# Burlingame City Council, District 5

Peter W. Stevenson is running uncontested for Burlingame City Council, District 5. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of Burlingame's five district-elected City Council seats. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Mateo County city of about 31,400 residents. The term is four years. The Council selects a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each year rather than voters choosing either office directly.

- Jurisdiction: City of Burlingame
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/burlingame-council-5
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: September 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 83 out of 100 (Strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Peter W. Stevenson** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

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. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Mateo County city of about 31,400 residents. The term is four years. 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.

## Review notes

- 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.

## Sources

1. [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](https://smcacre.gov/system/files/2026-08/52_candidateroster0825.pdf)
2. [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)](https://www.burlingame.org/1111/Meet-the-Council)
3. [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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlingame,_California)
4. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/list.aspx)
5. [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](https://www.burlingame.org/Directory.aspx?EID=225)
6. [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](https://www.peter4burlingame.com/)

## The rest of the ballot

Burlingame City Council, District 5 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Burlingame City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/burlingame-council-5 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026).

Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.