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City of Colma · Statewide General Election

Colma Town Council

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 five at-large seats on Colma's Town Council: town ordinances, the budget, and land use for this roughly 1,500-resident San Mateo County town. 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.

Four candidates qualified for two of Colma's five at-large Town Council seats on the November 3 ballot, per San Mateo County's certified roster: incumbents Helen Fisicaro, the sitting Vice Mayor, and Joanne F. Del Rosario are both seeking re-election, against two challengers, Laura M. Walsh and Elisabeth Aurora Jenson.

The two winners each serve a four-year term on Colma's five-member, at-large Town Council: town ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions for this roughly 1,500-resident San Mateo County town -- famous as the "City of Souls," where an estimated 1.5 million people are buried across its many cemeteries, vastly outnumbering the living. Colma doesn't directly elect a Mayor -- the five councilmembers choose a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among themselves each year. Carrie Slaughter currently holds the Mayor's chair (her seat isn't up this cycle) and Fisicaro is the sitting Vice Mayor.

Two of the four candidates already hold the seats up this cycle -- Fisicaro, on the council since 1994 and chosen Mayor by her colleagues eight times, and Del Rosario, on the council since 2006 and a past Mayor herself -- so the choice is less about council experience than whether voters want to keep that long-tenured leadership or bring in one or both of the two challengers.

Helen Fisicaro

Fisicaro has served on Colma's Town Council since 1994 -- more than three decades -- and her colleagues have chosen her as Mayor eight times over that tenure; she currently holds the Vice Mayor's chair. A San Francisco native who has lived in Colma since 1977, she holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Human Resource Management from San Francisco State University and retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Company in February 2010 after nearly 40 years there. She sits on the California Cities Gaming Authority, the Colma Creek Citizens Advisory Committee, the League of California Cities, and the San Mateo County Council of Cities, and has been inducted into the San Mateo County Women's Wall of Fame.

Strengths

By far the longest tenure and deepest institutional knowledge in this field -- more than three decades on the council and eight terms chosen as Mayor by her fellow councilmembers.

Trade-offs

No specific 2026 platform beyond her existing committee record could be confirmed from public sources; no campaign site was found for her this cycle.

Keep in mind

Her filed ballot designation reads simply "Incumbent" -- the town's own biography page fills in the Vice Mayor title and committee record used here.

Joanne F. Del Rosario

Del Rosario has served on Colma's Town Council since first winning election in December 2006, and her colleagues chose her as Mayor in 2015. She works as an Executive Assistant to the President/CEO of a biotech company in Emeryville, after earlier roles as a legal secretary and human-resources administrator at Bay Area law firms and at Xerox Corporation. She sits on the Association of Bay Area Governments, Peninsula Clean Energy's board of directors, San Francisco International Airport's Community Roundtable, and Colma's own Emergency Services Council and Economic Development Subcommittee, and was named one of the "100 Most Influential Filipinas in the United States" by the Filipinas Women's Network in 2009.

Strengths

Two decades on the council, including a past term as Mayor, plus a wide regional-board portfolio spanning transportation, energy, and airport-community relations.

Trade-offs

No specific 2026 platform beyond her existing committee record could be confirmed from public sources; no campaign site was found for her this cycle.

Keep in mind

Wikipedia's Colma article names her the town's current Mayor -- stale against the town's own current council roster, which now names Carrie Slaughter Mayor and Fisicaro Vice Mayor; not repeated here as current fact.

Laura M. Walsh

Walsh filed for this seat with the ballot designation "Medical Assistant." Beyond that filed designation, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source was found for her in this dataset.

Strengths

One of two newcomers in this field, offering voters an alternative to two long-tenured incumbents.

Trade-offs

No service in elected or appointed town government, and no specific platform could be confirmed from available reporting -- a genuine sourcing gap, not evidence about her candidacy.

Keep in mind

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

Elisabeth Aurora Jenson

Jenson filed for this seat with the ballot designation "Entrepreneur / Artist." Beyond that filed designation, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source was found for her in this dataset.

Strengths

One of two newcomers in this field, offering voters an alternative to two long-tenured incumbents.

Trade-offs

No service in elected or appointed town government, and no specific platform could be confirmed from available reporting -- a genuine sourcing gap, not evidence about her candidacy.

Keep in mind

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

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • 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 the Town of Colma's Member, City Council contest 'On Ballot: Yes,' 'Vote for 2,' the four qualified candidates (Helen Fisicaro, Laura M. Walsh, Joanne F. Del Rosario, Elisabeth Aurora Jenson), their filing/qualification order and dates, and each candidate's filed ballot designation
  • colma.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of Colma -- official 'November 3, 2026 Elections' page: independently lists the identical four qualified candidates (Fisicaro and Del Rosario marked incumbents) for '2 four-year seats' on the Town Council, and notes each candidate's obligation to meet FPPC filing requirements without linking a local campaign-finance disclosure portal
  • colma.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of Colma -- official 'City Council' page: the council consists of five members, each elected at large to a four-year term, and the council selects one of its own members to serve a one-year term as Mayor
  • colma.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of Colma -- official council-members contact page: names the current sitting council (Mayor Carrie Slaughter, Vice Mayor Helen Fisicaro, Councilmembers Joanne F. del Rosario, Thomas Walsh, and Ken Gonzalez) -- the source for which two of the five seats (Fisicaro's and Del Rosario's) are up this cycle and confirmed as incumbents
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- 'Colma, California': 2020 Census population (1,507) and the town's 'City of Souls' framing (roughly 1.5 million people buried in its cemeteries) only; the article's claim that Joanne del Rosario is the current Mayor is treated as stale against the town's own current council roster page and not repeated
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- negative-result campaign-finance search for all four 2026 Colma Town Council candidates
  • colma.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of Colma -- official contact/biography page for Vice Mayor Helen Fisicaro: on the Town Council since 1994, elected Mayor by her colleagues eight times, a San Francisco native and Colma resident since 1977, retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Company in February 2010 after nearly 40 years, and her committee/board assignments and community recognition
  • colma.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of Colma -- official contact/biography page for Councilmember Joanne F. del Rosario: first elected to the Town Council in December 2006, chosen Mayor by her colleagues in 2015, her career as an Executive Assistant at a biotech company, and her committee/board assignments and community recognition

Last updated September 1, 2026.