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City of San Anselmo · Statewide General Election

San Anselmo Town 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 serve a 4-year term on San Anselmo's 5-member Town Council, elected at large, in this Marin County town of about 12,830 residents (2020 Census). Two seats are up this cycle. The Mayor and Vice Mayor rotate annually among the Council's own members rather than being separately elected.

Three candidates are running for two seats on San Anselmo's Town Council: incumbent Mayor Steve Burdo, Philip Chigos, and Will Dittmar. The two with the most votes win.

San Anselmo is a Marin County town of about 12,830 residents (2020 Census) with a five-member, at-large Town Council, plus a separately elected Town Clerk and Town Treasurer, each serving four-year terms. The Mayor and Vice Mayor are not separately elected -- they rotate annually among the Council's own members.

Burdo currently holds the Mayor's rotating title as a sitting Councilmember. Chigos and Dittmar are both first-time candidates for this seat.

Steve Burdo

Steve Burdo is the incumbent, first elected to the Town Council in 2019 and re-elected in 2022, seeking a third term. He works as a Public Safety Communications Officer. Before his Council service, he served on San Anselmo's Parks and Recreation Commission from 2012 to 2019, including as Chair, and he has served on the Ross Valley Fire Department board since 2019 and the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority board since 2020. He moved to California in 2006.

Strengths

Two terms of direct Council experience plus years of prior Parks & Recreation Commission service, and ongoing regional fire-safety board seats relevant to Marin's wildfire risk.

Trade-offs

As a multi-term incumbent, he owns the record of the current Council; no detailed 2026 platform statement beyond his existing official bio was found.

Keep in mind

The Mayor's title is not a separate elected office here -- it rotates among Council members regardless of who wins this race.

Philip Chigos

Philip Chigos owns downtown commercial real estate in San Anselmo and serves as Treasurer of the San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce. He has been an active, quoted voice on the town's flood-control and bridge-demolition debates over the past year, arguing for better modeling of a flood-control project's impacts and, separately, that the town should let natural flooding run its course and focus resources on post-flood remediation for property and business owners rather than large-scale flood-control construction.

Strengths

A specific policy position on the town's biggest infrastructure debate (flood control), backed by financial stakes as a downtown property owner, plus a Chamber of Commerce leadership role.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed office; no campaign site or platform statement beyond flood policy was found.

Keep in mind

His public statements are drawn from news coverage of a specific town debate, not a comprehensive 2026 candidate platform.

Will Dittmar

Will Dittmar -- listed on the ballot as William Dittmar -- is CEO of ExtraFood, a Bay Area nonprofit that recovers surplus food to fight hunger and food waste. He grew up in Virginia in a family with a public-service history (his grandmother led the Virginia and national League of Women Voters), then worked in Washington, D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives before moving into nonprofit leadership roles with Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Save the Children.

Strengths

Current nonprofit CEO experience -- running an organization with a specific operational and fundraising track record -- plus a family background steeped in civic and voter-engagement work.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed local public office; most detailed biographical content comes from his own campaign site rather than independent news profiles of his candidacy specifically.

Keep in mind

His professional background (food-recovery nonprofit leadership) is Bay Area-wide, not specific to San Anselmo town government.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 19 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: Will Dittmar's own campaign website, 'Meet Will Dittmar' page (will4sananselmo.com/about): 'A husband, dad, nonprofit leader, and proud San Anselmo resident,' grew up in Virginia; his grandmother Virginia DeSimone 'served as President of the League of Women Voters of Virginia and as a Vice President of the national League of Women Voters,' and his mother Jane Dittmar has also spent much of her life in public and community service. Career: began in Washington, D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives, then government relations with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, then state and national leadership roles with Save the Children; currently 'CEO of ExtraFood, a Bay Area nonprofit that feeds people and combats climate change through food recovery.' States he is 'listed on the ballot as William Dittmar.' Site footer: 'PAID FOR BY WILL DITTMAR FOR SAN ANSELMO TOWN COUNCIL 2026.' may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • marincounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Marin County Elections Department -- official "Status of local candidates for office 11/03/26" page: a table of contents of every county-administered and city/town contest in the county, listing "Town of San Anselmo Member Town Council / Town Clerk / Town Treasurer" as a verified, filed set of contests -- no candidate names appear on this page, only office titles. Retrieved via a Chrome browser workaround in a prior session (2026-08-29); direct WebFetch and Google-Translate-proxy attempts this session both returned HTTP 403.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of San Anselmo -- official "Upcoming Elections" page for the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: states the office list ("Two (2) Councilmembers," "One (1) Town Clerk," "One (1) Town Treasurer," each a full 4-year term) and lists five qualified candidates with filing dates -- Steve Burdo, Philip Chigos, and William Dittmar for Council; Cecily T. Wilson for Town Clerk; Lori J. Lopin for Town Treasurer -- and links the Notice of Election and Resolution No. 2026-4622. Fully reachable by direct WebFetch this session.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of San Anselmo -- official, signed "Notice of Election" (dated July 6, 2026, fetched and read in full as a PDF): confirms the same three-office, five-seat structure and the nomination period, and gives the standard Section 10229 boilerplate used to confirm the Clerk and Treasurer races are genuine unopposed ballot contests rather than cancellations.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of San Anselmo -- Resolution No. 2026-4622, calling the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: adopted 5-0 (Ayes: Councilmembers Kullaway, Burke, Schlesinger, Walker, Mayor Burdo) on June 9, 2026. Section 3 calls the election, in the Council's own words, for two Town Council seats, one Town Clerk seat, and one Town Treasurer seat, each a 4-year term -- confirming three separate contests before the filing period even opened. Fetched and read in full as a PDF.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of San Anselmo -- official Past Elections archive page: its 2022 election section lists Cecily Wilson as the sole candidate for Town Clerk and John Mahl as the sole candidate for Town Treasurer, independently corroborating both as unopposed 2022 winners of the same two seats now up in 2026.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Richard Halstead, "Slew of Marin offices up for grabs in November election" (July 27, 2026, an early-filing-period roundup): reports "the terms of Councilmember Steve Burdo and Councilmember Tarrell Kullaway are expiring" in San Anselmo, and that "San Anselmo's town clerk, Cecily Wilson, and the treasurer, John Mahl, must also decide whether to seek re-election" -- independently confirming Wilson and Mahl were still the sitting Clerk and Treasurer as of this date. Retrieved via a Google Translate proxy this session.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Keri Brenner, "Marin candidate list lengthens for November election" (Aug. 8, 2026, published as the initial filing deadline closed): reports for San Anselmo that "Burdo has filed to seek reelection. William Dittmar and Philip Chigos have filed to run" for council, and "Lori Lopin has filed to run for town treasurer, and Cecily Wilson has filed to run for town clerk." Retrieved via a Google Translate proxy this session.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Keri Brenner, "More contenders pile into Marin's fall elections" (published Aug. 13, 2026, updated Aug. 15, 2026, after the extended filing deadline closed): the final post-deadline roster for San Anselmo, repeating the identical five names with no further filings or withdrawals, exactly matching the Town's own official election page. Retrieved via a Google Translate proxy this session.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check: the Town of San Anselmo's own "Financial Filings" page (this page links directly to individual filed FPPC PDFs rather than gating them behind a client-rendered portal) was fetched and read in full this pass -- for the 2026 cycle it lists only the three Town Council candidates (Will Dittmar's Form 410 Statement of Organization, filed 8/20/2026; Steve Burdo and Philip Chigos with no document linked yet). Neither Cecily Wilson nor Lori Lopin appears anywhere on the page for any election cycle -- a real, dated absence, not a blocked or inaccessible source.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result access check: California's statewide Cal-Access campaign-finance filer/candidate search was queried directly this pass and returned no usable content, consistent with the Cal-Access bot-wall documented elsewhere in this dataset. Local candidates for seats like these typically file with the town rather than the state in any case. Documents an access gap, not a claim about either candidate's actual state-level filings.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "San Anselmo, California": used narrowly for the fixed, dated 2020 Census population figure (12,830) and the Town's council-manager government structure -- a five-member Town Council elected at large, with the Mayor and Vice Mayor rotating annually among the Council's own members rather than being separately elected -- not for any 2026 election content.
  • sananselmo.gov (opens in a new tab)Town of San Anselmo -- official "Steve Burdo, Mayor" biography page: profession Public Safety Communications Officer; elected Councilmember 2019, re-elected 2022, Mayor in 2023 and again in 2026; San Anselmo Parks & Recreation Commissioner 2012-2019 (Chair in 2015 and 2017), Community Facilities Master Plan Advisory Committee (2014-2015), Memorial Park Skate Park Steering Committee (2015), Memorial Park Master Plan Advisory Board (2016-2019); Ross Valley Fire Department board director since 2019, Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority board director since 2020, and Marin Emergency Radio Authority since 2020.
  • pacificsun.com (opens in a new tab)Pacific Sun -- "San Anselmo's Mayor Steve Burdo" (March 14, 2023), a personal-interest profile: he relocated to Marin County in 2006; states a civic philosophy centered on empathy across differing views and criticizes "cable TV op-ed news programming that is mostly political theater instead of news reporting"; names favorite local spots (Peet's Coffee, Memorial Park, Taco Jane's, Ross Valley basketball courts) and calls San Anselmo's annual Beatles Night in the Park "an amazing evening, a great reflection of our town's character and charm."
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Krissy Waite, "San Anselmo council gets flood control project update" (Sept. 8, 2025): independent news coverage naming Philip Chigos as "a resident who owns buildings nearby" the town's flood-control project, quoting him directly on wanting better impact modeling: "We, as a community, have a responsibility to spend these funds in a better way, and I think we can."
  • cbsnews.com (opens in a new tab)CBS News/KPIX San Francisco -- John Ramos, "Group of San Anselmo homeowners to decide if bridge demolition plan moves forward" (Jan. 27, 2026): independent news coverage identifying Philip Chigos as a downtown commercial-property owner and quoting him at length on flood policy -- "The way weather patterns are going, we're never going to control the water. Water goes where water wants to go" -- and on a prior flood-mitigation-fund proposal: "If we had taken all the money that had been spent and put it into a fund and generated interest on it in preparation for 'one day' when it does flood, we'd be able to help all the businesses and property owners to remediate after the flood."
  • visitsananselmo.com (opens in a new tab)San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce -- official "About the Chamber" board listing: names Philip Chigos as Chamber Treasurer with the occupation "Business Owner - Real Estate," independently corroborating the property-owner background described in Marin IJ and CBS/KPIX coverage of him.
  • will4sananselmo.com (opens in a new tab)Will Dittmar's own campaign website, "Meet Will Dittmar" page (will4sananselmo.com/about): "A husband, dad, nonprofit leader, and proud San Anselmo resident," grew up in Virginia; his grandmother Virginia DeSimone "served as President of the League of Women Voters of Virginia and as a Vice President of the national League of Women Voters," and his mother Jane Dittmar has also spent much of her life in public and community service. Career: began in Washington, D.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives, then government relations with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, then state and national leadership roles with Save the Children; currently "CEO of ExtraFood, a Bay Area nonprofit that feeds people and combats climate change through food recovery." States he is "listed on the ballot as William Dittmar." Site footer: "PAID FOR BY WILL DITTMAR FOR SAN ANSELMO TOWN COUNCIL 2026."
  • extrafood.org (opens in a new tab)ExtraFood.org -- official "Our Team" staff page: independently lists "Will Dittmar, CEO," describing him as "responsible for the overall execution of ExtraFood's mission: to end hunger and food waste in the Bay Area," corroborating his campaign site's job title from the nonprofit's own site.
  • pacificsun.com (opens in a new tab)Pacific Sun -- "Hunger Amid Abundance: Food Insecurity Grows in North Bay" (June 23, 2026): independent news coverage predating his candidacy that quotes "Will Dittmar, CEO of ExtraFood," on regional hunger data, further corroborating his job title from a source unconnected to his campaign or his employer.

Last updated September 2, 2026.