Another candidate joins crowded Mountain View City Council race

The Mountain View City Council race this November is shaping up to be a crowded one, with seven contenders entering the fray so far.

The top three vote-getters in the Nov. 3 election will replace outgoing Councilmembers Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Lucas Ramirez. All three will leave office in January after serving two consecutive terms. Due to the city’s term limits, they are not eligible to seek reelection until 2028.

Mountain View resident James Kuszmaul, a software engineer, is the latest candidate to announce his intention to run for city council.

The race includes familiar faces and newcomers. Earlier this year, Mountain View residents IdaRose Sylvester, an entrepreneur and local activist, and longtime community organizer Erik Poicon threw their hats in the ring, after running unsuccessfully for council two years ago.

Other contenders include Mountain View residents Robert Cox, a retired Intel project lead, Silja Paymer, a Los Altos High School teacher, engineer Paul Donahue and Alexander Amoroso, a U.S. Army officer.

Candidates have until Aug. 7 to enter the race before the official nomination period closes. Write-in candidates have until Oct. 20, according to the city. Whoever is elected in November will join Mayor Emily Ann Ramos and Councilmembers Chris Clark, John McAlister and Pat Showalter on the dais.

Kuszmaul, who currently serves on the city’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, identified his top three priorities as street safety, housing affordability and working at a local level to protect people’s rights from encroachment by the federal government.

Kuszmaul wants to see the city make changes to reach its Vision Zero goal, which aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2030. That includes making infrastructure changes to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, he said. A member of Mountain View YIMBY, a local housing advocacy group, Kuszmaul also said he wants to see more homes built in town so people don’t have to spend a large portion of their income on rent.

Additionally, Kuszmaul supports policies that aim to keep federal immigration enforcement authorities out of Mountain View and opposes having Flock surveillance cameras reinstalled in the city.

“Anyone should be able to live and work and be safe in Mountain View,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the Mountain View Voice. Emily Margaretten joined the Mountain View Voice in 2023 as a reporter covering City Hall.