The dust has settled on the nomination period of the 2026 election cycle, and we now have the official candidates who will be seen on the ballot come November.
Los Altos City Council, now moving to district-based elections, has two seats up for grabs: District 2 in the southern part of the city and District 4 towards the northern area of town.
District 2 candidates include Anky van Deursen and former Mayor Lynette Lee Eng. Lucinda Langley-Andrews had pulled papers but did not file before the deadline. In District 4, current Councilmember Larry Lang qualified for the ballot July 21. Roger Heyder pulled papers and filed them Aug. 7 and at time of press is still awaiting verification from the Registrar of Voters office.
Also on the ballot is Measure D for the downtown parking plaza ordinance. If a majority of voters approve this measure, it will take away the City Council’s power to make informed decisions on what to do with the 10 city-owned downtown parking plazas without explicit majority voter approval.
In Los Altos Hills, Kavita Tankha and George K. Tyson have termed out. Three candidates have emerged for the two at-large seats: Los Altos Hills Planning Commissioner Jim Waschura, physician Jasmeen Pombra and small business owner Indu Kadambi.
Mountain View City Council has three open seats as a trio of council members are terming out. Eight candidates are vying for the spots, including Samuel Ali, Robert Cox, Paul Donahue, James Kuszmaul, Silja Paymer, Erik Poicon, Alex Amoroso and IdaRose Sylvester.
Mountain View will also have two measures on the ballot. Measure E is for charter amendments. If approved by a majority of voters, the measure would amend the Mountain View City Charter to update and modernize several of its provisions. Measure F is a Transient Occupancy Tax. If approved by a majority of voters, it would authorize the City Council to increase the Transient Occupancy Tax to a maximum rate of 15%.
Current Los Altos City Councilmember Pete Dailey is bypassing a chance at reelection to challenge for the District 7 seat of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Dailey is looking to unseat incumbent Rebecca Eisenberg.
The Purissima Hills Water District Board has two seats up and incumbents Anand Ranganathan and Essy Stone both have filed for reelection and are on the ballot. With no other candidates, Ranganathan and Stone will assume their posts.
The El Camino Healthcare District Board has two seats up for grabs in the general election this cycle. The incumbents, Peter C. Fung and George O. Ting, are the lone candidates on the ballot, rendering this a formality come Nov. 3.
Incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo is up for reelection in California’s 16th Congressional District after winning the primary election in June with about 76% of the vote. Liccardo will be up against Republican challenger Peter Soule who finished second in the primary with 10.8% of the vote.
In California’s 23rd Assembly District, Democrat incumbent Marc Berman, who won the primary with 75.6% of the vote, will be running for reelection against Republican David G. Johnson.
