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Mountain View City Council

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City of Mountain View

Mountain View City Council

This person would hold one of three at-large seats up this cycle. The seats are on the Mountain View City Council. The council has seven members. Mountain View is a Santa Clara County city of about 82,000 people. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Four other council seats are not up this cycle. The term is four years, with a limit of two terms in a row. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor each year. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations.

Eight candidates are running for three open City Council seats in Mountain View. The seats are open because Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei, and Lucas Ramirez are term-limited. Voters may pick up to three names, and the top three win.

This person would hold one of three at-large seats on Mountain View's seven-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Santa Clara County city of about 82,000, alongside the four Council seats not up this cycle. The term is four years, capped at two consecutive terms. The Council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor each year; day-to-day operations run through an appointed City Manager.

All three open seats belong to Council members who reached their two-consecutive-term limit: Ellen Kamei (first elected 2018, now running for a school-board seat instead), Alison Hicks, and Lucas Ramirez. None of the eight 2026 candidates is a sitting Council member -- the four councilmembers not up this cycle (Mayor Emily Ann Ramos and Councilmembers Chris Clark, John McAlister, and Pat Showalter, all elected in 2024) aren't up again until 2028. Two of the eight, IdaRose Sylvester and Erik Poicon, ran against that same 2024 field and lost; the other six are first-time candidates. At an Aug. 27 candidate forum, all eight agreed it should be easier for small businesses to open in the city and backed a ballot measure raising the hotel tax, but split on whether to allow more office space downtown, whether to allow large-scale office development in North Bayshore (a roughly 30-year Google-led growth area whose future is unclear given Google's recent pullback on other Mountain View projects), and how the city should respond to SB 79, a state law requiring denser housing near Caltrain and VTA light-rail stops -- several candidates back a city-drafted "local alternative plan" to steer new housing away from the historic downtown core, while others back SB 79 as written.

James Kuszmaul

James Kuszmaul is a software engineer. He serves on the city's Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee. His top issues are street safety, housing costs, and limits on federal immigration enforcement. At the Aug. 27 forum he gave downtown and North Bayshore office growth partial backing.

Robert Cox

Robert Cox is a retired Intel project lead. He serves on the Rental Housing Committee. He opposes SB 79 and backs a local plan for new housing instead. At the Aug. 27 forum he opposed more downtown offices. He backed office growth in North Bayshore.

Paul Donahue

Paul Donahue is a microprocessor engineer. He serves on the city's Environmental Planning Commission. He wants to carry out the city's housing plan. It calls for more than 11,000 new homes by 2031. At the Aug. 27 forum he opposed more downtown offices. He was undecided on North Bayshore.

Silja Paymer

Silja Paymer is a physics teacher at Los Altos High School. She has lived in Mountain View for 19 years. Her platform covers street safety, green space, clean energy, and zero waste. At the Aug. 27 forum she took no fixed stand on North Bayshore offices. Her support would depend on what a developer offers the city.

IdaRose Sylvester

IdaRose Sylvester is an entrepreneur and educator. She serves on the Parks and Recreation Commission. Her platform covers housing, tenant protections, and help for local business. She also runs on climate action and community engagement. She ran for City Council in 2024 and lost.

Erik Poicon

Erik Poicon is a longtime community organizer. He serves on the Human Relations Commission. His platform covers help for local business and closer tracking of store closures. He also backs a tax on empty storefronts. At the Aug. 27 forum he backed office growth both downtown and in North Bayshore.

Samuel Ali

Samuel Ali is a security specialist at Google. His top issues are affordable housing, public safety, and help finding jobs. He was the last of the eight candidates to file. The deadline was Aug. 7.

Alexander Amoroso

Alexander Amoroso is a U.S. Army officer in an adjutant general role. His top issues are job creation, the environment, and access to education. At the Aug. 27 forum he backed more downtown offices. He opposed office growth in North Bayshore.

Your picks · choose up to 3

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

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