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City of Burlingame · Statewide General Election

Burlingame City Council, District 3

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of Burlingame's five district-elected City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Mateo County city of about 31,400 residents. A 4-year term. The Council selects a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each year rather than voters choosing either office directly.

The District 3 seat is open after sitting Mayor Michael Brownrigg, who held it, chose not to seek another term. Jen Faber, a past president of the Burlingame Community Education Foundation who led the Measure GG parcel-tax campaign, faces Howard Wettan, an attorney and the sitting Vice Chair of the city's Parks & Recreation Commission.

The winner holds one of Burlingame's five district-elected City Council seats for a 4-year term: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Mateo County city of about 31,400 residents, plus a share in the Council's rotating Mayor and Vice Mayor chairs, which the Council fills from among its own members rather than by direct election.

Both candidates come to this open seat from adjacent but different tracks of city civic life: Faber's case rests on a fundraising and school-finance record built outside City Hall, while Wettan's rests on years already spent inside it, on a city commission that advises the Council directly. Neither has held elected office before.

Jen Faber

Faber is a past president of the Burlingame Community Education Foundation (BCE), the nonprofit that funds grants to Burlingame's public schools; her campaign site credits her leadership with growing BCE's annual grants from $2.4 million to $3.2 million and with leading the successful Measure GG campaign, which secured roughly $3.4 million in recurring annual funding for Burlingame teachers. Her platform centers on the long-planned Broadway Grade Separation project (a clear action plan with transparent timelines and neighborhood traffic protections), pedestrian and cyclist safety, fire and home-safety resources, and stronger city-business communication.

Strengths

A concrete fundraising and ballot-measure track record (BCE's grant growth, the Measure GG campaign) that speaks directly to school and budget finance, a recurring council concern.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed city-government experience -- her civic record runs through a school-support nonprofit rather than City Hall itself.

Keep in mind

BCE's grant and Measure GG figures come from her own campaign site; this dataset did not independently verify the dollar amounts against BCE's or the school district's own financial records.

Howard Wettan

Wettan is an attorney and the sitting Vice Chair of Burlingame's Parks & Recreation Commission, which advises the City Council and city staff on parks and recreation policy -- confirmed independently on the city's own commission roster page, matching his filed ballot designation, 'City Commissioner / Attorney.' Beyond his commission role and profession, no campaign site or independent published platform was found for him in this dataset.

Strengths

Direct, sitting experience on a city commission that advises the Council -- a closer institutional vantage point on how City Hall actually works than an outside candidacy offers.

Trade-offs

No campaign site or independently reported platform was found, so his stated priorities for the seat beyond his existing commission work are not documented here.

Keep in mind

The roster lists no campaign website or public email for him, and no local news coverage profiling him individually was found in this pass -- if a platform surfaces, the weekly refresh will catch it.

Why this seat is open

Michael Brownrigg, Burlingame's sitting Mayor, held the District 3 seat and chose not to seek another term; the community blog Burlingame Voice reported his decision on May 14, 2026, dating his public service in Burlingame to a 2001 Planning Commission appointment. That same reporting described both Faber and Wettan as well-positioned, early-campaigning candidates with assembled endorsements, and noted that neither of Burlingame's other two 2026 contests -- Districts 1 and 5 -- drew a challenger to the sitting officeholder.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Jen Faber for Burlingame City Council (District 3) -- candidate's own campaign site may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • smcacre.gov (opens in a new tab)San Mateo County ACRE -- Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only, November 3, 2026 General Election (CFMR009), dated 2026-08-25: names all three Burlingame City Council district seats on the ballot this cycle (Districts 1, 3, 5), each flagged 'On Ballot: Yes,' the qualified candidate(s) per seat, filing/qualification dates, and each candidate's filed ballot designation
  • burlingame.org (opens in a new tab)City of Burlingame -- official 'Meet the Council' roster page (names Michael Brownrigg as Mayor, Andrea Pappajohn as Vice Mayor, and Donna Colson, Desiree Thayer, Peter Stevenson as Councilmembers), 'District Elections' page (the January 17, 2020 CVRA demand letter, intent Resolution 032-2020, Ordinance 2003 adopted January 18, 2022 with Draft Map D, and that Districts 2 and 4 elected in 2024), 'Running for City Council' page (the candidate-filing period and required state disclosure forms), and the city's January 20, 2026 'Council Assignments' PDF (confirming the sitting five-member council and that Brownrigg, not Stevenson, holds the committee slots the Mayor appoints)
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- 'Burlingame, California': 2020 Census population figure (31,386) only; the article's claim that Peter Stevenson is the current Mayor is treated as stale against the city's own current council roster page and not repeated in this dataset
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- a negative-result campaign-finance search: a direct query for each of Burlingame's four 2026 City Council candidates (Pappajohn, Faber, Wettan, Stevenson) returned only a blocked, unrenderable page in every attempt this session, the same recurring bot-detection failure mode documented elsewhere in this dataset. Cal-Access also covers only state-level committees, not local city-council candidates
  • faberforburlingame.com (opens in a new tab)Jen Faber for Burlingame City Council (District 3) -- candidate's own campaign site: self-describes her as a past president of the Burlingame Community Education Foundation who 'grew school grants from $2.4M to $3.2M' and led the Measure GG parcel-tax campaign ('approximately $3.4 million in recurring annual funding for Burlingame teachers'), and states her platform on the Broadway Grade Separation, traffic and public safety, fire safety, and business support
  • burlingame.org (opens in a new tab)City of Burlingame -- Parks & Recreation Commission roster page: names Howard Wettan as the commission's sitting Vice Chair, independently corroborating his filed District 3 ballot designation, 'City Commissioner / Attorney'
  • burlingamevoice.com (opens in a new tab)Burlingame Voice (community blog) -- 'City Council: At least District 3 will be competitive' (May 14, 2026): reports Mayor Michael Brownrigg's decision not to seek another term, opening District 3 to Jen Faber and Howard Wettan (both characterized as 'strong candidates' with early campaigns and endorsements), and that Districts 1 and 5 drew no challengers to Pappajohn and Stevenson -- also corrects the blog's own earlier account of Brownrigg's tenure, dating his public service to a 2001 Planning Commission appointment rather than 16 years

Last updated September 1, 2026.