# Walnut Creek City Council Cherise Marie Khaund and Brendan Moran are running uncontested for Walnut Creek City Council. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of two at-large seats on Walnut Creek's City Council. The council has five members and staggered four-year terms. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Walnut Creek has 70,127 residents. The council picks one of its own members to serve as Mayor. It picks another as Mayor Pro Tem. These titles rotate among councilmembers rather than being elected separately. This is a direct plurality election, with no primary and no runoff. - Jurisdiction: City of Walnut Creek - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/walnut-creek-council - 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: September 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Cherise Marie Khaund** — Community Organizer/Parent - **Brendan Moran** — Small Business Owner A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Two candidates are running for Walnut Creek's two open, at-large City Council seats: Cherise Marie Khaund, a community organizer, and Brendan Moran, a small-business owner. Neither of the two councilmembers whose seats are up this cycle -- Cindy Silva and Matt Francois -- filed for another term, so both winners will be new to the council. Walnut Creek's City Council has five members, all elected at-large to staggered 4-year terms. The council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land-use policy for a city of 70,127 residents (2020 census); an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem -- the titles rotate among sitting councilmembers rather than being elected separately. Matt Francois, one of the two outgoing councilmembers this cycle, currently holds the Mayor Pro Tem title; Kevin Wilk, whose seat isn't up this cycle, is the sitting Mayor. This is a direct plurality election with no primary and no runoff. Because exactly two candidates qualified for the two open seats, both are effectively elected outright on November 3 -- there's no scenario in which either loses. ## Cherise Marie Khaund A first-time candidate. Their filed ballot designation is "Community Organizer/Parent." They qualified for the ballot on Aug. 4, 2026, one of two non-incumbent candidates to file after neither sitting councilmember whose term expires this cycle sought re-election. Contra Costa News's own Aug. 7, 2026 countywide filing roundup independently lists them as a qualified Walnut Creek Council candidate. **Strengths:** not established in the sourcing found for this race. **Trade-offs:** As a first-time candidate, voters have little more than their filed occupation and confirmed candidacy to go on. **Keep in mind:** This is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against them -- a real, multi-method search (city site, Ballotpedia, Cal-Access, guessed campaign sites, web/news search) found nothing beyond their filed designation and one news confirmation. ## Brendan Moran A first-time candidate. Their filed ballot designation is "Small Business Owner." They qualified for the ballot on Aug. 6, 2026, the second of the two non-incumbent candidates to file for Walnut Creek's two open seats. Contra Costa News's own Aug. 7, 2026 countywide filing roundup independently lists them as a qualified Walnut Creek Council candidate. **Strengths:** not established in the sourcing found for this race. **Trade-offs:** As a first-time candidate, voters have little more than their filed occupation and confirmed candidacy to go on. **Keep in mind:** This is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against them -- a real, multi-method search (city site, Ballotpedia, Cal-Access, guessed campaign sites, web/news search) found nothing beyond their filed designation and one news confirmation. ## Sources 1. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": lists Walnut Creek's two offices with expiring terms this cycle -- City Treasurer and 2 Councilmembers -- with no Mayor or City Clerk line item](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection.pdf) 2. [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: flags "WalnutCreekCouncil" (Vote for 2, 2 qualified candidates -- Cherise Marie Khaund, Community Organizer/Parent, qualified 8/4/2026; Brendan Moran, Small Business Owner, qualified 8/6/2026 -- with the contest's own Incumbent(s) field naming Cindy L Silva and Matthew Francois as 'Elected' but neither appearing among the qualified candidates) and "WalnutCreekTreasurer" (Vote for 1, 1 qualified candidate -- Ronald Cassano, ballot designation 'Incumbent,' qualified 7/22/2026) both ON BALLOT, despite neither race drawing more candidates than seats](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf) 3. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Candidate List" (8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf), the county's complete qualified-candidate roster: independently confirms the same two-candidate Walnut Creek Council field (Khaund, Moran) and the same single Treasurer filer (Cassano)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf) 4. [City of Walnut Creek -- City Clerk "Elections & Voter Registration" page: confirms three November 3, 2026 offices -- City Council (2 seats) and City Treasurer (1 seat), with no City Clerk race -- states no nomination papers were issued to either outgoing Council incumbent, and names Ron Cassano as the sitting Treasurer to whom papers were issued; read via a Google Translate proxy after walnutcreekca.gov itself returned HTTP 403 to every direct fetch attempt in this pass, including curl with a standard browser User-Agent](https://www.walnutcreekca.gov/government/departments/city-clerk/elections-voter-registration) 5. [Wikipedia -- "Walnut Creek, California": 2020 census population of 70,127; incorporated Oct. 21, 1914, the 8th city in Contra Costa County; General Law city with a 5-member council elected at-large to staggered 4-year terms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut_Creek,_California) 6. [City of Walnut Creek -- official City Council page: names the 5-member at-large council (Mayor Kevin Wilk, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Francois, Craig DeVinney, Cindy Silva, Cindy Darling) and confirms staggered 4-year at-large terms; read via the same Google Translate proxy workaround after walnutcreekca.gov itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass](https://www.walnutcreekca.gov/government/meet-your-government/city-council) 7. [Contra Costa News -- "November Ballot Taking Shape in Contra Costa County" (Aug. 7, 2026): independent local-news roundup of the county's own candidate filings, listing Walnut Creek's at-large Council race as qualified candidates Brendan Moran (Q) and Cherise Khaund (Q), with the filing period flagged as extended](https://contracosta.news/2026/08/07/november-ballot-taking-shape-in-contra-costa-county/) ## The rest of the ballot Walnut Creek City Council 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, "Walnut Creek City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/walnut-creek-council (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.