Review note: Rob Newsom Jr.'s own campaign site (vote4robnewsom.com): describes him as born and raised in San Mateo, married with a family in the city, and as having 'served as Mayor and Councilperson for 4 years'; endorsements page names State Treasurer Fiona Ma, SAMCAR, and three building-trades/public-safety unions; footer publishes FPPC ID 1486855 and Seema Patel's own campaign site (seemaforsanmateo.com): describes her as an entrepreneur and mother who chairs the city's Planning Commission, founder of the pedestrian-safety group Safe Streets for Everyone after three pedestrian deaths in the city, and credits her with getting an unsafe Sunnybrae Park playground structure replaced; endorsements page names County Board of Supervisors President Noelia Corzo, Mayor Adam Loraine, school board president Maggie Trinh, and a local business owner; footer publishes FPPC ID 1486058 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 seven qualified City of San Mateo City Council candidates across Districts 1, 3, and 5, their filed occupations/ballot designations, and qualification dates, each flagged 'On Ballot: Yes, Vote for 1'
- cityofsanmateo.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Mateo -- official '2026 City Council Candidates' page (cityofsanmateo.org/4305): lists all seven qualified candidates for Districts 1, 3, and 5 in the order set by the county and Secretary of State's August 13, 2026 randomized-alphabet drawing, and confirms the November 3, 2026 election date
- cityofsanmateo.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Mateo -- official 'Meet Your Council' page: names Adam Loraine (District 5) as Mayor, Nicole Fernandez (District 2) as Deputy Mayor, and Lisa Diaz Nash (District 1), Danielle Cwirko-Godycki (District 4), and Rob Newsom Jr. (District 3) as the remaining council members
- cityofsanmateo.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Mateo -- official 'District Elections' page: the city moved from at-large to five City Council districts starting in November 2022; Districts 1, 3, and 5 were elected in November 2022 and are up again in November 2026, while Districts 2 and 4 were elected in November 2024; council members must live in the district they represent
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's San Mateo, California article -- confirms the council-manager government structure, the five-member City Council's staggered four-year terms, and the city's population (105,661 at the 2020 census; a 103,337 Census Bureau estimate as of July 1, 2025)
- cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful attempt to retrieve campaign-finance filings for all seven City of San Mateo City Council candidates: California's Cal-Access filer search (cal-access.sos.ca.gov) returned only an Incapsula bot-detection interstitial for every query attempted this session (via both WebFetch and direct curl), with no live browser session available in this worktree to work around it. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these seven candidates, not any of their actual finances.
- seemaforsanmateo.com (opens in a new tab)Seema Patel's own campaign site (seemaforsanmateo.com): describes her as an entrepreneur and mother who chairs the city's Planning Commission, founder of the pedestrian-safety group Safe Streets for Everyone after three pedestrian deaths in the city, and credits her with getting an unsafe Sunnybrae Park playground structure replaced; endorsements page names County Board of Supervisors President Noelia Corzo, Mayor Adam Loraine, school board president Maggie Trinh, and a local business owner; footer publishes FPPC ID 1486058
- vote4robnewsom.com (opens in a new tab)Rob Newsom Jr.'s own campaign site (vote4robnewsom.com): describes him as born and raised in San Mateo, married with a family in the city, and as having 'served as Mayor and Councilperson for 4 years'; endorsements page names State Treasurer Fiona Ma, SAMCAR, and three building-trades/public-safety unions; footer publishes FPPC ID 1486855
Last updated September 1, 2026.
City of San Mateo
San Mateo City Council, District 3
This person would represent one of San Mateo's five council districts. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land-use decisions. San Mateo has about 105,600 residents. The term is four years. The council picks its own Mayor and Deputy Mayor each year. They are not elected separately.
Incumbent Councilmember Rob Newsom Jr. has also served as the city's Mayor. He is seeking a second term representing District 3 against Planning Commission Chair Seema Patel. Patel is a pedestrian safety advocate.
The winner serves a 4-year term as one of five district representatives on San Mateo's City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this city of about 105,600 residents. San Mateo moved from at-large to district elections in 2022; the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen by the council from among its own members each year rather than elected separately, and council races have no primary -- Newsom and Patel go straight to the November 3 ballot.
Newsom, born and raised in San Mateo, centers his campaign on representing all residents and listening across disagreements, and is backed by several labor unions and State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Patel, an entrepreneur and mother who chairs the city's Planning Commission, founded the advocacy group Safe Streets for Everyone after three pedestrian deaths in the city and centers their campaign on street and park safety alongside affordable housing; they're endorsed by County Board of Supervisors President Noelia Corzo and, notably, by sitting Mayor Adam Loraine -- who is himself on this same ballot, defending his own District 5 seat.
Robert G. Newsom Jr.
Robert G. Newsom Jr. is married and works full-time in San Mateo. He points to his current council term, which included serving as Mayor, as his credential. His campaign brands him "Rob Newsom Jr.," and his site does not name his profession.
Seema Patel
Seema Patel is an entrepreneur and mother who chairs San Mateo's Planning Commission. They founded Safe Streets for Everyone, a pedestrian safety group, after three pedestrian deaths. Their site does not name their business or how long they have lived there.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.