City of Rohnert Park · Statewide General Election
Rohnert Park City Council, District 2
This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.
On the ballot
- Paul Carey — Military Operations Instructor
- Michael Desimone — Healthcare Director/Realtor
- Linda Tams — Business Owner/Realtor
Councilmembers vote on Rohnert Park's city budget, ordinances, and land use for this Sonoma County city of 44,390 residents (2020 Census). Rohnert Park is a council-manager city: a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations while the five-member elected Council sets policy. The city moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020, adopting five districts by Ordinance No. 944; each seat serves a 4-year term. This November's ballot includes two of the five districts, District 2 and District 5 -- this dataset could not independently confirm the remaining districts' election schedule beyond that. Rohnert Park's current Mayor, Emily Sanborn, holds that title while representing District 2; this dataset could not independently confirm how Rohnert Park selects its Mayor (directly elected citywide vs. chosen by the Council from among its own members), since no source reachable in this pass addressed the question directly.
Three candidates are running for Rohnert Park's open District 2 council seat: business owner/realtor Linda Tams, healthcare director/realtor Michael Desimone, and military operations instructor Paul Carey. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins the seat outright -- no runoff.
Councilmembers vote on Rohnert Park's city budget, ordinances, and land use for this Sonoma County city of 44,390 residents (2020 Census). Rohnert Park is a council-manager city: a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations while the five-member elected Council sets policy. The city moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020, adopting five districts by Ordinance No. 944; each seat serves a 4-year term. Only Districts 2 and 5 are up this November -- this dataset could not independently confirm when the remaining three districts next come up.
This seat is open: the county's own candidate roster lists no incumbent among District 2's three filers, and the city's own Meet My City Council page independently confirms that Emily Sanborn -- the sitting District 2 councilmember and current Mayor -- did not file for reelection to this seat. This dataset could not independently confirm her reasons, only that she isn't on the ballot for it. Unlike Santa Rosa's posted-statement model, Rohnert Park does not publish candidate statements online for this cycle; the city's own Candidate Resources page states biographical materials and Form 700 filings are available only "by appointment only, upon request" through the City Clerk's office.
Linda Tams
Linda (Khoury) Tams is running for Rohnert Park's open District 2 council seat; her ballot designation is "Business Owner/Realtor." No independently reachable campaign website, news profile, or civic-board record was found for her in this pass beyond that ballot designation and her contact information listed on the city's own Candidate Resources page.
Strengths
No independent source describes any record, background, or platform for her beyond her ballot designation and the county's certified candidate list.
Trade-offs
Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for her beyond that filing.
Keep in mind
A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Rohnert Park does not post candidate statements online this cycle -- not a judgment about her candidacy.
Michael Desimone
Michael Desimone (his own site renders it "DeSimone") is running for Rohnert Park's open District 2 seat; his ballot designation is "Healthcare Director/Realtor." His own campaign site describes more than 20 years in healthcare leadership, growing up in the Chicago suburbs, and moving to Rohnert Park in 2022 with his husband, Daniel, who grew up in the area. His stated platform has four parts: responsive and accountable leadership, responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, thoughtful growth that balances housing and neighborhood character, and a safe, connected community -- with stated priorities on streets, traffic, safety, and local business support. No independent news profile or civic-board record beyond his own campaign site was found for him in this pass.
Strengths
A detailed, self-published platform with specific stated priorities, and a stated professional background of more than two decades in healthcare leadership.
Trade-offs
All of this background comes from his own campaign site -- no independent news coverage or record verified it in this pass, and he has no prior local officeholding to point to.
Keep in mind
His platform's four themes are broad governance commitments rather than specific proposals this pass could check against a voting or civic-board record, since he has not previously held local office.
Paul Carey
Paul Carey is running for Rohnert Park's open District 2 seat; his ballot designation is "Military Operations Instructor." His own linked campaign page lists three focus areas -- elected-official accessibility, neighborhood revitalization (art, commerce, and beautification), and demystifying how local government actually works -- but no formal biography. No independent news profile or civic-board record was found for him in this pass.
Strengths
A stated set of focus areas in his own words, distinct from a bare ballot filing.
Trade-offs
His own campaign page offers no formal biography or detailed platform beyond those three focus areas, and no independent source adds further background.
Keep in mind
A thin public profile here reflects what his own campaign has published online as of this pass, not a judgment about his candidacy.
Source review: Strong (81/100) · 9 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.
Review note: Paul Carey -- own linked campaign page for Rohnert Park City Council District 2: lists three stated focus areas (elected-official accessibility, neighborhood revitalization, and demystifying local government) with no formal biography as of retrieval. and Michael Desimone (rendered "DeSimone" on his own site) -- own campaign site for Rohnert Park City Council District 2: describes 20-plus years in healthcare leadership, his 2022 move to Rohnert Park with his husband, and a four-point platform (responsive/accountable leadership, responsible stewardship, thoughtful growth, and a safe/connected community). may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.
- sonomacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Sonoma County Registrar of Voters -- "Local Candidates Who Have Filed," November 3, 2026 General Election: lists exactly two Rohnert Park "CITY CONTESTS" -- City Council Districts 2 and 5, each Elect 1 -- with per-contest candidate name, ballot designation, qualification date, and incumbent flag; carries the page's sitewide "not final or official" disclaimer. Page last updated 8/17/26, unchanged on a live re-check 2026-09-01 after both the regular (Aug. 7) and extended (Aug. 12) nomination deadlines had passed.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "Candidate Resources" page: independently names the identical six-candidate, two-district field with each candidate's own contact information, and states the nomination period for the November 3, 2026 election "is officially closed." Notes that Form 700 and candidate biographical materials are available "by appointment only, upon request" through the City Clerk's office -- the city does not post candidate statements online for this cycle.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "City Elections" page: states directly that the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election includes a District 2 and a District 5 City Council seat, each a 4-year term, alongside Measure K (a citywide ballot measure; measures are descoped from display in this dataset).
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "By-District Elections Transition" page: confirms the city adopted five City Council districts by Ordinance No. 944 on Feb. 25, 2020, transitioning from at-large elections after seven public hearings; references a staggered "election order of each district" without stating the full six-year rotation schedule.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "Meet My City Council" page: independently confirms Susan Hollingsworth Adams as the sitting District 5 councilmember (corroborating the county roster's incumbent flag) and Emily Sanborn as the city's current Mayor while representing District 2 -- no candidate named Sanborn appears among District 2's three 2026 filers.
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Rohnert Park, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (44,390) and the city's council-manager government structure -- does not cover the 2026 election.
- southtechhosting.com (opens in a new tab)A documented financial-disclosure access gap: Rohnert Park's own "Campaign Statement Filings" page links a SouthTech Hosting "Web Retrieval" portal for statements filed on or after July 17, 2023, and a companion "eCampaign" filer portal. Both load (HTTP 200), but a direct inspection of the served HTML shows an ASP.NET WebForms application driven entirely by client-side __VIEWSTATE/__PostBack controls, with no static candidate or filer data and no URL-parameter or REST-API path this session's fetch tooling could reach (no browser extension connected this pass) -- the same client-side-gated pattern documented elsewhere in this dataset for NetFile-hosted portals, on different vendor infrastructure. No FPPC Form 460, 470, or 501 could be confirmed present or absent for any of the six candidates.
- desimoneforcitycouncil.com (opens in a new tab)Michael Desimone (rendered "DeSimone" on his own site) -- own campaign site for Rohnert Park City Council District 2: describes 20-plus years in healthcare leadership, his 2022 move to Rohnert Park with his husband, and a four-point platform (responsive/accountable leadership, responsible stewardship, thoughtful growth, and a safe/connected community).
- linktr.ee (opens in a new tab)Paul Carey -- own linked campaign page for Rohnert Park City Council District 2: lists three stated focus areas (elected-official accessibility, neighborhood revitalization, and demystifying local government) with no formal biography as of retrieval.
Last updated September 1, 2026.