The four challengers in the August 2 Democratic primary might seem to have a difficult–if not impossible–task.

Stephen Rapundalo, Ward Two’s representative since 2005, is well known for his tough negotiating stance with the city’s police and fire unions. Steve Kunselman, first elected in Ward Three in 2006, recently has been outspoken in his criticism of the Downtown Development Authority. And Mike Anglin, the Fifth Ward incumbent who voted against the new municipal building and underground parking structure, beat his most recent opponent by a two-thirds margin.

But consider that Tim Hull, Ward Two’s challenger, has youthful passion plus experience on the Michigan Student Assembly–and Rapundalo beat a write-in candidate with only 52 percent of the vote in 2007, his last contested election.

Then consider that Kunselman faces two challengers in the Third Ward–Ingrid Ault, who has tons of contacts through Think Local First, the nonprofit she’s been directing for the last three years, and Marwan Issa, who knows tons of people through his family’s business and educational activities–and that two years ago, Kunselman won a three-way race by just six votes.

While Anglin is familiar from the Kiwanis, the Sierra Club, and the Family Learning Institute, Fifth Ward challenger Neal Elyakin may know as many people through the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and the city’s Human Rights Commission.

Though at least two of the Democratic nominees will face GOP opponents this fall, Ann Arbor’s dark-blue electorate hasn’t elected a Republican to council since 2003. So August’s winners are likely to be November’s as well.

Just because council is all Democratic doesn’t mean its members always agree. Kunselman and Anglin have vocally dissented from some policies of the majority headed by mayor John Hieftje. Hieftje says he doesn’t “endorse” candidates running against sitting council members, but he has only good things to say about Elyakin and Ault–suggesting the mayor would be more than happy to see them replace his critics at the council table.

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Ward 2: Rapundalo, a former Pfizer researcher and currently executive director for life sciences trade group MichBio, says his campaign will center on his “experience and leadership. I’ve been on the labor committee, the budget committee, the audit committee, and [my opponent] can’t point to experience in the areas we tackle and has no proven leadership ability.”

Though Rapundalo’s determination to get all city employees on the same benefit plan has earned him the antagonism of the police and fire unions, Hieftje appreciates his efforts. “Stephen Rapundalo is one of the council members who has worked the hardest to help the city maintain services and avoid the deeper cuts and facility closures that are happening in cities across the state,” the mayor says. “He’s willing to make the tough decisions; that’s why I’m endorsing him.”

Tim Hull doesn’t see it that way. An Ann Arbor native with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the U-M now working on human-computer interaction for the National Center for Integrative Biomedical Informatics, Hull says: “Protecting services like fire and police is essential, and as far as health care and pensions goes, we need to work with the unions. No union busting!”

Nor is Hull, twenty-five, overly impressed by the six-term mayor. “John Hieftje has done good things for the city, but his decisions have not always been best for the city: look at the police and courts building.” Hull believes part of the reason for this is that “city council hasn’t consulted with citizens as much as they should have. Council needs to be more responsive and willing to listen to citizen’s concerns.”

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Ward 3: Steve Kunselman says he’s running again because he’s been a “strong, effective voice for residents” and points to his “outspoken opposition to the conference center” and “effort to rein in the DDA” as examples. “The DDA has been using parking revenue to support their bureaucracy and duplicating functions already provided by the city,” Kunselman asserts. “These are public dollars, and they are the purview of city government.” He contrasts that to the DDA’s role in economic development–which, he says, “is not the purview of local government.”

Ingrid Ault couldn’t disagree more. The Ann Arbor native and executive director of Think Local First, Ault believes “our job is to add to the tax base with smart development.”

Ault, forty-eight, hopes to make this happen by “shifting 10 percent of city spending to local companies so we’re reinvesting in our community and using the government as an economic engine.” Ault, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from EMU, hasn’t held elected office before, but she was appointed to a city board last year by the mayor. “She was eager to be involved and thought the housing and human services advisory board would be a good fit,” says Hieftje. “She’s dug into it and is doing a good job.”

Marwan Issa is just as strongly for local businesses, and he knows them firsthand–his family owns the Ahmo’s diner chain. Issa, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the U-M and a PhD from EMU, is the IT director of Global Educational Excellence, which provides management services to Ann Arbor’s Central Academy and other charter schools.

“I’m running because council isn’t doing what it can to help Ann Arbor reach its fullest potential,” says Issa, an Ann Arbor native. “Ann Arbor should be the number one city in America. We have the best education, the best sports, the best entrepreneurs, and the best businessmen in America. And we should have the cleanest and the safest city.”

To that end, Issa says he wouldn’t cut fire or police or touch their pensions. “They’ve got different jobs from the city administrator. They’re the ones running into burning buildings!”

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Ward 5: Mike Anglin says he’s the candidate of “fiscal responsibility. I voted against the police-courts building, the underground parking structure, and the conference center. I have not always been popular or on the winning side, but I have always been for fiscal responsibility.

“We’re taking on debt we’ll have for thirty years to have something we don’t really need,” continues Anglin, who owns the First Street Garden Inn. “But we do need services, and people like to have their services–particularly safety services.

“I’m in favor of more cops on the street,” Anglin says, “and we’re under[staffed] in the fire department.” To solve the rising cost of benefits, Anglin says he’d “change the city’s negotiation unit. I would hire someone very skilled at labor negotiations and have the meetings be televised.” Anglin has the support of the Sierra Club, which, like him, has often been at odds with the mayor.

“Mike is a very nice man,” says Neal Elyakin, fifty-seven. “But because of my background, experience, and skills, I can offer more to the city and the ward to create systems and processes that are more citizen focused.”

Elyakin, a Brooklyn, New York, native and a Washtenaw Intermediate School District special education supervisor, was appointed to the city’s Human Rights Commission in 2009. “He called me, and I suggested he put in an application,” says Hieftje. “Reading his resume and asking a few questions around town, I found he has a history of bringing people together.” Elyakin returns the compliment. “John’s done a very good job. He’s a great leader.”

Hieftje is in many ways a crucial part of the election. He’s endorsed Rapundalo outright and come close with Ault and Elyakin. If all three win, the council’s balance of power will shift further towards the mayor. If all lose, look for more, and more vocal, dissent in the year ahead.