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City of San Carlos · Statewide General Election

San Carlos City Council

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 five at-large seats on San Carlos's City Council, a General Law city of about 30,700 residents: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term. The Council appoints one of its own members Mayor and another Vice Mayor each December for a one-year term -- neither office is separately elected.

San Carlos elects three of its five at-large City Council seats this November, and an unusual dynamic shapes the race: three of the four candidates -- Adam Rak, Pranita Venkatesh, and Sara McDowell -- are the sitting Councilmembers whose terms expire together this cycle, all running for reelection at once. Only businessman Mark Iwanowski is a new challenger.

San Carlos is a General Law city of about 30,700 residents run council-manager, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations. All five Council seats are elected at-large rather than by district, to staggered 4-year terms; the Council appoints one of its own members Mayor and another Vice Mayor each December for a one-year term, so neither office is separately elected. Winners here will help set the budget, city ordinances, and land-use decisions through 2030.

Because this is a vote-for-3, at-large contest with four candidates, the top three vote-getters win outright -- there's no runoff. With three incumbents and one challenger running for three seats, at most one incumbent can actually lose; if voters want to change the Council's direction, Iwanowski winning enough votes to bump one of Rak, Venkatesh, or McDowell is the only way that happens this cycle. Rak (Vice Mayor) and Venkatesh (Mayor) currently hold the Council's top rotating offices; McDowell has twice served as Mayor previously. Rak's and McDowell's campaigns both center on continuing specific, named projects from their current terms -- infrastructure, parks, and downtown/economic development -- while Iwanowski's is a straightforward fiscal-discipline pitch built on a private-sector cost-cutting record, and pointedly opposes a sales-tax measure (Measure G) also on this ballot.

Adam Rak

Rak has served on the Council since 2018 (reelected in 2022) and currently holds the rotating Vice Mayor post. Before that he was a San Carlos School Board Trustee from 2011 to 2015. His professional background is 25-plus years in government relations: six years as a Capitol Hill aide to then-Rep. Barbara Kennelly, followed by nine years leading global public affairs at Symantec. He moved to San Carlos in 2001, has coached youth sports, and served on the Chamber of Commerce board. His campaign centers on continued "experienced leadership," naming public-safety funding, parks improvements, the Eastside economic-development plan, downtown revitalization, street repair, and childcare funding through developer impact fees as his priorities.

Strengths

Two City Council terms plus prior School Board service and a long professional career navigating government institutions at the federal and corporate level.

Trade-offs

As one of three incumbents running together, his platform stresses continuity with the Council's current direction, not a contrast with it -- worth weighing if you want change.

Keep in mind

His named priorities (the Eastside plan, downtown revitalization) are specific enough to check against the city's own published planning documents if you want to verify progress independent of his campaign's framing.

Pranita Venkatesh

Venkatesh has served on the Council since 2022, after three years on the San Carlos Economic Development Advisory Commission, and currently holds the rotating Mayor post. She and her husband moved to San Carlos in 2009; she owns a Montessori preschool in the city and has worked as an early-childhood advocate, holding a B.A. from Notre Dame de Namur and a master's in Early Childhood and Clinical Psychology. Before San Carlos, she worked as a child psychologist in East Palo Alto and as a buyer at Macy's. Her own campaign website (pranitasc.com) is listed on the city's own candidates page as "Coming Soon" and did not resolve at all when checked -- so, unlike the other three candidates, no independent campaign platform statement is available for her here beyond her filed ballot designation, "Councilmember / Educator."

Strengths

A distinct background among the four candidates -- early-childhood education and clinical psychology rather than government-relations or corporate careers -- plus service as Mayor.

Trade-offs

With no reachable campaign site this cycle, there's no independently verifiable statement of her specific priorities or record beyond her official city biography and ballot designation.

Keep in mind

If her particular priorities matter to your vote, her city council email (via the City Clerk's office) or attending a Council meeting are the most direct ways to get a platform statement not captured here.

Sara McDowell

McDowell has served on the Council since 2018, after two and a half years on the San Carlos Economic Development Advisory Commission, and has twice held the rotating Mayor post (2022 and 2025). She and her husband moved to San Carlos in 2010; she holds a B.A. from UC Davis and a master's in International Affairs from George Washington University, previously worked on Latin America trade policy for the U.S. Department of Commerce, and served as a Presidential Management Fellow from 2003 to 2005. Her campaign points to specific completed projects from her time on the Council -- Fire Station 16's opening, the 33-unit Cherry Street Commons affordable-housing development, and more than 150 new child-care spots added since 2024 -- and lists infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, school-safety routes), parks and open space, affordable housing, traffic/parking management, and public safety funding as ongoing priorities.

Strengths

The most Council tenure of the three incumbents (since 2018) plus two prior terms as Mayor, and a campaign that names specific, checkable completed projects rather than only broad priorities.

Trade-offs

As with Rak, her pitch is built on continuing the current Council's record rather than a contrast with it.

Keep in mind

Her cited wins (Fire Station 16, Cherry Street Commons, the child-care expansion) reflect Council-wide votes, not necessarily her own initiatives alone -- normal for incumbency, but worth weighing.

Mark D. Iwanowski

Iwanowski is a business owner and entrepreneur running as the race's only non-incumbent. His campaign site describes a corporate cost-cutting record -- leading a SAIC business unit that delivered $200 million in verified savings for San Diego County, and, as Chief Information Officer at Oracle, driving technology and process reforms that produced $1 billion in savings. His platform applies that same discipline to city government: no new taxes, a zero-based review of every city department's budget, transparent plain-language spending reports, and protecting core services (public safety, roads, parks) by cutting inefficiency rather than services themselves. His site pointedly frames its "No Tax Increases" plank against funding city priorities "within existing revenue" -- a position that lines up against Measure G, a separate half-cent sales-tax measure also on this November's San Carlos ballot.

Strengths

A concrete, quantified private-sector track record in large-scale cost management, offered as directly relevant experience for municipal budget oversight.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or San Carlos government experience -- corporate cost-cutting and municipal budgeting run under different constraints (public process, union contracts a company lacks).

Keep in mind

His campaign doesn't specify which city expenditures he considers "waste" to cut -- worth asking directly if the no-new-taxes pledge is what would decide your vote, especially given the concurrent Measure G question on the same ballot.

Source review: Strong (85/100) · 13 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: Mark Iwanowski's own campaign site (mark4sancarlos.com, matching his roster-listed email exactly): a real, independently reachable multi-page static site describing a fiscal-discipline platform ("No Tax Increases," a zero-based budget review, transparent spending, protecting core services) built on a stated record of $200 million in savings for San Diego County while at SAIC and $1 billion in savings as Oracle's Chief Information Officer; publishes no FPPC filer ID anywhere on the site, Sara McDowell's own campaign site (saramcdowell.org): describes eight years on the Council including two terms as Mayor (2022 and 2025), and a platform of infrastructure improvements (roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, school-safety routes), parks and open space, affordable housing, traffic/parking management, and public safety funding; cites Fire Station 16's opening, the 33-unit Cherry Street Commons housing development, and 150-plus new child-care spots since 2024 as accomplishments; publishes an FPPC Committee ID (1492893), and Adam Rak's own campaign site (adamrak.org): describes eight years on the Council plus School Board Trustee service, and a platform of fiscal responsibility and public-safety funding, parks improvements, Eastside-plan economic development, downtown revitalization, street repair, and childcare funding via developer impact fees; publishes an FPPC Committee ID (1494797) and the disclaimer "Paid for by Adam Rak for San Carlos City Council 2026" may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • smcacre.gov (opens in a new tab)San Mateo County ACRE -- Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only, November 3, 2026 General Election (CFMR009), dated 2026-08-25: the county's own certified candidate list, naming all four qualified San Carlos City Council candidates for the single at-large contest 'City of San Carlos Member, City Council,' Vote for 3, flagged 'On Ballot: Yes,' with each candidate's filed occupation/ballot designation and qualification date
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- official City Clerk "Elections" page: confirms San Carlos is a General Law City holding elections in November of even years with six elected officers (five Councilmembers plus a City Treasurer) each serving 4-year terms, that the Mayor and Vice Mayor are appointed by the Council itself each December rather than separately elected, and that the Council adopted Resolution 2026-062 on June 8, 2026 calling a General Municipal Election for November 3, 2026 'for the election of three City Council Members for a term of four years'; also names a separate Measure G sales-tax ballot measure, out of scope for this dataset's display
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- official City Clerk "Qualified Candidates" page: independently corroborates the same four candidates as the county roster, 'listed in the order they will appear on the ballot' -- Mark D. Iwanowski, Adam Rak, Pranita Venkatesh, Sara McDowell -- with matching filed designations, emails, and (for three of the four) phone numbers/websites
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- official "City Council" (Meet the Council) page: confirms the Council has five members, that Mayor and Vice Mayor appointments 'change each year in December and [are] decided by a vote of the Council,' and names the current five members as of this retrieval (Mayor Pranita Venkatesh, Vice Mayor Adam Rak, Councilmembers John Dugan, Neil Layton, and Sara McDowell)
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's San Carlos, California article -- confirms a council-manager government and a 2020 census population of 30,722; cited narrowly for structural/population facts, not for any candidate-specific or volatile claim
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- Pranita Venkatesh's official Councilmember biography page: term of office November 2022-November 2026; elected 2022 after three years on the San Carlos Economic Development Advisory Commission; a Montessori preschool owner in San Carlos and early-childhood advocate; B.A. from Notre Dame de Namur, Master's in Early Childhood and Clinical Psychology; formerly a child psychologist in East Palo Alto and a buyer at Macy's -- the City's own non-campaign-authored biography
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- Adam Rak's official Councilmember biography page: term of office November 2022-November 2026; first elected 2018, re-elected 2022; 25-plus years in government relations, including six years as a Capitol Hill aide to then-Rep. Barbara Kennelly and nine years leading global public affairs at Symantec; moved to San Carlos in 2001; a former San Carlos School Board Trustee (2011-2015); B.A. in International Affairs, George Washington University -- the City's own non-campaign-authored biography
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Carlos -- Sara McDowell's official Councilmember biography page: term of office November 2022-November 2026; elected 2018 after two and a half years on the San Carlos Economic Development Advisory Commission; moved to San Carlos in 2010; board service on the San Carlos Education Foundation, the Parks and Recreation Foundation, and the Day of Service; B.A. from UC Davis, Master's in International Affairs from George Washington University; previously worked on Latin America trade policy for the U.S. Department of Commerce and served as a Presidential Management Fellow (2003-2005) -- the City's own non-campaign-authored biography
  • adamrak.org (opens in a new tab)Adam Rak's own campaign site (adamrak.org): describes eight years on the Council plus School Board Trustee service, and a platform of fiscal responsibility and public-safety funding, parks improvements, Eastside-plan economic development, downtown revitalization, street repair, and childcare funding via developer impact fees; publishes an FPPC Committee ID (1494797) and the disclaimer 'Paid for by Adam Rak for San Carlos City Council 2026'
  • saramcdowell.org (opens in a new tab)Sara McDowell's own campaign site (saramcdowell.org): describes eight years on the Council including two terms as Mayor (2022 and 2025), and a platform of infrastructure improvements (roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, school-safety routes), parks and open space, affordable housing, traffic/parking management, and public safety funding; cites Fire Station 16's opening, the 33-unit Cherry Street Commons housing development, and 150-plus new child-care spots since 2024 as accomplishments; publishes an FPPC Committee ID (1492893)
  • mark4sancarlos.com (opens in a new tab)Mark Iwanowski's own campaign site (mark4sancarlos.com, matching his roster-listed email exactly): a real, independently reachable multi-page static site describing a fiscal-discipline platform ('No Tax Increases,' a zero-based budget review, transparent spending, protecting core services) built on a stated record of $200 million in savings for San Diego County while at SAIC and $1 billion in savings as Oracle's Chief Information Officer; publishes no FPPC filer ID anywhere on the site
  • cityofsancarlos.org (opens in a new tab)This dataset's own documented record that Pranita Venkatesh's roster- and city-listed campaign website, pranitasc.com, does not resolve at all -- confirmed by two independent DNS-failure fetch attempts this session (with and without the 'www' prefix) -- consistent with the City of San Carlos's own Qualified Candidates page, which lists her site as 'www.pranitasc.com - Coming Soon!' as of this retrieval. Documents the absence of a reachable campaign site for her, not any claim about her candidacy.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful attempt to retrieve campaign-finance filings for all four San Carlos candidates: the city's own linked NetFile public portal (netfile.com/public/SCS/campaign) is a client-rendered single-page app that returned only the static application shell for every fetch attempted this session, with no live browser session available in this worktree to work around it. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these four candidates beyond the FPPC Committee IDs published on Rak's and McDowell's own campaign sites, not any of their actual finances.

Last updated September 1, 2026.