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With the candidate filing period now closed, eight contenders are vying for three seats on the Mountain View City Council this November.
Current council members Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Lucas Ramirez will all leave office in January, after serving two consecutive terms. They are not eligible to seek reelection until 2028.
A mix of newcomers and familiar faces are hoping to replace them. Earlier this year, IdaRose Sylvester, an entrepreneur and local activist, and Erik Poicon, a longtime community organizer, entered the race. Both Poicon and Sylvester ran unsuccessfully for council two years ago.
Six first time candidates have also thrown their hats in the ring: Robert Cox, a retired Intel project lead, Silja Paymer, a Los Altos High School teacher, Paul Donahue, an engineer, Alexander Amoroso, a U.S. Army officer, James Kuszmaul, a software engineer, and Samuel Ali, a Google security specialist.
For a fleeting moment, it appeared there would be nine contenders after Mountain View resident Jesse Cupp pulled nomination papers. However, he told the Voice last week that he had decided not to run.
The official nomination period for the race closed Friday, Aug. 7, but write-in candidates have until Oct. 20, according to the city website. Whoever is elected in November will join current council members Emily Ann Ramos, Chris Clark, John McAlister and Pat Showalter on the dais.
The council candidates
The Voice has previously reported on the candidacies of Sylvester, Poicon, Cox, Paymer, Donahue, Amoroso and Kuszmaul. Ali is the most recent candidate to announce plans to run.
Ali told the Voice that his top three priorities were affordable housing, public safety and helping people with jobs. The issue of affordability hits particularly close to home for Ali, who said his family struggled financially when he was growing up. Now, he wants to give back to the community.
“Those experiences really taught me at a young age what it means to struggle, but they also taught me the importance of community,” Ali said.
Another high priority for Ali is finding a balance between adopting new technologies and preserving people’s livelihoods. Ali, who works in the tech industry, said that artificial intelligence is here to stay but that he also wants to ensure jobs remain in the city too.
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