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City of Pleasanton · Statewide General Election

Pleasanton City Council, District 1

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of Pleasanton's four district City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 80,000, for a 4-year term, subject to an 8-year term limit. Pleasanton's Mayor is elected separately, citywide; the other two Council seats aren't up this cycle.

An open seat: sitting Councilmember Jeff Nibert did not file for re-election. Two candidates are running: Vin Kruttiventi and Kathy Narum. Whichever gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This District 1 seat is one of Pleasanton's four district City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 80,000, for a 4-year term, subject to an 8-year term limit. Pleasanton's Mayor is elected separately, citywide; the city's other two Council seats (Districts 2 and 4) aren't up this cycle.

Both candidates are business owners running on fiscal-sustainability platforms, but from different vantage points: Kruttiventi is a political newcomer emphasizing his private-sector management experience, while Narum is a former decade-long Councilmember now returning after time on the regional water board.

Vin Kruttiventi

A business owner whose filed ballot designation reads "Business Owner." His own candidate statement describes over 20 years of experience "building successful companies," managing large budgets, creating jobs, and leading a nonprofit that mentors emerging companies. His platform centers on fixing what he calls "years of poor financial planning" at City Hall by increasing city revenue -- supporting existing local businesses, revitalizing Stoneridge Mall, and attracting new businesses to downtown and the business parks -- alongside support for police and fire, better roads, aging infrastructure, safe drinking water, and parks.

Strengths

Two decades of private-sector leadership experience and a specific, business-revenue-focused platform (Stoneridge Mall revitalization, downtown business attraction).

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed public service was found in the reporting located for this dataset; no independent news coverage of his candidacy was found.

Keep in mind

No campaign-finance figures for Kruttiventi were found -- he has filed only a candidate intention statement with the state as of this dataset's retrieval; see Financial info.

Kathy Narum

Her filed ballot designation reads "Businesswoman"; her own candidate statement lists a fuller occupation of "Businesswoman / Nonprofit Director." She describes herself as "a former Councilmember for nearly a decade, and now as a Zone 7 Water Agency Board Director" (an elected special-district board covering water supply for the Livermore-Amador, or Tri-Valley, area) -- a history independently consistent with her state campaign-committee filings, which date back to 2013-2014 and 2018 council runs and a 2020 run for Mayor. Outside government, her statement says she serves on the boards of Sunflower Hill, the Pleasanton Downtown Association, and the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation, and that she manages a family business. Her platform centers on water affordability and reliability, fiscal sustainability, and public-safety readiness.

Strengths

Roughly a decade of prior Council experience plus current service on the regional water board that supplies Pleasanton, giving her direct familiarity with the city's top-cited priority.

Trade-offs

Running to return to a seat she previously left; no independent news coverage of her prior council tenure or this campaign was found for this dataset.

Keep in mind

A $500 contribution she made to Mayor Balch's own campaign on June 30, 2026 (per Balch's own Form 460) shows a financial tie between the two officeholders -- noted here as a factual filing detail, not an endorsement claim by either campaign.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- official Candidate List system (electionId 260, "General Election - 11/03/2026 (Official)"), queried directly via its own JSON/HTML API (POST /rov_app/candidatelist/) for all three Pleasanton races (categoryId 600, raceIds 104, 129, 130): For Mayor (Jack Balch, Julie Testa); For Members Of City Council #1 (Vin Kruttiventi, Kathy Narum); For Members Of City Council #3 (Reena Gupta, Jamie Yee). Names ballot designations verbatim as filed: "Mayor/CPA" (Balch), "Councilmember, City of Pleasanton" (Testa), "Business Owner" (Kruttiventi), "Businesswoman" (Narum), "Local Business Owner" (Gupta), "Communications Manager" (Yee). The system's own "Incumbent" field reads "N" for all six candidates, including sitting Mayor Jack Balch -- this dataset does not treat that field as reliable given the City of Pleasanton's own confirmation (see pleasanton-council-roster-2026) that Balch currently holds the office he is running to keep.
  • cityofpleasantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Pleasanton -- City Clerk's official "Qualified Candidate List" for the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election, updated 8/12/2026 at 5:00 PM (after the nomination period): names the identical six-candidate, three-race roster as the county's own Candidate List, with each candidate's own campaign phone, email, and website.
  • cityofpleasantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Pleasanton -- City Clerk's official "Candidate Statements" booklet for the November 3, 2026 election: each of the six qualified candidates' own, self-authored statement and stated occupation, filed with and published by the city -- Kruttiventi ("Business Owner"), Narum ("Businesswoman / Nonprofit Director"), Gupta ("Entrepreneur/Workforce Consultant", age 56), Yee ("Public Health Communications Manager"), Balch ("Mayor / CPA"), and Testa ("Pleasanton City Councilmember") -- the backbone of each candidate's editorial profile here. Two candidates' statement occupations read slightly differently from their county-filed ballot designation (pleasanton-acgov-candidatelist-2026): Narum and Gupta, both noted in text rather than silently resolved.
  • cityofpleasantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Pleasanton -- official "Mayor & City Council" page: names the sitting Mayor (Jack Balch, at-large) and all four district Councilmembers -- Jeff Nibert (District 1), Craig Eicher (District 2), Julie Testa (District 3), and Matt Gaidos (District 4, Vice Mayor) -- confirming who currently holds each seat up this cycle (Mayor and District 1 and 3) and who does not appear among this cycle's qualified candidates (Nibert).
  • cityofpleasantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Pleasanton -- official "Elections & Measures" page: states the three November 3, 2026 seats up for election as "Councilmember from District 1," "Councilmember from District 3," and "Mayor at-large," and describes the city's council structure as "one mayor elected at-large and four council members elected by-district."
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Pleasanton, California article -- 2020 census population (79,871) and the city's council-manager government structure (a five-member council: four district representatives plus an at-large Mayor serving a 2-year term, an 8-year term limit for all seats, a Vice Mayor appointed annually by the Mayor), cited only for general context and as independent corroboration of the current roster.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)The City of Pleasanton's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (netfile.com, agency code COP), queried directly for all six 2026 candidates with each available FPPC filing downloaded and read for its actual reported figures -- real dollar amounts, not estimated. Balch's Form 460 (period Jan. 1-June 30, 2026) reports $13,955 raised and $33,158 cash on hand; Gupta's reports $4,928 raised (entirely in June 2026, when her committee organized) and $4,828 cash on hand; Yee's reports $2,949 raised and $731 cash on hand. Testa's only committee on file for this period, her 2022 City Council committee, reported zero contributions and zero expenditures for the first half of 2026; a separate "Julie A. Testa" committee organized in August 2026 (Form 501) with no Form 460 yet on file. Narum's committee reorganized for this cycle in July 2026 and likewise has no semi-annual statement yet, but reported a $5,000 personal loan to her own campaign via Form 497 on Aug. 19, 2026. Kruttiventi has filed only a Form 501 candidate intention statement -- no committee, no reportable contributions as of this dataset's retrieval.

Last updated September 1, 2026.