Potential challengers in this fall’s municipal elections are surfacing and City Councilors Paul Scapicchio, Charles Yancey, and Jerry McDermott (who recently won a special election to fill the seat of the late Brian Honan) are among a handful of incumbents who may be vulnerable to challenge in November.

In District One, including East Boston, Charlestown, and the North End/Waterfront neighborhoods, Scapicchio may face a challenge from East Boston political operative Sal LaMattina, a manager in the city’s Transportation Department. LaMattina told the Phoenix that he is " not running, " but informed sources say that he’s been making scores of calls around the district to gauge whether support for the incumbent is waning. Scapicchio, a North End attorney, who moved to East Boston’s politically influential Orient Heights neighborhood last year, says he won’t be caught short — year-end campaign-finance reports show him with over $90,000 in campaign funds in the bank — and that he has already begun campaigning. But in a district dominated by Italian-American voters loyal to Mayor Thomas Menino, Scapicchio, who has crossed swords with the mayor over rent control, is seen as vulnerable.

In District Four, including parts of Dorchester and Mattapan, former council president Charles Yancey could be facing his first serious challenge since taking his seat on the council in 1983. Egobudike E. Ezedi Jr., a district aide to US Congressman Michael Capuano, is weighing a bid. Ezedi, 29, refused to comment, but district sources say he is talking with various community leaders about a possible candidacy. The district is dominated by communities of color and is home to a growing immigrant population. Ezedi, a Nigerian-American who is an associate minister at the Morningstar Baptist Church, a large congregation in Mattapan, could tap into the wellspring of newcomers while also challenging Yancey among the district’s more traditional African-American voters.

Meanwhile, in District Nine, including Allston and Brighton, Jerry McDermott is only six weeks into his first council term. But McDermott, a Brighton realtor, is already facing the prospect of another campaign from two candidates who ran in the December special election. Arturo Vasquez, an architect and long-time community activist who finished seventh in the nine-candidate preliminary field for the seat, has been telling supporters he will run against McDermott in the fall. But a larger threat to McDermott could come from Allston attorney Cathi Campbell, who finished third in the preliminary field and is also considering another bid. Campbell, a polished campaigner with strong ties to the progressive community and to tenant voters, says she is a couple of months away from making a final decision.

Of the council’s four at-large members, however, only Felix Arroyo, the newest member, is believed vulnerable to challenge. Arroyo, who was the fifth-place finisher in the 2001 at-large council race, succeeded to the council on New Year’s Day when long-time councilor Mickey Roache resigned to take a county post. Despite the coverage he has received as the city’s first Latino city councilor, Arroyo’s base is weak. In 2001, he finished nearly 10,000 votes behind Councilor Stephen Murphy, who was fourth, which leaves ample room for another challenger. Another factor to consider, however, is that Murphy, who recently ran unsuccessfully for the job of state treasurer, is reportedly considering a 2004 challenge to recently appointed Suffolk County sheriff Andrea Cabral.

Still, few if any candidates have risen to challenge Arroyo. State Representative Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester), who was considering entering the race, is reconsidering his options in light of his appointment to a State House committee chairmanship (Homeland Security). Greg Timilty, scion of former state senator and mayoral contender Joe Timilty, who ran sixth in the at-large race in 1999, has said he will look at the race. But Timilty recently got married, started a new business, and moved to Jamaica Plain, all complicating factors. Also reportedly eyeing the race is Sara Hamlen, a public-affairs consultant from West Roxbury who finished fourth in the Democratic primary for the 10th Suffolk House seat last fall. Hamlen, a liberal who ran as an openly gay candidate in conservative West Roxbury, is also being urged to consider running for the District Six seat currently held by John Tobin. That district includes Jamaica Plain as well as West Roxbury and part of Roslindale.

Other candidates are sure to surface — they have until June to file their papers — but for those serious about running, time grows short to raise money and rev up a campaign organization.