Mayor of Santa Clara

Armando "Gary" Ferraris, 59, is a retired Santa Clara public-works supervisor. He is now a labor representative with AFSCME Council 57. He worked for the city about 15 years before retiring in 2024. He says political tension on the City Council has hurt city employees and services. His priorities include restoring trust among the council, staff, and residents. He wants to pay for infrastructure repairs directly instead of borrowing. He points to the Measure I bond as an example of borrowing. He also wants a measured approach to housing and commercial growth. His campaign committee registered on July 7, 2026. Its first report covered Jan. 1 to June 30, 2026. That report showed $0 in contributions and $0 in spending. The committee did not exist for nearly all of that period.

Karen Hardy, 65, has represented City Council District 3 since 2018. She served as vice mayor in 2020. She is not term-limited out of her council seat. But she is running for Mayor instead of seeking re-election to it. She is a retired Wilcox High School math and computer-science teacher. She also coaches its robotics team. She holds a chemical-engineering degree from Brigham Young University. She is vice chair of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. Her platform centers on housing affordability. It also calls for keeping utility bills and city fees low. It calls for maintaining infrastructure and city services. She has also pledged to propose a pause on new data centers. She would propose it on her first day in office. Her mayoral campaign committee registered between June 22 and July 20, 2026. It has not filed an itemized financial report, so no dollar figures are available yet.

David Kertes, 55, has lived in Santa Clara more than 28 years. He works in technology sales. His own 2026 campaign filing lists him as vice president of sales at Novanta. Other coverage describes him as senior director of sales for North America there. He also serves on the city's Salary Setting Commission. He ran for the District 5 council seat in 2024. He lost to incumbent Sudhanshu "Suds" Jain. He then filed papers in 2025 to recall Jain. In a Feb. 15, 2026 press release, he called off that recall effort. He had gathered about half the needed signatures. He said the city's problems ran deeper than one councilmember. He said he did not want to "be a hypocrite." His mayoral priorities include a long-term strategic vision for the city. He also wants expanded children's and seniors' programming. He wants to balance commercial development with housing. His campaign reported $950 in contributions plus $11,472.80 in loans from Kertes to himself. That totals $12,422.80 in contributions against $11,462.80 in spending for Jan. to June 2026. He ended with $960.00 in cash and $11,472.80 in debt owed to himself.

Kevin Park, in his mid-50s, has served on the Santa Clara City Council since 2020. He was re-elected in 2024 to represent District 4, a seat not up this cycle. He is running for Mayor instead of seeking another council term later. He spent about three decades in the technology industry. He was a senior engineer at Google and later designed AI services for data centers. He left his job at Datatron in 2022. He did it to focus on the council and his family. He holds a bachelor's degree from Caltech and a master's from Stanford. His priorities include fiscal management, maintaining parks, libraries, pools, and infrastructure. He also wants closer scrutiny of data-center siting near residential neighborhoods. He has defended the length of council meetings. He said "meetings are exactly for the purpose of asking questions." No 2026 mayoral campaign committee has been found under his name. His only 2026 filing on record is a routine annual disclosure. It is tied to his existing District 4 committee.

Kathy Watanabe, 66, served eight years on the City Council before terming out in 2024. That same year, she won a seat on the Santa Clara Unified School District board. She says she would resign that seat if elected mayor. Before entering public office, she spent four decades as a legal assistant. She worked at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. Her priorities include strengthening the local economy, responsible redevelopment, and infrastructure paid for by growth. She has also emphasized repairing the city's relationship with the San Francisco 49ers. She cites a meeting she held with team president Al Guido. She has a longstanding political alliance with outgoing Mayor Gillmor. Gillmor has not endorsed a candidate in this race. She is endorsed by Councilmember Kelly Cox, County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, and Congressman Ro Khanna. She is the only mayoral candidate who declined the city's voluntary campaign-spending limit. Her campaign reported $10,362.54 in contributions plus a $5,000 loan, for $15,362.54 in total contributions. She spent $6,222.63 from Jan. to June 2026. She ended with $9,139.91 in cash. That is the largest treasury in the mayoral field.

Mike Wiltberger has lived in Santa Clara more than 40 years. He is a medical-technology entrepreneur and a scientist. He co-founded Optimedica, which makes devices to restore sight to blind patients. His campaign says he holds more than 100 patents and publications. It also says he has sold multiple companies. He describes his campaign as 100% self-funded and says he is not accepting outside contributions. His priorities include restoring fiscal responsibility and rebuilding downtown. He also wants to attract retail. He wants to move past what he calls "establishment politics" and council division. No campaign committee has been found under his name, which matches his claim of self-funding. But that also means there are no independent figures to check that claim against. He did not respond to San Jose Spotlight's request for comment for its candidate profile.