Raul Armando Campillo was born in San Diego and raised in El Cajon, CA. Raul’s family originally hails from Calexico, CA, where Raul spent time with family on holidays. Raul attended Uni High School (USDHS, now Cathedral Catholic High School) in Linda Vista before attending Harvard University.
After graduating with his degree in Government, Raul worked as a fifth-grade public school teacher in one of the country’s poorest school districts in North Las Vegas, NV. After earning a Master’s Degree in Education from UNLV, Raul left teaching to pursue a career in law, earning his law degree from Harvard Law School and joining the international law firm O’Melveny & Myers.
After several years practicing complex litigation and conducting white collar criminal investigations, Raul returned to public service here at home with the San Diego City Attorney’s Office. Raul principally prosecuted DUIs, helped find diversion programs and therapy for individuals suffering from addiction, and finally worked in the Gun Violence Response Unit, taking firearms out of the hands of people who pose a threat to themselves or their community. Raul was elected to a 4-year term on the San Diego City Council on November 3, 2020.
Bringing his legal experience and attention to detail to every decision, Raul is dedicated to ensuring the people in the Seventh Council District are well served at City Hall. Raul believes that the City must provide a strong economic environment for families to be able to afford living in San Diego, to provide their children with opportunities, and to build social cohesion across diverse communities. Because District 7 is centrally located with opportunities for commerce, housing, transit, and education, Raul sees great progress with proper planning, investment in infrastructure, and protecting our natural resources like the San Diego River and Mission Trails Regional Park. Raul also brings his expertise as a prosecutor to the task of implementing smart and effective changes to policing.
As written in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “The most pivotal quality Campillo may be taking to City Hall is a strong conviction that he and his colleagues can improve the lives of San Diegans, especially those facing economic problems and barriers to success. “I want to change people’s minds so they are more compassionate for one another,’ he said. ‘I really want them to know that government is intended to serve them. And that good ideas really can improve people’s lives. I think people are going to find that I’m a bridge builder.”
In addition to serving on five Council committees, Raul is chair of the Mission Trails Regional Park Task Force and has several key regional appointments including serving as the Vice-Chair of the San Diego Association of Governments’ (SANDAG’s) Transportation Committee, Vice-Chair of SANDAG’s Public Safety Committee, and as a member of the San Diego River Conservancy Board, which funds projects to prevent fires and flooding along the San Diego River.
When Raul is not busy working at City Hall, he can be found watching international soccer, going fishing with his father, biking from Mission Valley to Mission Bay, or on hikes all over San Diego with his partner Nadia and their miniature schnauzer, Kiko.
