# Mayor of Santa Clara

Compare records and positions simply between Karen Hardy, David Kertes, Kathy Watanabe, and 3 more for Mayor of Santa Clara at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would be Santa Clara's Mayor. The Mayor is the city's chief elected officer. They preside over City Council meetings. They also act as the city's main spokesperson. Santa Clara is in Santa Clara County and has about 128,000 people. The Mayor is elected citywide, at-large, not by district. The term is four years.

- Jurisdiction: City of Santa Clara
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/santa-clara-city-mayor
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: August 31, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 88 out of 100 (Strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Karen Hardy**
- **David Kertes**
- **Kathy Watanabe**
- **Mike Wiltberger**
- **Kevin Park**
- **Armando "Gary" Ferraris**

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Santa Clara's Mayor's seat is wide open this November. For the first time in about a decade, term-limited Mayor Lisa Gillmor is not on the ballot. Six candidates are running to replace her. Two are sitting City Council members. They are stepping away from a guaranteed council seat to run citywide instead. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright. This is a plurality election, not ranked-choice.

This person would be Santa Clara's Mayor. They are the city's chief elected officer, presiding over City Council meetings and acting as its primary spokesperson in this Santa Clara County city of about 128,000. The Mayor is elected citywide (at-large); Santa Clara's other six Council seats are each elected by district on staggered 4-year terms. Only two of those six district seats -- District 2 and District 3, both also open -- are on this ballot alongside the Mayor's race; Districts 1, 4, 5, and 6 (whose current members include Kevin Park, one of this race's six candidates) aren't up again until 2028.

None of the six mayoral candidates currently holds the office: Gillmor is term-limited and cannot run again. Two sitting councilmembers are in the race anyway -- Kevin Park (District 4, not up this cycle, so a loss costs him nothing) and Karen Hardy (District 3, which is up this cycle; she chose to run for Mayor rather than seek re-election to her own seat, so a loss ends her time on the council). See the District 3 contest for who's running for her old seat.

## Armando "Gary" Ferraris

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 the services they provide. His priorities include restoring trust between the council, staff, and residents. He would address deferred infrastructure maintenance directly rather than borrowing for it later. He points to the Measure I infrastructure bond as an example of borrowing. He also wants a measured approach to housing and commercial growth. His campaign committee registered July 7, 2026. Its first disclosure report covers Jan. 1 to June 30, 2026. It shows $0 in contributions and $0 in expenditures. The committee did not exist for nearly all of that reporting period.

**Strengths:** Direct, multi-year experience with the city's own workforce and budget process. He also has hands-on familiarity with the deferred-infrastructure problem several rivals raise.

**Trade-offs:** A newly formed campaign committee reported no financial activity in its first filing period. So no fundraising record exists yet to compare against his five rivals.

**Keep in mind:** His pitch centers on restoring trust and civility at City Hall. It does not center on a specific policy agenda. Ask him directly what concrete changes that would mean.

## Karen Hardy

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 that seat. 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 now serves as vice chair of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency. Her platform centers housing affordability. She would keep utility bills and city fees low. She would maintain infrastructure and city services. She has also pledged to propose a moratorium on new data centers on her first day in office. Her 2026 mayoral committee, Karen Hardy 4 Mayor 2026, registered between June 22 and July 20, 2026. It had filed no itemized Form 460. So no dollar figures are available yet.

**Strengths:** Eight years of council experience, including a vice-mayor term. She also has regional water-agency leadership. Her first-day pledge of a data-center moratorium sets her apart from the field.

**Trade-offs:** No fundraising record exists yet for her mayoral run. Unlike Park, she is giving up a seat she could have kept. A loss here ends her time on the council entirely.

**Keep in mind:** She is the only candidate with in-house experience running council meetings as vice mayor. Weigh that against a challenger's promise of a fresh start for a divided council.

## David Kertes

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 and 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 he had concluded 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 would balance commercial development with housing. His 2026 committee reported $950 in monetary contributions plus $11,472.80 in loans. All of it came from Kertes to himself, per his Form 460's loan schedule. That is $12,422.80 in total contributions against $11,462.80 in expenditures for Jan. to June 2026. He ended with $960.00 in cash and $11,472.80 in outstanding debt owed to himself.

**Strengths:** Extensive private-sector sales and negotiation experience. He also has direct city board-level experience on the Salary Setting Commission. His campaign is actively spending and disclosing.

**Trade-offs:** His funding is almost entirely loans to himself, $11,472 against $950 in outside contributions. That leaves him the smallest outside donor base of the three who have filed a Form 460.

**Keep in mind:** His 2024 council loss is a matter of public record. So is the recall effort he later abandoned against its winner. Neither is campaign framing. Ask him about them directly.

## Kevin Park

Kevin Park, in his mid-50s, has served on the Santa Clara City Council since 2020. He was re-elected in 2024 and represents District 4. That seat is 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 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. He would maintain parks, libraries, pools and infrastructure. He 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 or Form 460 was found under his name in the city's NetFile portal. His only 2026-dated filing there is a routine annual disclosure, Form 470. It is tied to his existing District 4 officeholder committee.

**Strengths:** He is the only candidate with a full council term already served. Voters re-elected him in 2024. His technology background ties directly to his own priority of data-center siting.

**Trade-offs:** No campaign-finance disclosure for a 2026 mayoral run was found. So his fundraising and spending for this specific race are unconfirmed.

**Keep in mind:** Unlike Hardy, a loss would not cost him his current seat. District 4 is not up until 2028. That is a lower-risk bid than his term-limited or seat-vacating rivals are making.

## Kathy Watanabe

Kathy Watanabe, 66, served eight years on the City Council before terming out in 2024. She then won a seat on the Santa Clara Unified School District board of trustees that same year. She says she would resign that seat if elected mayor. Before entering public office she spent four decades as a legal assistant at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. Her priorities include strengthening the local economy and responsible redevelopment. She wants 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. Watanabe 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 2026 committee reported $10,362.54 in monetary contributions plus a $5,000 loan. That is $15,362.54 in total contributions against $6,222.63 in expenditures for Jan. to June 2026. She ended with $9,139.91 in cash. That is the largest disclosed treasury in the mayoral field.

**Strengths:** The field's most elected experience, eight years on the council, two on the school board. She has its largest treasury. Endorsed by a councilmember, a supervisor, and a member of Congress.

**Trade-offs:** She declined the voluntary spending limit the other five accepted, $55,890 total and $760 per donor. So she can raise and spend beyond it. She would resign her school-board seat if she wins.

**Keep in mind:** Her endorsements reflect real institutional backing. Weigh that against rivals like Ferraris and Wiltberger. They are campaigning more explicitly against council incumbency.

## Mike Wiltberger

Mike Wiltberger is a longtime Santa Clara resident of more than 40 years. He is a medical-technology entrepreneur. He is a scientist and co-founder of Optimedica. That company's work focuses on devices to restore sight to blind patients. His campaign says he holds more than 100 patents and publications. It says he has sold multiple companies. He describes his campaign as 100% self-funded. He 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 was found under his name in the city's NetFile portal. That is consistent with his stated self-funding. It also means no independent financial figures exist to check that claim against. He did not respond to San Jose Spotlight's request for comment for its candidate profile.

**Strengths:** A distinctive background as a medical-device inventor. He has a self-described record of building and selling companies. He also makes a low-conflict-of-interest self-funding pledge.

**Trade-offs:** A self-funded campaign means no independently disclosed financial record exists to check his funding against. He is also the only candidate who skipped Spotlight's interview request.

**Keep in mind:** No NetFile record was found contradicting his self-funding claim. But no independent confirmation of it exists beyond his own campaign material. That is a distinction worth keeping straight.

## Sources

1. [Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters -- the "City of Santa Clara" List-of-Officeholders page: confirms Mayor, City Clerk, and Chief of Police are elected at-large and City Council is six district seats (1-6), each a 4-year term, and shows Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor, District 2's Raj Chahal, and District 3's Karen Hardy all up for "NEXT ELECTION" in 2026, while Districts 1, 4, 5, and 6 (Albert Gonzalez, Kevin Park, Sudhanshu "Suds" Jain, Kelly G. Cox) aren't up again until 2028. A live fetch of the county elections domain 403s in this pass; retrieved instead via a Wayback Machine snapshot dated 2025-09-10.](https://vote.santaclaracounty.gov/city-santa-clara)
2. [San José Spotlight -- "Six candidates vie for Santa Clara mayoral seat" (Maryanne Casas-Perez, Aug. 18, 2026), read in full via a Wayback Machine snapshot (a live sanjosespotlight.com fetch 403s in this pass): names and profiles all six mayoral candidates in alphabetical order by last name -- Armando "Gary" Ferraris, Karen Hardy, David Kertes, Kevin Park, Kathy Watanabe, and Mike Wiltberger -- with ages, backgrounds, platforms, and a direct on-record quote from each (Wiltberger did not respond to the outlet's request for comment). Confirms Mayor Lisa Gillmor is term-limited ("for the first time in 10 years she will not serve in the city's top spot") and that Kevin Park (District 4) and Karen Hardy (District 3) are sitting councilmembers running for mayor rather than seeking re-election to their own seats.](https://sanjosespotlight.com/six-candidates-vie-for-santa-clara-mayoral-seat/)
3. [Silicon Valley Voice -- "Santa Clara's Mayoral Candidates 2026 Election" (David Alexander, Aug. 27, 2026), read in full via a Wayback Machine snapshot: independently corroborates all six mayoral candidates' names and platforms (drawn from each candidate's own filed candidate statement) and adds the city's voluntary campaign-expenditure-limit framework -- a $55,890 citywide spending pledge with a $760-per-donor cap for candidates who opt in, a $380-per-donor default cap for those who don't -- and reports that every candidate but Kathy Watanabe agreed to the voluntary limit. Also reports endorsements of Watanabe by Councilmember Kelly Cox, County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, and Congressman Ro Khanna.](https://www.svvoice.com/santa-claras-mayoral-candidates-2026-election/)
4. [Silicon Valley Voice -- "Former Council Candidate Kertes Stops Recall, Announces Vie for Mayor" (David Alexander, Feb. 23, 2026), read in full via a Wayback Machine snapshot: reports that David Kertes ran for the District 5 council seat in 2024 and lost to incumbent Sudhanshu "Suds" Jain, later filed papers to recall Jain, and -- in a Feb. 15, 2026 press release quoted directly -- called off that recall effort (having gathered about half the needed signatures, per Kertes's own on-record account) before announcing his mayoral candidacy.](https://www.svvoice.com/former-council-candidate-kertes-stops-recall-announces-vie-for-mayor/)
5. [City of Santa Clara's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=CSC), queried directly by name via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API (reverse-engineered from the portal's own downloaded JS bundle; this bundle version keys on aid/candidateId/agencyCode params, not the byFilerId variant an earlier pass in this file documented for a different NetFile bundle version), with each available candidate's Form 460 downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint (one, Kathy Watanabe's, a scanned image PDF with no extractable text layer, read by rendering it to an image and reading the figures directly). Mayor's race: Watanabe reported $15,362.54 in total contributions ($10,362.54 monetary, $5,000 in loans) against $6,222.63 in expenditures, ending cash $9,139.91; Kertes reported $12,422.80 in total contributions ($950 monetary, $11,472.80 in loans -- per Schedule B, all of it loaned by Kertes to himself) against $11,462.80 in expenditures, ending cash $960.00 and $11,472.80 in outstanding debt owed to himself; Ferraris's committee, formed July 7, 2026, reported $0 in contributions and $0 in expenditures for the Jan.-June 2026 period; Hardy's committee has registered but filed no Form 460 yet; Park has no 2026 mayoral committee or filing on record at all (only a routine 2025 annual Form 470 tied to his existing District 4 officeholder committee); Wiltberger has no committee registered under any name searched. District 2: Inciarte has registered a committee but filed no Form 460 yet; Williams has no committee registered at all. District 3: Madej has registered a committee ("Madej for City Council 2026") but filed no Form 460 yet; Crutchlow has no committee registered at all. None of this is evidence of any candidate's final fundraising totals for the cycle -- it documents exactly what could and couldn't be confirmed as of this retrieval.](https://netfile.com/public/CSC/campaign)

## The rest of the ballot

Mayor of Santa Clara is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Mayor of Santa Clara — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/santa-clara-city-mayor (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026).

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