# Cupertino City Council Compare records and positions simply between Tracy Kosolcharoen, Gopal Kumarappan, J.Z. "Jane" Wang, and 5 more for Cupertino City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of three open seats on Cupertino's five-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Cupertino is a Santa Clara County city of about 60,000 people. It is home to Apple's headquarters. All five seats are elected citywide, not by district. Terms are four years and overlapping. The other two seats aren't up until 2028. Cupertino has no separately elected Mayor. The council picks one of its own as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor. Both serve one-year terms. - Jurisdiction: City of Cupertino - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 3 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/cupertino-council - 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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 81 out of 100 (Strong), across 3 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Tracy Kosolcharoen** - **Gopal Kumarappan** - **J.Z. "Jane" Wang** - **Seema Sharma Lindskog** - **Santosh Rao** - **Mark Fantozzi** - **J.R. Fruen** — Incumbent - **John Tang** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Eight candidates are running for Cupertino's three open, at-large City Council seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot, including incumbent J.R. Fruen. Whoever gets the three highest vote totals wins outright -- there is no primary or runoff. This person would hold one of three open seats on Cupertino's five member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Cupertino is a Santa Clara County city of about 60,000. It is home to Apple's headquarters. All five seats are elected citywide rather than by district. Terms are four years and they overlap. The other two seats aren't up until 2028. Cupertino has no separately elected Mayor. The council chooses one of its own members as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor. Those roles run one year. Two of the open seats belong to Vice Mayor Liang Chao and Councilmember Sheila Mohan. Chao is termed out in December. Mohan chose not to seek reelection. The third seat belongs to J.R. Fruen. He is the only incumbent running for reelection to his own seat. Two other current Councilmembers, Kitty Moore and R "Ray" Wang, aren't up this cycle. The race splits along a pro growth and slow growth line. That line has defined recent Cupertino politics. Three candidates campaign together as "Cupertino Together." They are Fruen, Seema Sharma Lindskog, and John Tang. They seek to retake a council majority they say pro growth candidates lost in 2024. Three more are loosely aligned around slower growth, without a formal slate name. They are Tracy Kosolcharoen, Gopal Kumarappan, and Santosh Rao. The other two candidates, Mark Fantozzi and J.Z. "Jane" Wang, aren't described as aligned with either group. The dispute centers on how the city should meet state mandated RHNA housing targets over neighborhood objections. It also covers retail space lost to new housing, and city spending. This guide takes no position on either side. ## Mark Fantozzi Mark Fantozzi, 75, is a structural civil engineer and a former member of Cupertino's Bicycle Pedestrian Commission, not aligned with either the pro-growth or slow-growth camp. He sued the city in May 2026 to try to stop a 51-home townhome project on Linda Vista Drive, arguing the site sits in a very-high fire-hazard zone with inadequate evacuation routes for the added density. His platform centers on streamlining city government and increasing spending transparency; he told San Jose Spotlight most municipal decisions "can be simplified" once broken down. **Strengths:** He raises a specific, checkable objection, the Linda Vista Drive lawsuit. It is grounded in his own engineering background, not just a general growth complaint. **Trade-offs:** He is the race's oldest candidate. He is also the only one running an active lawsuit against a city housing project. He starts furthest from any council majority, pro growth or slow growth. **Keep in mind:** The Linda Vista lawsuit's outcome could not be confirmed. San Jose Spotlight's account of the May 2026 filing is the only source. An independent court record check was not possible, because cupertino.gov and the county court's site were both unreachable. ## J.R. Fruen J.R. Fruen, 46, is the race's only incumbent, first elected to Cupertino's council in 2022. He's an attorney serving as chief of staff to San Jose Councilmember Rosemary Kamei, and co-leads the pro-growth "Cupertino Together" slate with Seema Sharma Lindskog and John Tang, aiming to retake the council majority the slate says pro-growth candidates lost in 2024. He argues the current slow-growth majority has blocked housing projects and triggered costly litigation, telling San Jose Spotlight that serious policymaking sometimes means "uncomfortable compromises." **Strengths:** He has a full term of council experience already. He has a named platform, restoring what he calls a pro growth majority. Voters can judge it against his actual record in office. **Trade-offs:** He is the only incumbent. The litigation and staff turnover costs he blames on the current majority fall partly on his own term. His account of what changed since 2024 is unverified. **Keep in mind:** "Cupertino Together" is a self organized slate, not an official ballot designation. Its endorsement list is reported as the slate describes it. It names Councilmember Sheila Mohan, seven former mayors, and several county and state officials, per San Jose Spotlight. ## Tracy Kosolcharoen Tracy Kosolcharoen, 40, chairs Cupertino's Planning Commission and sits on the VTA's Citizen Advisory Committee. She's part of the slow-growth alignment and campaigns on protecting retail as the city adds housing -- streamlined permitting, zoning that guarantees space for retail, and support for displaced businesses -- alongside preserving neighborhood character. She has questioned the cost of a roughly $54 million City Hall renovation, saying she sees ways it could have cost less. Her endorsements include Councilmembers Liang Chao and R "Ray" Wang, three former mayors, and three local school board trustees. **Strengths:** She currently chairs the Planning Commission. That is direct exposure to the land use decisions this race is fought over. She has endorsements from sitting councilmembers Chao and Wang. **Trade-offs:** Her retail protection platform is a specific goal. No independent costing or feasibility analysis of it was found beyond her own campaign framing. **Keep in mind:** Her City Hall renovation critique names a figure of about $54 million, as reported by San Jose Spotlight. That project's total cost and scope were not independently verified. ## Gopal Kumarappan Gopal Kumarappan, 58, is a tech executive who chairs Cupertino's Parks and Recreation Commission and has volunteered as a teacher and coach for 25 years. Part of the slow-growth alignment, he argues that better educating residents about housing requirements could reduce opposition to development, telling San Jose Spotlight that "growth should strengthen Cupertino, not overwhelm it." He also wants to more meaningfully involve young adults in city commissions and initiatives beyond the youth-focused Teen Commission. **Strengths:** He currently chairs the Parks and Recreation Commission. He also has a long, specific record of youth facing volunteer work, 25 years teaching and coaching. **Trade-offs:** His public education approach to housing opposition is a stated goal without a concrete plan, per San Jose Spotlight. No campaign platform document was independently reviewed. **Keep in mind:** San Jose Spotlight's reporting groups him with the slow growth alignment. Like Kosolcharoen and Rao, he has no formal slate name. The pro growth "Cupertino Together" ticket does. ## Seema Sharma Lindskog Seema Sharma Lindskog, 60, sits on Cupertino's Planning Commission and chairs Walk Bike Cupertino, a pedestrian- and cyclist-advocacy group. She co-leads the pro-growth "Cupertino Together" slate with J.R. Fruen and John Tang, and has criticized the current slow-growth council majority's record directly, telling San Jose Spotlight it has "nothing to show for the last 10 years, except failed policies." Her platform includes diversifying the city's tax base through new retail clusters, arguing Cupertino should not remain dependent on Apple -- what she calls "one trillion-dollar company" -- for its revenue. **Strengths:** She serves on the Planning Commission now. An economic argument for retail driven tax diversification away from a single large employer. Distinct from the other pro growth candidates. **Trade-offs:** Her sharpest quote here is a direct critique of the sitting council majority's decade in office. That record was not independently evaluated. **Keep in mind:** She co-founded the "Cupertino Together" slate alongside an incumbent, Fruen. Her candidacy is framed around returning a specific faction to power, not just an individual platform. ## Santosh Rao Santosh Rao, 52, is a tech executive who chaired Cupertino's Planning Commission in 2025. Part of the slow-growth alignment, he prioritizes government efficiency and says he wants to hold City Hall accountable while working "across the aisle." He opposes some state-mandated housing projects, arguing state law allows more local deviation than the city has used, and frames pro-business policy as cutting regulation. His endorsements include Councilmembers Liang Chao and R "Ray" Wang, two former mayors, and three local school board members. **Strengths:** He chaired the Planning Commission in 2025. That is direct exposure to the same land use fights this race turns on. He has the same dual sitting councilmember endorsement Kosolcharoen has. **Trade-offs:** He says state housing law permits more local deviation than Cupertino has used. That is a specific legal claim that could not be independently verified. **Keep in mind:** "Cut regulations" is his own framing of pro business policy, quoted directly by San Jose Spotlight. It is reported here as his position, not as a claim about what pro business policy requires. ## John Tang John Tang has served as San Jose's deputy director of water resources since April 2026, after more than 20 years as a public affairs executive at San Jose Water; he holds a civil engineering degree and teaches at San Jose State University. His age was not given in this pass's sourcing. He co-leads the pro-growth "Cupertino Together" slate with J.R. Fruen and Seema Sharma Lindskog, describing Cupertino as split between what he calls anti-development and pro-development camps, and argues turnover in the city attorney and city manager positions traces back to friction with the slow-growth council majority. **Strengths:** Two decades in public sector water utility affairs, plus a current deputy director post. That is direct experience with the infrastructure and staffing questions city government faces. **Trade-offs:** No age was reported for him, unlike every other candidate in the race. His staffing turnover claim is his own account, not independently verified here. **Keep in mind:** He frames the race as a binary between anti development and pro development camps. That is his own characterization, quoted by San Jose Spotlight. Two other candidates in this same race, Fantozzi and Wang, aren't described as aligned with either side. ## J.Z. "Jane" Wang J.Z. "Jane" Wang describes herself as an engineer, caretaker, and businesswoman; her age was reported only approximately (around 50) in this pass's sourcing. She has filed multiple unsuccessful lawsuits against the city over roughly a decade, beginning with a dispute over a backyard structure that violated building codes. In 2023, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge declared her a "vexatious litigant," a ruling that effectively bars her from further legal action against the city without advance court permission; the judge, quoted directly by San Jose Spotlight, said city officials "have expended tremendous, unnecessary resources to respond to (Wang's) seemingly endless filings and challenges." Wang says the city doesn't have enough public trust and argues past disagreements shouldn't block future collaboration. **Strengths:** She has a long, specific history of direct engagement with city government. It is adversarial, but it gives her a concrete record voters can weigh. **Trade-offs:** The vexatious litigant finding is a formal court ruling, not informal criticism. It limits her own future ability to sue the city she would help govern. **Keep in mind:** The court's ruling is reported here because it is public court record covered by named journalism. It does not settle whether she would be an effective councilmember. That judgment is left to the reader. ## Sources 1. [San José Spotlight -- "Eight candidates compete for Cupertino council seats" (by Mike Langberg, Aug. 22, 2026, updated Aug. 26, 2026), read in full: names all eight qualified 2026 Council candidates for the city's three open, at-large seats, with an age for seven of the eight, occupation, prior public/commission service, and an on-record quote for each; identifies the pro-growth "Cupertino Together" slate (Fruen, Lindskog, Tang) and a looser slow-growth alignment (Kosolcharoen, Kumarappan, Rao); and confirms the only incumbent (J.R. Fruen, elected 2022) is seeking a second term while Vice Mayor Liang Chao (termed out) and Councilmember Sheila Mohan (not seeking reelection) leave the other two seats open.](https://sanjosespotlight.com/eight-candidates-compete-for-cupertino-council-seats/) 2. [Wikipedia's Cupertino, California article: 2020 census population (60,381) and its five-member City Council, which serves "overlapping, four-year terms" and elects its own Mayor and Vice Mayor for one-year terms from among its members rather than electing either separately -- general civic context, not election-specific.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupertino,_California) 3. [NetFile's own public agency directory (netfile.com/api/public/sites/api/agencies, a JSON endpoint discovered by reading the portal's client-side bundle -- the same platform this file's Milpitas, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara city sections use for their own city-specific campaign-finance filings), queried directly for all 729 listed agencies: Cupertino has no entry under any agency code, unlike Milpitas (aid=MIL), Sunnyvale (aid=COS), or Santa Clara (aid=CSC). Confirms this pass could not find a campaign-finance e-filing presence for the city to check at all, rather than simply failing to guess the right agency code.](https://netfile.com/api/public/sites/api/agencies) ## The rest of the ballot Cupertino City Council 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, "Cupertino City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/cupertino-council (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.