# Danville Town Council Compare records and positions simply between Denton Carlson, Pratima Sonavne, or Robert Storer for Danville Town Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of two at-large seats up this cycle on Danville's 5-member Town Council. They vote on town ordinances, the budget, and land use for the Town of Danville. The term is four years. The Mayor and Vice Mayor rotate annually among council members rather than being separately elected. - Jurisdiction: City of Danville - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/danville-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: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Denton Carlson** — Retired Police Chief - **Pratima Sonavne** — Business Owner - **Robert Storer** — Vice Mayor, Town of Danville · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Three candidates qualified for two of Danville's five at-large Town Council seats on the November 3 ballot: incumbent Vice Mayor Robert Storer is seeking re-election, and two newcomers — retired San Ramon Police Chief Denton Carlson and childcare-business owner Pratima Sonavne — are running for the seat left open by Councilmember Karen Stepper, who announced in April she would not seek another term after 24 years on the council. The two winners each serve a four-year term on Danville's five-member Town Council. All five seats are elected at large. They vote on town ordinances, the budget, and land use townwide. Danville does not elect a mayor directly. The five councilmembers rotate the Mayor and Vice Mayor titles among themselves each year. New terms start the first Tuesday each December. One seat is an incumbent's bid for another term. The other is genuinely open, since Stepper is not running again. So this is less a vote on the sitting council than a choice between two newcomers. Their records differ sharply. One is a three-decade local police executive. The other is a small business owner and HR professional. Whichever newcomer gets more votes takes the second seat. ## Robert Storer The incumbent Vice Mayor has lived in Danville for 37 years and has been on the Town Council since 2009, after serving on the Planning Commission from 2001 to 2009. He's served three terms as Mayor under the council's rotating system, most recently in 2023, and currently sits on the town's Finance Committee, as council liaison to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, and on the All Wars Memorial Board. His campaign lists public safety (citing Danville's six-time SafeWise "Safest City in California" designation), a balanced budget and healthy reserves, protecting the town's hillsides from development, and support for local schools, businesses, and veterans as his priorities. **Strengths:** 17 years on the Town Council and 8 on the Planning Commission before that. He has served three terms as Mayor and has published priorities on public safety and the town's hillsides. **Trade-offs:** He has the longest tenure of anyone in the race, so he owns the most of the status quo. How Danville has been run these past 17 years is largely his record too. **Keep in mind:** He is the only incumbent in the field. His ballot title is "Vice Mayor, Town of Danville." ## Denton Carlson A 15-year Danville resident, Carlson retired in December 2025 as San Ramon's Police Chief after a 27-year law-enforcement career — joining the San Ramon Police Department at its 2007 founding after starting with the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office in 1998, then serving as SWAT commander, detective, and department spokesperson before his 2022 promotion to chief. He now works in a civilian role at Longeye, a San Francisco AI startup building digital-evidence tools for police, prosecutors, and public defenders, and sits on the California Police Chiefs Association and San Ramon Regional Medical Center boards. His campaign is focused on public safety, fiscal responsibility, well-managed growth, government efficiency, and a strong local economy with a well-preserved downtown. **Strengths:** A 27-year law enforcement career capped by three years leading a nearby city's police department. He also holds seats on the California Police Chiefs Association and a regional hospital board. **Trade-offs:** He has held no elected or appointed office in Danville. His leadership record was built at a nearby city's police department, not in town government. **Keep in mind:** He filed first among the three candidates, on July 28, ahead of incumbent Storer. He runs as the field's public safety specialist by trade as well as platform. ## Pratima Sonavne Sonavne founded the Kurious Kids childcare center in Danville, where she's lived for five years (a 14-year Contra Costa County resident overall), and holds a master's degree in Human Resource Management with more than 20 years of HR and operations experience. She ran for Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder in the June 2026 primary and lost to incumbent Kristin Connelly by more than a 4:1 margin; she's told DanvilleSanRamon she's drawing on that experience for this race, leading with "who I truly am" rather than a broader political profile. Her stated priorities are public safety, fiscal responsibility, smart growth, supporting families and small businesses, transparent government, and infrastructure and open space. **Strengths:** More than 20 years of HR and operations work, plus a local childcare business serving Danville families. She laid out a detailed six-point platform in a local news interview. **Trade-offs:** She has held no elected or appointed town office. She has the shortest local residency of the three and lost her only prior run for office five months earlier. **Keep in mind:** She filed last, within the deadline extension that Stepper's exit triggered. Patch could not reach her through her listed email addresses, and this pass could not either. ## Sources 1. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": the Cities section lists "Danville 2 Councilmembers" -- an at-large, vote-for-2 race, not a districted one, matching the local-authoring queue's 1-contest estimate for the Town of Danville](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection.pdf) 2. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf), the county's post-certification, ballot-order-proofing export: shows contest 5401 "DanvilleCouncil," Town of Danville Member, Town Council, vote-for-2, as 3 candidates / 3 qualified / ON BALLOT -- Denton Carlson (qualified 7/28/2026), Robert Storer (incumbent, qualified 7/31/2026), and Pratima Sonavne (qualified 8/7/2026) -- and separately lists both sitting incumbents whose terms expire this cycle, Robert E. Storer and Karen G. Stepper, as "Appointed in Lieu," with Stepper absent from the candidate list, confirming she did not re-file](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf) 3. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Candidate List" (8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf), the county's complete qualified-candidate roster: confirms "Vote for 2 Danville Council" with the same three qualified candidates and filing timestamps -- Denton Carlson (7/28/2026 4:38pm), Robert Storer (8/4/2026 11:37am), Pratima Sonavne (8/7/2026 1:00pm)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf) 4. [Town of Danville -- City Clerk's own "Elections" page: states two seats on the Danville Town Council are up Nov. 3, 2026, names the same three qualified candidates (Denton Carlson, Pratima Sonavne, Robert Storer, with Storer marked incumbent) and their qualification dates, and confirms no separate election exists for city clerk, treasurer, or any other Danville office this cycle](https://www.danville.ca.gov/418/Elections) 5. [Town of Danville -- "Town Council" page: confirms the 5-member, at-large council on 4-year terms ("All members of the Town Council are elected on an at-large basis for four-year terms"), a Mayor/Vice Mayor rotation among members starting the first Tuesday in December each year, and the sitting roster with each member's term-expiration date -- Vice Mayor Robert Storer and Councilmember Karen Stepper each expire Nov. 2026 (the two seats up), Mayor Newell Arnerich, Mark Belotz, and Renee Morgan each expire Nov. 2028](https://www.danville.ca.gov/287/Town-Council) 6. [Patch (Michael Wittner, Patch Staff) -- "3 Candidates Vie For 2 Danville Town Council Seats" (Aug. 14, 2026): staff-bylined, dedicated reporting profiling all three qualified candidates -- Denton Carlson's 15-year Danville residency, 27-year law-enforcement career, and campaign priorities; Robert Storer's 37-year residency, council tenure since 2009, and priorities; Pratima Sonavne's Kurious Kids childcare center, HR master's degree, and her June 2026 Clerk-Recorder run -- and independently notes Patch's own attempt to reach Sonavne for comment failed (two listed email addresses returned undeliverable)](https://patch.com/california/danville/3-candidates-vie-2-danville-town-council-seats) 7. [Patch -- "Danville Candidate Filing Deadline Extended" (Aug. 7, 2026): reports the non-incumbent filing deadline was extended to Aug. 12 because an eligible incumbent (Karen Stepper) did not file for re-election, names the three candidates filed as of Aug. 7, and confirms Stepper announced in April 2026 she would not seek re-election after 24 years on the Town Council](https://patch.com/california/danville/danville-candidate-filing-deadline-extended) 8. [Patch -- "Vice Mayor Robert Storer Announces Re-Election Bid" (Aug. 5, 2026): Storer's own campaign-launch statement and priorities (public safety, citing Danville's six-time SafeWise "Safest City in California" designation; a balanced budget and healthy reserves; protecting the town's hillsides from development; and support for local schools, businesses, veterans, and the Chamber of Commerce), plus his Planning Commission service (2001-2009) and three terms as Mayor, most recently 2023](https://patch.com/california/danville/vice-mayor-robert-storer-announces-re-election-bid) 9. [DanvilleSanRamon (Embarcadero Media) -- "Danville mother, childcare business owner Sonavne running for Town Council" (Aug. 24, 2026): a dedicated candidate profile built on an email interview, with direct quotes on her platform (public safety, fiscal responsibility, smart growth, supporting families/small businesses, transparent government, infrastructure/open space) and her account of losing the June 2026 Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder primary to incumbent Kristin Connelly by more than a 4:1 margin; names her campaign site as countonpratima.com](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-government/2026/08/24/danville-mother-childcare-business-owner-sonavne-running-for-town-council/) 10. [DanvilleSanRamon (Embarcadero Media) -- "SRPD Chief Carlson stepping down at end of year" (Sept. 16, 2025): reports Denton Carlson's retirement after a 27-year law-enforcement career, joining the San Ramon Police Department at its 2007 founding after starting with the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office in 1998, his 2022 promotion to chief as the department's fifth chief, and a 2016 San Ramon Chamber of Commerce employee-of-the-year honor](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-government/2025/09/16/srpd-chief-carlson-stepping-down-at-end-of-year/) 11. [DanvilleSanRamon (Embarcadero Media) -- "Former San Ramon police chief takes new role at AI startup" (Jan. 18, 2026): an interview with Carlson on his post-retirement civilian role at Longeye, a San Francisco AI startup building digital-evidence tools for detectives, prosecutors, and public defenders, drawing on his own experience as a detective handling growing volumes of digital evidence](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-government/2026/01/18/former-san-ramon-police-chief-takes-new-role-at-ai-startup/) 12. [This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful attempt to retrieve Danville Town Council campaign-finance filings: California's Cal-Access filer search (cal-access.sos.ca.gov) returned only an Incapsula bot-detection interstitial for every query attempted for Denton Carlson, Robert Storer, and Pratima Sonavne in this pass (via both WebFetch and direct curl), with no live browser session available in this worktree to work around it. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for this contest, not any candidate's actual finances.](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/) ## The rest of the ballot Danville Town 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, "Danville Town Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/danville-council (sources last retrieved September 1, 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.