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City of Burlingame · Statewide General Election

Burlingame City Council, District 5

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.

Only one candidate qualified for this seat. Incumbent Peter W. Stevenson, a retired technology-industry executive first elected in November 2022, appears unopposed -- so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome.

This person holds 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, and Burlingame has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer.

With no opponent, the useful question is not who to choose but what's known about the officeholder and what to watch next. An unopposed return means accountability for this seat over the next four years runs through public records and the next election rather than through this ballot.

Peter W. Stevenson

Stevenson has lived in Burlingame for more than 30 years and holds a UCLA undergraduate degree plus an MBA and a Master's from Stanford. He spent more than 35 years in the technology industry, including co-founding a healthcare software company, and was first elected to the District 5 seat in November 2022. He has been active in expanding Burlingame's public-school programs, led fundraising for Parks and Recreation projects including the city's Community Center, and coached youth sports for more than 15 years. He also serves on several regional bodies, including the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency.

Strengths

One term already served plus more than three decades of Burlingame residency and a technology-executive background that includes co-founding a company.

Trade-offs

His campaign site states general priorities -- safety, traffic, housing, schools, fiscal responsibility -- but no independent reporting adds detail beyond that self-description.

Keep in mind

His own city bio page, and Wikipedia, call him the sitting Mayor; the city's current council roster instead names Brownrigg Mayor and Pappajohn Vice Mayor -- treated here as a stale claim, not repeated as fact.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 6 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: Peter Stevenson for Burlingame City Council (District 5) -- candidate's own re-election 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
  • burlingame.org (opens in a new tab)City of Burlingame -- official council-member biography for Councilmember Peter Stevenson (District 5): a more-than-30-year Burlingame resident, UCLA undergraduate and Stanford MBA/Masters, 35-plus years in the technology industry including co-founding a healthcare software company, first elected to the Council in November 2022, and extensive local and regional committee service -- this page also describes him as 'currently' Mayor, a claim treated as stale against the city's own current council roster page (see burlingame-clerk-council-2026) and not repeated here
  • peter4burlingame.com (opens in a new tab)Peter Stevenson for Burlingame City Council (District 5) -- candidate's own re-election campaign site: reiterates his biographical background and states his platform on neighborhood safety, traffic, affordable housing, schools, business support, senior/disability accessibility, and fiscal responsibility

Last updated September 1, 2026.