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Palo Alto City Council

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City of Palo Alto

Palo Alto City Council

This person would hold one of three open seats on Palo Alto's City Council. The council has seven members. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Palo Alto is a Santa Clara County city of about 68,000 people. Four other council seats are not up this cycle. The Council picks one of its own members to serve as Mayor each January. An appointed City Manager runs day to day operations. The term is four years.

Seven candidates are running for three open, citywide seats on Palo Alto's City Council. The election is on November 3, 2026. Incumbents Ed Lauing and Vicki Veenker, the sitting Mayor, are both running again. A third incumbent, Julie Lythcott-Haims, is not seeking reelection. Voters can choose up to three candidates. The three with the most votes win, and there is no primary or runoff.

This person would hold one of three at-large seats on Palo Alto's seven-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Santa Clara County city of about 68,000, alongside the four Council seats not up this cycle. The term is four years. The Council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and one as Vice Mayor each January; day-to-day operations run through an appointed City Manager.

The three open seats belong to Council members Ed Lauing, Julie Lythcott-Haims, and Vicki Veenker. Lauing and Veenker are both running for reelection; Lythcott-Haims is not. The field grew visibly over the summer in the Daily Post's own coverage: four candidates (Deng and Chang challenging Veenker and Lauing) as of an Aug. 4 fundraising story, a fifth (Gechlik, then still finishing his filing paperwork) by Aug. 7, and all seven by the Aug. 19 filing-deadline roundup this shard is built from.

Vicki Veenker

Vicki Veenker is Palo Alto's sitting Mayor, chosen by her Council colleagues for 2026. Her past platform included downtown renovation, phasing out natural gas, and more housing. She was first elected to Council in 2022, after an earlier run for state Assembly.

Ed Lauing

Ed Lauing is an executive recruiter who has lived in Palo Alto for 34 years. His past platform favored working with developers on neighborhoods, over broader upzoning. He was first elected to Council in 2020 and served as Mayor in 2025.

Bryna Chang

Bryna Chang is a Planning and Transportation Commissioner in Palo Alto. She wants to help revitalize the North Ventura area and ease the housing shortage. Her campaign raised $17,109 from 28 donations for the 2026 race.

Yudy Deng

Yudy Deng is a Parks and Recreation Commissioner. Her campaign raised $82,307 from 39 donations, the most in the race. Only 15 of those donations came from Palo Alto residents.

Gary Gechlik

Gary Gechlik is a physician at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose. He describes his campaign as simply being good to other people. As of Aug. 7, 2026, he had not yet finished his candidacy paperwork.

Brian Hamachek

Brian Hamachek is a software engineer who grew up in Palo Alto. In 2022, he opposed ending natural gas in homes and favored a new business tax. He first ran for Council in 2022, after trying three times for the Planning Commission.

Raymond Lee Goins

Raymond Lee Goins is described only as an activist in news coverage. They are a member of the NAACP San Jose and Silicon Valley branch. They pushed in 2025 to remove a 1961 mural of Native Americans from the courthouse.

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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