdivia, former City Attorney from 1987 to 2013 Jim Penman, and San Bernardino Director of Human Resources Helen Tran.

Penman earned the second-most number of votes and moved forward to the next round.

Incumbent mayor John Valdivia, who had been censured by the City Council for misusing public funds, failed to make it past the first round.

[1] Helen Tran and Jim Penman advanced to the general election held on November 8.