# Fremont City Council, District 4

Compare records and positions simply between Manisha Pathak, Aziz Akbari, Ying-Min Li, or Anurag Mishra for Fremont City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of six district seats on the Fremont City Council. Fremont is Alameda County's largest city, with about 230,000 residents. Fremont also has a separately elected, citywide Mayor. An appointed City Manager runs the council-manager government. The term is four years. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. Fremont does not use ranked-choice voting.

- Jurisdiction: City of Fremont
- 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/fremont-council-district-4
- 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: October 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 84 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

- **Manisha Pathak** — Educator/Nonprofit Executive
- **Aziz Akbari** — Director, Alameda County Water District
- **Ying-Min Li** — Small Business Owner
- **Anurag Mishra** — Technical Leader

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

This is an open seat. Sitting Councilmember Yang Shao is not running for reelection. Four candidates are competing for Fremont’s District 4 seat.

This person would hold one of six district seats on the Fremont City Council -- Alameda County's largest city, with about 230,000 residents -- alongside a separately, citywide-elected Mayor, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. The term is four years. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins; no ranked-choice voting is documented for Fremont.

Yang Shao, District 4's sitting councilmember, filed no 2026 campaign committee of his own and is not among the four qualified candidates. Fremont's own NetFile portal shows he instead made a personal $850 contribution, on May 31, 2026, to one of the four candidates, small-business owner Ying-Min Li -- a real, filed campaign-finance record, not a formal endorsement.

## Aziz Akbari

Aziz Akbari’s ballot designation is Director, Alameda County Water District. That is an elected seat on that separate special district’s own governing board. It is distinct from the Fremont City Council. Their campaign-finance filing lists their occupation the same way. Their committee is Aziz Akbari for Fremont City Council D4 2026. It reported that their contributions include a $153 self-contribution. In their Vote411 questionnaire they describe growing up in Fremont public schools, an industrial and systems engineering degree from USC, election to the water district board in 2016 and service as its president. They also list membership in the Niles Rotary Club and support for local nonprofits.

Their three stated priorities are an affordable, livable Fremont, with stronger renter protections, transit-oriented housing and youth jobs; a cleaner, greener city, with maintained parks, repaired infrastructure and community gardens; and a well-run, safer Fremont, with fiscal responsibility, emergency preparedness and less traffic. Akbari says they pressed the council to push the charter city measure back to 2028 and opposed a proposed council pay raise. On budget cuts they say they would protect emergency services, road repair and support for seniors, youth and families. They would allow more mixed-use development near BART and along major commercial corridors.

**Strengths:** Elected experience since 2016 on a public water district's board, now as president by Akbari's own account. It is a different kind of public-agency service than the other three candidates bring.

**Trade-offs:** The smallest cash-in-hand of the four candidates by their most recent filing. Akbari reported $1,107 in accrued unpaid bills against just $288 raised.

**Keep in mind:** A water district board seat is a different agency with a narrower mandate than a city council seat. Their claims about rate assistance and results there are their own account.

## Ying-Min Li

Ying-Min Li’s ballot designation is Small Business Owner. Their campaign-finance filings identify them as the owner of GSJ Well Corp. Their committee’s H1 2026 filing runs to 38 pages. It shows dozens of itemized contributions from individuals across the Bay Area and beyond. Several are members of their extended family under the surname Li. The filing also shows $80,000 in loans from Li to their own campaign. Their donor list includes an $850 contribution from Yang Shao. He is the sitting District 4 councilmember whose seat they are running for. In their Vote411 questionnaire they describe twenty years in the semiconductor industry followed by ten years as a small business owner. They list a seat on Fremont's historical architecture review board and a role as president-elect of Citizen for Better Community.

Their three stated priorities are reducing traffic congestion, by re-evaluating bike lanes and eliminated right turns, using smart signals and redesigning intersections; safe neighborhoods, with strong law enforcement, firm consequences for break-ins, vehicle theft and violent crime, and re-entry programs for first-time non-violent offenders; and addressing homelessness through early intervention, mental health care and job support. Li says residents should be consulted earlier and told how feedback was used. On budget cuts they would protect police, fire and infrastructure maintenance and review administrative costs and outside contracts first. Their zoning change would make it easier to turn underused commercial properties and parking lots into mixed-use communities.

**Strengths:** By far the best-resourced 2026 Fremont council campaign, with a broad donor base plus Li's own loans. By their account, twenty years in semiconductors and ten as a business owner.

**Trade-offs:** Most of their campaign's total is their own loans, $80,000 of $130,060.88. Their top priority would re-evaluate bike lanes and eliminated right turns, which voters who prefer them would give up.

**Keep in mind:** Their work history and community roles come from their own Vote411 answers and filings. No independent biography was found. Their business is reported only as they disclosed it.

## Anurag Mishra

Anurag Mishra’s ballot designation is Technical Leader. No campaign committee was located for them at all on Fremont’s NetFile portal under that name. No independent biography or news coverage was found beyond the county’s own candidate listing.

**Strengths:** A fourth choice for voters in a district with no incumbent running. Mishra's ballot designation points to a technology-sector background.

**Trade-offs:** No located campaign committee means no fundraising signal, and no statement of their priorities was found.

**Keep in mind:** Nothing beyond the bare ballot designation and filing status was found about their candidacy. That is a gap in the record, not a judgment about their campaign.

## Manisha Pathak

Manisha Pathak’s ballot designation is Educator and Nonprofit Executive. Their committee is Pathak for Fremont City Council District 4 2026. It reported the second-largest fundraising total in the race. It drew itemized contributions from a broad range of Bay Area donors. Those include engineers, a product manager, an architect, a professor, and a realtor. It spent on campaign literature, printing, and a paid get-out-the-vote and polling vendor. In their Vote411 questionnaire they describe two decades in Fremont and a Silicon Valley technology career that began with a NASA internship. They list service on the city's Human Relations Commission and as a Senior Peer Counselor, founding a nonprofit, teaching Indian classical music and about twenty years of mental-health volunteering. They say they are pursuing a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling.

Their three stated priorities are homelessness and mental health, with a focus on prevention, behavioral-health access and long-term stability rather than relocating people; public safety, through partnerships between residents and first responders; and responsible growth, with traffic, infrastructure, housing and transportation planned as one. They would add district town halls, short multilingual surveys and a public feedback loop. On budget cuts they would protect public safety, street maintenance and human services such as homelessness prevention, and review consulting contracts and programs without measurable results first. Their zoning change would make it easier to build mixed-income housing near BART and major transit corridors.

**Strengths:** The second-strongest fundraising total in the district, from a wide range of donors' professions. By Pathak's account, a Silicon Valley tech career and city service as a Human Relations Commissioner.

**Trade-offs:** No prior elected office was found, unlike Akbari's water-district seat. Their agenda spans homelessness, safety, growth, traffic and infrastructure, so a vote buys breadth more than one focus.

**Keep in mind:** Educator and Nonprofit Executive is their filed designation. Their career, nonprofit and degree details come from their own Vote411 answers. No independent reporting identifies the school or nonprofit.

## Sources

1. [Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- official Candidate List system (electionId 260, "General Election - 11/03/2026 (Official)"), queried directly via its own JSON API (GET /rov_app/racelist/260/600) for the City category: names all three Fremont races (raceIds 115-117) -- For Member Of City Council #2/#3/#4, Fremont -- alongside the other 43 Alameda County city races countywide, and confirms Fremont has no mayoral race this cycle.](https://www.alamedacountyca.gov/rov_app/candidatelist)
2. [Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- official Candidate List system, queried directly via its own POST-based HTML API (POST /rov_app/candidatelist/) for all three Fremont races, each flagged "Vote For: 1" and "On Ballot": For Member Of City Council #2 -- Desrie Campbell ("Councilmember/Healthcare Director") and Keith Parker ("Marketing Director"); #3 -- Kathy Kimberlin ("County Field Director") and Vipin Sharma ("Senior Engineering Manager"); #4 -- Aziz Akbari ("Director, Alameda County Water District"), Ying Min Li ("Small Business Owner"), Anurag Mishra ("Technical Leader"), and Manisha Pathak ("Educator/Nonprofit Executive"). The system's own "Incumbent" detail field reads "N" for every candidate including Campbell and Kimberlin, who Fremont's own city government page confirms are sitting councilmembers -- this dataset does not treat that field as reliable.](https://www.alamedacountyca.gov/rov_app/candidatelist/)
3. [City of Fremont -- "Mayor & City Council" page, read via the Internet Archive's July 23, 2026 snapshot after fremont.gov itself returned HTTP 403 to every direct fetch attempted in this pass: names every sitting councilmember by district -- Teresa Keng (District 1), Desrie Campbell (District 2), Kathy Kimberlin (District 3), Yang Shao (District 4), Vice Mayor Yajing Zhang (District 5), and Raymond Liu (District 6) -- plus Mayor Raj Salwan, sworn in December 2024. Independently confirms Campbell and Kimberlin as genuine incumbents in their Nov. 2026 races and that Yang Shao, not a candidate for reelection, is the outgoing District 4 officeholder.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260723041152/https://www.fremont.gov/government/mayor-city-council)
4. [City of Fremont's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (agency code FRE), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byFiler|byCandidate JSON API for every 2026 city council candidate, with each located candidate's actual H1 2026 FPPC Form 460 (or, where none existed, the most recent filing on record) downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its real reported totals. Desrie Campbell (D2) $800 raised / $40 spent; Keith Parker (D2) no 2026 committee, only a 2022 one; Kathy Kimberlin (D3) $200 raised / $1,966.08 spent, including a $5,000 loan from her husband; Vipin Sharma (D3) only a Form 501 on file, no Form 460; Aziz Akbari (D4) $288 raised / $10.09 spent plus $1,107 in accrued unpaid bills; Ying-Min Li (D4) $50,060.88 in monetary contributions plus $80,000 in loans from Li herself / $13,932.33 spent, including an $850 contribution from sitting District 4 Councilmember Yang Shao; Manisha Pathak (D4) $4,091 raised / $1,395.06 spent; Anurag Mishra (D4) no campaign committee located.](https://netfile.com/public/fremont/campaign)
5. [Wikipedia's Fremont, California article -- 2020 census population (230,504), the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area and the largest in Alameda County; also lists the current City Council roster by name, used only as a secondary cross-check against the city's own page.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont,_California)
6. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Fremont City Council Member, District 4' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?; What background, experience and/or education qualify you for this elected office?; How would you change things to increase residents' input into the city's decision making process?; Governing is about managing limited resources. If you have to cut the city budget, what programs or services would you prioritize saving, and which would you cut?; If you could alter or update one element of our city's zoning code to improve the community, what would it be? Answers on file from Manisha Pathak, Aziz Akbari, Ying-Min Li. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/fremont-council-district-4.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote)

## The rest of the ballot

Fremont City Council, District 4 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, "Fremont City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/fremont-council-district-4 (sources last retrieved October 7, 2026).

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