# Hayward City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Brian M. Schott or George Syrop for Hayward City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold Hayward's District 1 seat on the City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. The term is four years. The seat is decided by plurality vote. This is the first district-based election for this seat -- a California Voting Rights Act settlement (Ordinance No. 24-07, adopted Oct. 8, 2024) converted Hayward's Council elections from citywide (at-large) voting to single-member districts, starting with Districts 1 and 6 this cycle; Districts 2 through 5 follow in November 2028.

- Jurisdiction: City of Hayward
- 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/hayward-council-district-1
- 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: 88 out of 100 (Strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Brian M. Schott** — Small Business Owner
- **George Syrop** — Council Member · Incumbent

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

Two candidates are running for Hayward's new District 1 seat. They are sitting at-large Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tempore George Syrop, and small-business owner Brian M. Schott.

This person would hold Hayward's District 1 seat on the City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. The term is four years. The seat is decided by plurality vote.

This is the first district-based election for this seat. A California Voting Rights Act lawsuit -- brought on behalf of resident Jack Wu and Neighborhood Elections Now, Inc., alleging Hayward's former at-large Council elections diluted Asian American voting power -- produced a court-approved settlement the city implemented as Ordinance No. 24-07, adopted Oct. 8, 2024. Districts 1 and 6 elect first this cycle; Districts 2 through 5 follow in November 2028. The Mayor's office is unaffected and stays citywide.

## George Syrop

George Syrop was elected to Hayward's City Council at-large in November 2022. They serve as Mayor Pro Tempore. Their ballot designation is Council Member. They hold a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley. They also hold a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in City Planning from UC Berkeley. They work as Communications Manager for the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. Their council committee assignments include Budget & Finance, Housing Policy & Resource, and Infrastructure & Airport. They also sit on the Personnel Commission and the Alameda County Transportation Commission. They have organized with the Hayward Community Coalition. They have advised Public Bank East Bay and the Eden Community Land Trust. They co-founded the Stack Run Club and South Hayward Market. They served on the city's Community Services Commission in 2021 and 2022.

**Strengths:** Nearly four years of sitting council experience. Syrop's committee assignments on Housing Policy & Resource and Infrastructure & Airport are directly relevant to district-level work.

**Trade-offs:** They are running for a newly drawn district seat rather than a straightforward reelection. This is their first bid specifically for District 1.

**Keep in mind:** The county marks Syrop "Incumbent: N" here. Districts 1 and 6 have no eligible incumbent for filing purposes this cycle. That is a new-district artifact, not a claim they aren't a sitting councilmember.

## Brian M. Schott

Brian M. Schott's ballot designation is Small Business Owner. No independent news coverage or campaign website was found for Schott. Alameda County's own candidate roster and Hayward's Candidate Information page turned up only Schott's certified ballot filing. General web searches turned up nothing more. Their campaign has filed an FPPC Form 501 candidate-intention statement. There is no Form 460 on Hayward's NetFile portal.

**Strengths:** Schott is a non-incumbent challenger. Without Schott, the race would be an uncontested reelection for the sitting Mayor Pro Tempore.

**Trade-offs:** Essentially no public record beyond their ballot designation and initial campaign-finance paperwork was located.

**Keep in mind:** This is a sourcing gap, not a claim that no information about Schott exists. Official channels and general searches did not turn up more.

## Sources

1. [Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- own JSON API behind its "Candidate List" web app (electionId 260 = General Election - 11/03/2026, Official): the candidatelist/260 endpoint returns every race category countywide with no County category at all (zero Board of Supervisors/row-office/judicial seats on the Nov. 2026 general), and the racelist/260/600 endpoint names all 46 City-category races countywide, including the exact seven Berkeley races (four Council districts, Auditor, Rent Stabilization Board, School Directors) with their raceIds and vote-for-N seat counts -- confirming Alameda County publishes a unified countywide candidate document, unlike Santa Clara County.](https://www.alamedacountyca.gov/rov_app/racelist/260/600)
2. [Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- the same candidatelist app's per-race candidate-detail view (POST to /rov_app/candidatelist/ with electionId=260 and each Berkeley raceId), queried directly for all seven Berkeley races: returns each candidate's exact ballot designation, filing agency, and on-ballot status -- the same roster as the City Clerk's own Notice of Candidates, independently confirming all 23 names and designations.](https://www.alamedacountyca.gov/rov_app/candidatelist/)
3. [City of Hayward -- "Elections" page: confirms a General Municipal Election on Nov. 3, 2026 for one Mayor seat and two Council seats (District 1 and District 6), states the July 13-Aug. 7, 2026 nomination period (Aug. 12 if an incumbent does not file), and links to the Candidate Information page and the city's NetFile public campaign-finance portal (aid=HWD).](https://www.hayward-ca.gov/your-government/elections)
4. [City of Hayward -- "Candidate Information" elections page: independently names all five qualified Nov. 2026 candidates by race -- Mark Salinas and Tom Wong for Mayor; George Syrop and Brian Schott for Council District 1; Julie Roche for Council District 6 -- with each candidate's own campaign website (where filed) and NetFile campaign-finance filer link, matching the county's own candidate roster name-for-name.](https://www.hayward-ca.gov/your-government/elections/candidate-information)
5. [City of Hayward -- official "City Council" page: names Mayor Mark Salinas and the six sitting at-large councilmembers (Mayor Pro Tempore George Syrop, Angela Andrews, Ray Bonilla Jr., Dan Goldstein, Julie Roche, and Francisco Zermeno) and states the city is "transitioning to a geographic district-based system of electing all City Council members except the City's Mayor," with Districts 1 and 6 electing first in Nov. 2026 and Districts 2-5 following in Nov. 2028; links to individual councilmember bio pages and to maphayward.org for the districting map.](https://www.hayward-ca.gov/your-government/city-council)
6. [Hayward's districting-transition portal (maphayward.org): states the city's conversion to district-based Council elections followed a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit brought on behalf of resident Jack Wu and Neighborhood Elections Now, Inc., alleging the former at-large system diluted Asian American voting power; a court-approved settlement required district elections; the city council adopted the districting plan as Ordinance No. 24-07 on Oct. 8, 2024; and Districts 1 and 6 are first to elect, in Nov. 2026, with Districts 2-5 following in Nov. 2028.](https://maphayward.org/)
7. [City of Hayward's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=HWD), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API for all five 2026 candidates, with each available Form 460 downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its actual reported totals. Real H1 2026 totals (monetary contributions raised / total expenditures): Mark Salinas $9,013 / $11,160, filed under his continuing "Mark Salinas For Mayor Of Hayward 2022" committee; George Syrop $17,090 / $10,521; Julie Roche $6,996 / $1,162. Tom Wong and Brian Schott have each filed only an FPPC Form 501 candidate-intention statement, with no Form 460 on file for either as of this dataset's retrieval.](https://netfile.com/public/HWD/campaign)
8. [Wikipedia's Hayward, California article -- 2020 census population (162,954), cited only for general context.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayward,_California)
9. [City of Hayward -- Mayor Pro Tempore George Syrop's own official biography page: states he was elected to Council Nov. 2022, his education (BA Political Science and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in City Planning, UC Berkeley), his day job (Communications Manager, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative), his council committee assignments (Budget & Finance, Housing Policy & Resource, Infrastructure & Airport, Personnel Commission, Alameda County Transportation Commission), and his community roles (Hayward Community Coalition organizer, advisor to Public Bank East Bay and the Eden Community Land Trust, Stack Run Club and South Hayward Market co-founder, Bike Hayward advisor, and a 2021-2022 term on the Community Services Commission).](https://www.hayward-ca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-member-george-syrop)

## The rest of the ballot

Hayward City Council, District 1 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, "Hayward City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/hayward-council-district-1 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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