City of San Ramon · Statewide General Election
Mayor of San Ramon
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
- Emma Chigbu — Student
- Mark Armstrong — Mayor/Retired Colonel · Incumbent
- Paschalis Ntatsos — Nonprofit Director/CEO
This person is San Ramon's only directly, citywide-elected official: they preside over the 5-member City Council -- an at-large Mayor plus four district Councilmembers -- setting the agenda for the city's budget, land use, and public-safety priorities alongside an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. A 2-year term, decided by whichever candidate gets the most votes -- no ranked-choice voting is documented for San Ramon.
Incumbent Mark Armstrong faces two first-time challengers -- swim coach Paschalis Ntatsos and 19-year-old debate champion Emma Chigbu -- in a three-way race for San Ramon's directly elected, at-large Mayor seat.
This person is San Ramon's only directly, citywide-elected official: they preside over the 5-member City Council -- an at-large Mayor plus four district Councilmembers -- setting the agenda for the city's budget, land use, and public-safety priorities alongside an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. A 2-year term, decided by whichever candidate gets the most votes -- no ranked-choice voting is documented for San Ramon.
San Ramon elects its Mayor and two of its four Council seats each cycle on staggered terms -- Districts 1 and 3 are not up again until 2028. This race pits an incumbent with two prior council and mayoral terms against two first-time candidates who have never held office; none of the three has a campaign-finance figure on file with the county or CAL-ACCESS.
A fourth prospective candidate, Brian Swanson -- a vocal city-government critic who has filed multiple lawsuits over redevelopment projects in the Bishop Ranch business park -- pulled nomination papers for Mayor but never qualified for the ballot, per DanvilleSanRamon's own filing-deadline reporting. San Ramon's City Council voted in June 2026 to raise this cycle's voluntary campaign-expenditure limit for the mayoral race to $91,453 (about $1.75 per registered voter), up from $1.50 per voter in 2024 -- council members noted at the time that actual spending in recent city elections has generally run well below either cap, and that 2024's mayoral winner (Armstrong) spent less than his opponent.
Mark Armstrong
The incumbent Mayor, seeking a second term; his filed ballot designation is "Mayor/Retired Colonel." Armstrong was appointed to the City Council's District 2 seat in early 2021 following then-Mayor Dave Hudson's ascent to the mayor's office, won a full council term in 2022, then was elected Mayor in 2024 by roughly 70% to 30% over challenger Chirag Kathrani (who is now running for the District 2 council seat Armstrong once held -- see that race). A 20-year San Ramon resident, Armstrong is a 1981 West Point graduate who retired after a 30-year U.S. Army career as an Infantry officer, then worked in senior disaster-response roles for FEMA Region IX, including as a Presidentially-appointed Federal Coordinating Officer overseeing federal, state, and local resource coordination during major disasters across the U.S. and its territories.
Strengths
a full term as Mayor plus a prior council term, a three-decade military command career, and senior federal emergency-management experience.
Trade-offs
no independent reporting scrutinizes his record beyond routine meeting coverage; his bio here draws on the city's own page and one campaign-launch article.
Keep in mind
no 2026 finance figures are confirmed here -- no CAL-ACCESS or city filing was found -- though he is reported to have spent less than his 2024 opponent while still winning decisively.
Paschalis Ntatsos
A first-time candidate; his filed ballot designation is "Nonprofit Director/CEO." Ntatsos competed on the Greek national swim team, earning ten gold medals, before moving into coaching. He has lived in San Ramon since 2009, began coaching locally with San Ramon Valley Aquatics in 2006, founded ElitSwim in 2013, and established ElitSwim Club as a USA Swimming member club in 2023 -- including eight years partnering directly with San Ramon City Hall to run the city's community swim-lesson program. His campaign, quoted on his own site (paschalisforsanramon.com), frames him as "an outsider with insider knowledge" and centers on youth investment, reining in overdevelopment, expanding healthcare and recreation access, and "smarter budgets" -- auditing external contracts and modernizing city workflows.
Strengths
two decades of local coaching and youth-sports program-building, plus eight years running a city program directly with City Hall -- real municipal contact without prior elected office.
Trade-offs
no experience in elected office or public budgeting; this dataset found no coverage of him beyond his own campaign materials and a single DanvilleSanRamon profile.
Keep in mind
as a first-time candidate, no confirmed 2026 campaign-finance figures are on file here.
Emma Chigbu
A first-time candidate at 19 years old; her filed ballot designation is "Student." Chigbu is a lifelong San Ramon resident, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, and currently attends Diablo Valley College, where she competes on and coaches for the school's speech-and-debate team -- she won gold and silver medals at a national tournament in Virginia earlier this year. Her campaign, quoted from her own site (chigbu4mayor.com), argues that "City council is not representative of the younger residents of San Ramon" and centers on fiscal responsibility, guarding against overdevelopment, and expanding community input into city decisions on projects, development, and budgeting.
Strengths
a lifelong resident's direct stake in the city's affordability and development pressures, plus a competitive-debate background suited to public advocacy.
Trade-offs
no experience in elected office, city budgeting, or land-use policy; this dataset found no coverage of her beyond her own campaign materials and a single DanvilleSanRamon profile.
Keep in mind
as a first-time candidate, no confirmed 2026 campaign-finance figures are on file here.
Source review: Strong (88/100) · 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: Paschalis Ntatsos's own campaign site, independently re-fetched: confirms the "outsider with inside knowledge" framing and five listed priorities (put residents first, smarter budgets, invest in youth, local business and investment, support for seniors) quoted in DanvilleSanRamon's profile. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.
- 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 — Mayor Mark Armstrong's official City Council bio page: elected Mayor in 2024 after an early-2021 appointment to the District 2 council seat and a 2022 election to a full term; a 20-year San Ramon resident and retired 30-year U.S. Army Infantry officer (West Point 1981) who later worked FEMA Region IX disaster response as a Presidentially-appointed Federal Coordinating Officer.
- danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "Armstrong launches bid for second term as San Ramon mayor" (2026-03-29): Armstrong's March 24 campaign launch, his 2024 mayoral win over Chirag Kathrani by roughly 70%-30%, and his succession from District 2 councilmember (appointed 2021, elected 2022) after predecessor Dave Hudson's ascent to Mayor.
- 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 — "San Ramon swim coach Ntatsos dives into city politics" (2026-08-27): Paschalis Ntatsos's campaign profile — a former competitive swimmer for the Greek national team, San Ramon resident since 2009, founder of ElitSwim (2013) and ElitSwim Club (2023), eight years partnering with City Hall on community swim lessons, and his campaign platform quoted from paschalisforsanramon.com.
- danvillesanramon.com (opens in a new tab)DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon teen Chigbu launches mayoral campaign" (2026-08-25): Emma Chigbu's campaign profile — a 19-year-old lifelong San Ramon resident and Diablo Valley College speech-and-debate competitor (gold and silver medals at a national tournament), daughter of Nigerian immigrants, and her campaign platform quoted from chigbu4mayor.com.
- paschalisforsanramon.com (opens in a new tab)Paschalis Ntatsos's own campaign site, independently re-fetched: confirms the "outsider with inside knowledge" framing and five listed priorities (put residents first, smarter budgets, invest in youth, local business and investment, support for seniors) quoted in DanvilleSanRamon's profile.
- 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.