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City of Sausalito · Statewide General Election

Sausalito City 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 hold one of two seats up this cycle on Sausalito's 5-member City Council, elected entirely at-large (no districts) to a 4-year term. Sausalito is a Marin County city of about 7,269 residents (2020 Census) on the northern shore of the Golden Gate, incorporated in 1893. The Council chooses a Mayor and Vice Mayor from among its own members each year rather than electing either position directly.

Two of Sausalito's five City Council seats are on the November 3 ballot. Incumbents Jill James Hoffman and Joan Cox are both seeking new terms, facing two challengers: Planning Commission Chair Nastassya Saad and civic volunteer Adrian Brinton.

Whoever wins joins a five-member Council that sets the budget, land-use and zoning decisions, and municipal ordinances for Sausalito, a Marin County city of about 7,269 residents (2020 Census) on the northern shore of the Golden Gate, incorporated in 1893. All five seats are elected at-large (not by district) to 4-year terms; the Council doesn't elect its Mayor directly -- members choose one of their own to serve as Mayor and one as Vice Mayor each year, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like every other member. The other three current councilmembers -- Mayor Steven Woodside, Vice Mayor Melissa Blaustein, and Ian Patrick Sobieski -- are not up this cycle.

Voters can back up to two candidates; the two highest vote-getters win the seats outright, with no runoff. All four candidates are documented directly here: the two incumbents through the city's own official councilmember bio pages, and the two challengers through their own campaign sites, found after Google News RSS and marinij.com's own site search turned up no independent coverage of either by name -- typical for two first-time candidates.

Jill James Hoffman

Jill James Hoffman is an incumbent councilmember first elected in 2014 and now seeking her fourth term, having also served twice as Sausalito's Mayor and once as Vice Mayor. An attorney who began her career in the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps, she still serves as a Navy Reservist with the rank of Captain -- she was recalled to active duty for 12 months in 2019-2020, during which an appointed interim councilmember filled her seat. Hoffman co-founded Qorkz Wine, an e-commerce company connecting small wineries directly with consumers, and serves as the city's liaison to the local school district.

Strengths

The field's longest-serving incumbent -- three terms since 2014 and two stints as Mayor -- with legal training and experience representing the city on regional bodies like BayWAVE.

Trade-offs

As a 12-year incumbent, her record draws the most scrutiny; no independent news coverage of this specific campaign was found beyond the city's roster and IJ mentions.

Keep in mind

The city's own bio page is inconsistent about her second Mayor year (2020 in one place, 2021 in another) -- a small, unresolved gap in the primary source itself.

Joan Cox

Joan Cox is an incumbent councilmember first elected in 2016, who sat out the 2020-2022 term before winning a new term in 2022 and is now seeking to keep her seat. An attorney with more than 20 years representing California cities and counties before the Legislature -- on issues including short-term rentals, housing mandates, and zoning -- she served eight years on Sausalito's Planning Commission before joining the Council, and has twice served as the city's Mayor, most recently in 2025.

Strengths

Prior Planning Commission experience plus two separate council tenures give her a long institutional memory of the city's land-use decisions and Sacramento relationships.

Trade-offs

Like Hoffman, no independent news coverage specific to this campaign was found; her record here comes entirely from official city sources.

Keep in mind

She's the only candidate who left the Council (2020-2022) before returning -- worth noting for voters weighing continuity against a clean break.

Nastassya Saad

Nastassya Saad is a lifelong Sausalito resident and, by her own account, the only lifelong resident currently serving on the Planning Commission, where she has sat for six years, the last two as Chair. She previously served on the city's Historic Preservation Commission, received the city's own Lifetime Volunteer Award as a teenager, and holds a politics degree from UC Santa Cruz. Her campaign describes her platform as favoring "conservative, thoughtful growth, fiscal responsibility, historic preservation, environmental stewardship," and protecting Sausalito from overdevelopment.

Strengths

Six years of direct land-use decisions on the Planning Commission, the last two as Chair, is relevant experience neither the other challenger nor either incumbent's record emphasizes as much.

Trade-offs

A first-time council candidate with no vote on budget, personnel, or intergovernmental issues -- only Planning Commission matters. Her campaign site's issues section is an unfilled placeholder.

Keep in mind

She would be the only sitting councilmember born and raised in Sausalito, a distinction her campaign emphasizes directly.

Adrian Brinton

Adrian Brinton moved to Sausalito in 2013, after family ties to the city going back decades, and spent more than 20 years as an IT director for software companies before stepping away three years ago to volunteer in Sausalito full-time. He co-founded the local group Positive People for Sausalito and says he helped deliver the city's new Ferry Landing, its Downtown Business Improvement District, and the Sausalito Center for the Arts. He also says he helped draft Measure X, the "AIM Initiative" waterfront-rezoning measure on this same November ballot.

Strengths

A concrete platform -- unfreezing the Marinship waterfront (frozen since 1985), $50 million in deferred infrastructure, and streamlined downtown permitting -- tied to named local projects.

Trade-offs

Like Saad, he's never held elected office, so his record reflects advocacy and volunteer work, not a voting record; no independent news coverage of this campaign was found.

Keep in mind

His campaign is closely tied to Measure X, a separate ballot measure he says he helped draft; this dataset doesn't build measure content, so weigh that question elsewhere.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 14 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: Adrian Brinton's own campaign site (home and About pages): moved to Sausalito in 2013; 20+ years as an IT director for software companies before stepping away three years ago to volunteer full-time; co-founder of Positive People for Sausalito; says he helped deliver the city's new Ferry Landing, its Downtown Business Improvement District, and the Sausalito Center for the Arts, and helped draft the Measure X "AIM Initiative." Found by a direct domain guess after the same searches returned nothing under his name. and Nastassya Saad's own campaign site: a lifelong Sausalito resident and, per the site, the only lifelong resident currently serving on the Planning Commission (six years, the last two as Chair); previously on the Historic Preservation Commission; recipient of the city's own teenage Lifetime Volunteer Award; a UC Santa Cruz politics graduate. Found by a direct domain guess after Google News RSS and marinij.com's own site search returned nothing under either spelling of her first name. may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides 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 "Member, City Council" for the City of Sausalito as a verified, filed contest -- no candidate names, only the office title. Direct fetches returned HTTP 403 this session; no browser tool was available to retry the Chrome workaround a prior session used.
  • sausalito.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Sausalito -- "Local Elections" page: states that Resolution 24-2026 (adopted June 2, 2026) calls an election to fill two City Council seats consolidated with the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election, and its own "Nomination Papers Filed" section names all four qualified candidates -- Jill James Hoffman, Joan Cox, Nastassya Saad, Adrian Brinton -- each linked to a filed Declaration of Candidacy, Nomination Papers, and Form 410. Reached via a Google Translate proxy fetch (sausalito.gov 403s every direct attempt).
  • sausalito.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Sausalito -- City Council page: "The Sausalito City Council is the community's part-time legislative body, consisting of five members. All councilmembers are elected at-large on a non-partisan basis for a four-year term. Councilmember terms are staggered ... On an annual basis, the Council elects one of the councilmembers to serve as mayor and one councilmember to serve as vice mayor." Also lists the current five-member roster.
  • sausalito.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Sausalito -- official councilmember bio page for Jill James Hoffman: elected to her third four-year term in November 2022, previously Mayor (twice) and Vice Mayor once; an attorney who began her career in the U.S. Navy's JAG Corps and remains a Navy Reservist (Captain), recalled to active duty Sept. 2019-Sept. 2020; co-founder of Qorkz Wine.
  • sausalito.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Sausalito -- official councilmember bio page for Joan Cox: elected to a four-year term in November 2022 after previously serving on the Council from 2016 to 2020, preceded by eight years on the Planning Commission; an attorney with 20+ years representing cities and counties before the Legislature; twice Mayor (2018, 2025) and twice Vice Mayor (2017, 2024).
  • 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 preview stating "In Sausalito, council terms are expiring for Jill Hoffman and Joan Cox," before either had filed to run again and before any challenger had filed.
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Keri Brenner, "Marin candidate list lengthens for November election" (Aug. 8, 2026, the day after the initial filing deadline): "In Sausalito, council terms are expiring for Jill Hoffman and Joan Cox. Hoffman and Cox have both filed to seek another term. Natassya Saad and Adrian Brinton have filed to run."
  • marinij.com (opens in a new tab)Marin Independent Journal -- Keri Brenner, "More contenders pile into Marin's fall elections" (Aug. 13, 2026, updated Aug. 15, after the Aug. 12 extended deadline for non-incumbent filers closed): "Sausalito City Council: Terms are expiring for Jill Hoffman and Joan Cox. Both filed to seek another term. Natassya Saad and Adrian Brinton have filed to run" -- the same four-candidate field, confirming no further filings or withdrawals.
  • nastassyaforsausalito.com (opens in a new tab)Nastassya Saad's own campaign site: a lifelong Sausalito resident and, per the site, the only lifelong resident currently serving on the Planning Commission (six years, the last two as Chair); previously on the Historic Preservation Commission; recipient of the city's own teenage Lifetime Volunteer Award; a UC Santa Cruz politics graduate. Found by a direct domain guess after Google News RSS and marinij.com's own site search returned nothing under either spelling of her first name.
  • brintonforsausalito.com (opens in a new tab)Adrian Brinton's own campaign site (home and About pages): moved to Sausalito in 2013; 20+ years as an IT director for software companies before stepping away three years ago to volunteer full-time; co-founder of Positive People for Sausalito; says he helped deliver the city's new Ferry Landing, its Downtown Business Improvement District, and the Sausalito Center for the Arts, and helped draft the Measure X "AIM Initiative." Found by a direct domain guess after the same searches returned nothing under his name.
  • sausalito.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Sausalito -- FPPC Filings page: "The City of Sausalito is working with Netfile to provide access to FPPC filings," linking the public NetFile search portal for agency code "sau."
  • public.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Sausalito's NetFile campaign-disclosure public search portal (agency code "sau") -- a documented negative result: returns only a client-rendered single-page-application shell with no server-side content on direct fetch.
  • calaccess.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California's statewide Cal-Access filer/candidate search -- a documented negative result: the fetch failed outright (a TLS/connection failure) this session.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Sausalito, California": used narrowly for the fixed, dated 2020 Census population figure (7,269) and the city's Sept. 4, 1893 incorporation date; independently names Joan Cox as the sitting Mayor, matching the city's own current roster.

Last updated September 2, 2026.