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City of San Ramon · Statewide General Election

San Ramon City Council, District 2

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 San Ramon's four district-elected City Council seats, alongside a separately, citywide-elected Mayor, on a 5-member council with an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for a city of about 84,600 residents (2020 census). A 4-year term, decided by whichever candidate gets the most votes -- no ranked-choice voting is documented for San Ramon.

Appointed incumbent Richard Adler faces Chirag Kathrani -- a repeat San Ramon and State Assembly candidate -- for the District 2 City Council seat, in Kathrani's third bid for local office in three cycles.

This person would hold one of San Ramon's four district-elected City Council seats, alongside a separately, citywide-elected Mayor, on a 5-member council with an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for a city of about 84,600 residents (2020 census). A 4-year term, decided by whichever candidate gets the most votes -- no ranked-choice voting is documented for San Ramon.

District 2's seat changed hands mid-term: Armstrong left it for the Mayor's office in 2024, the City Council chose Adler to fill it by appointment in 2025, and this November is the first time voters -- rather than the council -- decide who holds it. Adler's opponent, Kathrani, has run for three different San Ramon-area offices since 2024 without winning any of them.

District 2 covers the southwest portion of San Ramon and a swath of the Dougherty Hills. The seat became vacant when then-District 2 Councilmember Mark Armstrong was elected Mayor in November 2024; the City Council interviewed four finalists, including Kathrani, and appointed Adler in January 2025. San Ramon's City Council set this year's voluntary campaign-expenditure limit for Districts 2 and 4 at $2.75 per registered voter -- $39,938 for District 2 -- up from $2.50 per voter in 2024, with council members noting actual spending in recent city elections has generally run well below either cap.

Richard J. Adler

The appointed incumbent, seeking his first election to the seat; his filed ballot designation is "Appointed Incumbent." Adler, a UC Berkeley political science graduate with a JD from the former Peninsula University College of Law, worked for State Farm Insurance for 30 years, mostly in auto claims and litigation, before retiring. A San Ramon resident since 1997, he has served on his HOA board, chaired the city's Senior Advisory committee in 2024, and is 2024-25 president of the Dougherty Valley San Ramon Rotary Club. He applied for and was appointed to the vacant District 2 seat in January 2025. His campaign centers on public safety staffing, mental-health resources for youth affected by social media, and long-term fiscal planning amid the city's budget deficit, including his vote to establish the council's Sustainability Advisory Committee.

Strengths

roughly a year and a half of hands-on council experience already, plus a deep local volunteer record (HOA board, Senior Advisory chair, Rotary Club president).

Trade-offs

this is his first campaign for elected office, reaching the council by appointment rather than a vote; no independent reporting on his tenure was found beyond routine meeting coverage.

Keep in mind

no confirmed 2026 campaign-finance figures are on file here -- DanvilleSanRamon reported his campaign site and materials were still "forthcoming" as of Aug. 27, 2026, and no CAL-ACCESS or city disclosure filing was found for him in this pass.

Chirag Kathrani

A repeat candidate; his filed ballot designation is "Founder/Entrepreneur." Kathrani first ran for San Ramon Mayor in 2024 as a political newcomer, losing to Mark Armstrong roughly 70% to 30%. He then applied for the council's own appointment to the District 2 seat Armstrong vacated -- the council chose Adler instead -- and ran for State Assembly District 16 in the June 2026 primary as a no-party-preference candidate against incumbent Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, a race he did not advance out of. A 20-year San Ramon resident and longtime entrepreneur, Kathrani has led several companies over two decades and more recently founded Lead4Earth, a sustainability nonprofit, and the Open Governance Initiative, a government-transparency watchdog site using technology to track government operations.

Strengths

two decades of business leadership and two prior campaigns' worth of name recognition and platform development in San Ramon and Assembly District 16 races.

Trade-offs

has not yet won elected office across three campaigns since 2024; his own campaign material frames his losses as evidence of a persistent track record rather than addressing them directly.

Keep in mind

no confirmed 2026 campaign-finance figures are on file here for his council run -- no CAL-ACCESS or city disclosure filing was found in this pass.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": the only county-section contest in the document is County Board of Education Areas 2, 4, and 5 (under Schools) -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere, consistent with both Supervisor seats up this cycle (Districts 1 and 4) having been decided outright in the June 2026 primary
  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf), the county's post-certification ballot-order-proofing export: shows Area 2 as a 3-candidate contest (Sarah Butler, incumbent; Pamela West; Sibyl Minighini) with each candidate's filed ballot designation and qualification date -- this export omits single-filer contests entirely, which is why Areas 4 and 5 do not appear in it (see cc-candidate-summary-2026)
  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Candidate List" (8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf), the county's complete qualified-candidate roster including single-filer contests: confirms Area 2 (Sarah Butler, Pamela West, Sibyl Minighini), Area 4 (Mike Maxwell, sole qualified candidate), and Area 5 (Clyde Henry Lewis, Jr., sole qualified candidate)
  • sanramon.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of San Ramon — City Clerk's Elections page: confirms the Nov. 3, 2026 local election date and vote-by-mail logistics; the city's own City Council roster page (read the same session) names the sitting 5-member council — Mayor Mark Armstrong, Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio, and Councilmembers Robert Jweinat, Richard Adler, and Sridhar Verose.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's San Ramon, California article — 2020 census population 84,605; incorporated July 1, 1983.
  • danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon Valley candidates finalized for November ballot" (2026-08-14): confirms the final San Ramon Valley-wide candidate roster after the non-incumbent filing extension closed, with no further changes to the three San Ramon city races.
  • sanramon.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of San Ramon — Councilmember Richard Adler's official City Council bio page (first-person): a San Ramon resident since 1997, UC Berkeley political science graduate and JD, 30-year State Farm claims/litigation employee, applied for and was appointed to the vacant District 2 seat in January 2025 after Armstrong's election as Mayor.
  • danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "Incumbent Adler seeks to defend District 2 seat on San Ramon council" (2026-08-27): Adler's campaign profile — his January 2025 appointment to the seat vacated by Armstrong, his focus on public safety and the city's Measure N (a temporary 1% sales-tax increase addressing a structural budget deficit), and confirmation that this is a rematch of sorts with Chirag Kathrani, who had also sought this same council appointment before Adler was chosen.
  • danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon (Embarcadero Media) — "Contested elections for San Ramon, Danville councils; one SRVUSD incumbent faces challenge" (2026-08-07): the county filing-deadline roundup naming all three San Ramon city races as contested — Armstrong vs. Ntatsos vs. Chigbu for Mayor, Adler vs. Kathrani for District 2, Rubio vs. Joh for District 4 — and noting a fourth mayoral prospect (Brian Swanson) and a third District 4 prospect (Nick Harvey) each pulled papers but did not qualify.
  • danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "Bauer-Kahan facing two challengers in race for Assembly District 16" (2026-05-21): profiles Chirag Kathrani's June 2026 Assembly District 16 primary run (a no-party-preference candidacy) alongside incumbent Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Joe Rubay, with real biographical depth — a 20-year entrepreneur who founded sustainability nonprofit Lead4Earth and the Open Governance Initiative — and confirms Kathrani's 2024 San Ramon mayoral run against Armstrong, launched after Armstrong initially appeared to be running unopposed.
  • danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon council raises campaign expenditure limits for upcoming general election" (2026-06-15): the city council's June 9, 2026 vote setting this cycle's voluntary campaign-expenditure limits at $91,453 for Mayor and $39,938 / $36,597 for Council Districts 2 and 4 respectively — the ceiling, not a report of what any 2026 candidate actually raised.

Last updated September 1, 2026.