Santa Clara City Council has enjoyed a majority of solid representatives. They have worked for and enacted policies beneficial to the Santa Clara community.
This council has successfully hired a city manager and city attorney with common sense. In turn, they have made intelligent decisions beneficial to residents and to the city.
The multi-year reign of Mayor Lisa Gillmor and her council majority was replaced by representatives who placed Santa Clara first.
However, the sanity enjoyed from this current council is in question. If you ever thought Lisa Gillmor was stripped of her influence with an independent council, think again. Gillmor has more political skills than most city councils collectively.
While she remains mayor until 2026, those who have known her over the years have little question that she has already plotted out a strategic plan for the next election … or two.
Yes, she will be termed out as mayor next year. However, that does not guarantee she will leave the council. It is reasonable to predict that she will likely run for the council seat currently occupied by Kelly Cox.
Now, take a look at the current council. Raj Chahal is termed out and wants to run for mayor. Karen Hardy is termed out and wants to run for mayor.
While this group is planning their strategy, Gillmor has already lined up Gillmor-favored candidates to run and replace them to regain her majority on the council.
The outcome of another Gilmor majority could very well mean the replacement of Santa Clara’s city manager, Jovan Grogan, and city attorney, Glen Googins.
The last time Gillmor had a council majority, she gave Santa Clara a city attorney whose decisions cost the city five million dollars. That’s five million dollars that could have been used to repair the International Swim Center. In addition, she hired Sunnyvale’s city manager, whose financial package approached a million dollars a year. Besides busting the city budget, she drove away long-term employees and their institutional knowledge.
Then there is Gillmor’s ongoing feud with one of Santa Clara’s most important business partners, the SF 49ers. They have sponsored more positive activities and local grants to our kids and schools than anyone.
It would be healthy for Santa Clara to support independent and progressive council members in our next elections. The alternative is not promising.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Incompetence – Opinion
Milestones – The “Story” Continues – Opinion
Milestones – Around Town We Observe – Opinion
It’s time for the voters of the City of Santa Clara to rid themselves of the Gillmor cabal.
The next Mayor of Santa Clara is going to have a lot to deal with come December 2026. The next Mayor cannot be someone from the Gillmor Political Tree nor a 49er yes man. Someone for the people over politics. Don’t hold your breath, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
The next Mayor has to be better than the “Outplayed” Lisa Gillmor who gave sweetheart deals to corporations like the 49ers, Related (even sweeter)and other developers then gave the sweetest deals to the Police/Fire Unions and the justice system. These deals include Gillmor’s loyal servant, Princess Kathy Watanabe.
“Sweetheart deal to the 49ers”? Gillmor hates the 49ers. She has done everything known to disrupt that NFL franchisor. Wake up. Get rid of Gillmor.
Jim, yes, Gillmor did give a sweetheart deal to the 49ers, a deal that would not give more direct benefits to the city. Now don’t get me wrong, we did at the time have the best NFL stadium deal of public private partnership. What the city leaders did in that deal was make sure the city is covered and the taxpayers taken care of. The debt on the stadium is being paid off faster than anticipated. The sweetheart deals now for public safety at the stadium is Gillmor driven to create a crisis. She always creates an artificial crisis and makes one wonder if this was her plan the whole time bringing the 49ers here. Act as a savior to the NFL franchise. Ultimately, I think she realized that she is no longer the bigger game in town and decided to go after them. The reality is that the new City Council like Suds Jain, Karen Hardy, Kevin Park, Raj Chahal and Anthony Becker got better deals for the city by settling lawsuits and getting things they wouldn’t be able to get in mediation. They opened the contracts as stated in public that they got some better terms for the city. They couldn’t get the moon but took what was peanuts and made it at least a bag of peanuts. The stadium debt going away faster was a great financial move to protect the city but the long term benefits created a trickle drip drip situation. Hopefully the new terms keeps the flow of money going to the general fund. Remember it was Gillmor who created all the legal woes with the 49ers by terminating their management agreement etc. In result the city had to have a legal defense fund that should had gone to the general fund in which Gillmor complained the sky was falling for not having that money going to the general fund. It was her artificial crisis she created, a cause and effect. So Jim, the modern City Council got the city better deal with the 49ers than Gillmor did. Remember she was behind the 11th hour proposal changes when voted on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eUmkCvovU4. “It’s just not clear enough”.
Gillmor is a poor deal maker and to think she is a realtor. But I totally agree Jim, she has been nothing but trouble to the NFL and more. I am totally awake and been awake longer than most Santa Clarans and agree it is time for Gillmor to go, as activist Debbie Bress used to say back in the day, “No More Gillmor!”.
No way to Kathy Watanabe!
With the 2026 elections around the corner and the rumors of who is running or who is basically campaigning already. Let’s do a rundown of everyone either floated around or really vying. Lets start with Mayor.
1) Kathy Watanabe- Easily right now the frontrunner because of several factors. Kathy conveniently switches seats with now Councilmember Albert Gonzalez who now holds her seat on council and she holds his former seat on school board and it all happened in 2024. Makes you laugh knowing the 49ers were duped into supporting Albert and fell for the trap of the switch, look how Albert votes with Gillmor. Kathy Watanabe on the school board is so she stays relevant for from when she left the council in 2024 till when she runs for mayor in 2026. Being on school board will sway votes from soccer moms, youth sports stuff you know the Santa Clara parents who will not know who she really is. They will build Kathy up in the coming months. With the Police Union, Fire Union, maestro Jude Barry pulling strings, blogger Robert Haugh slandering the competition and the San Francisco Chronicle pretending to be the “paper of the record”. In the nick of time they will pull out “ethics” expert Tom Shanks and the icing on the cake would be a “damning” Civil Grand Jury report that will come out in the Spring of early Summer of 2026 supporting the Gillmor narrative of the last 10 plus years and why to vote for her candidates like Kathy Watanabe for Mayor. Remember if history proves anything like Gillmor’s influence over the Civil Grand Jury, reports have been released in election years around the same time, June 2016, October 2022, two in June 2024 with 2022 being the exception of October surprise. Kathy Watanabe has a solid lead to win unfortunately after the following other possible candidates splitting the votes. The point is simple, Stop Watanabe, Stop the Gillmor Mafia.
2) Raj Chahal is probably the best chance at beating a Gillmor backed Mayor Candidate. He has the experience. He would be the first minority elected Mayor in city history. His backing is a strong mobilized Indian community in Santa Clara. He is a people person and relatable. However, his abstention on big votes like the 49ers issues and other controversial items will be a factor yet the biggest factor facing Chahal is there are still racists in Santa Clara who are afraid to elect a person of color Mayor. Instead they may vote for the white woman with a Japanese last name as the ultimate virtue signal. Additionally they will try to use Raj’s prior support of Anthony Becker against him which should not be the case.
3) Karen Hardy is friendly, personable, relatable. Elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, Karen has done well as a Councilmember. However she has a lot against her running for Mayor. This is not saying Karen or Raj would be bad mayors, it is saying that with the current political climate it could weigh her down. If both Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy run against Kathy Watanabe they will split the vote and deliver Watanabe a victory. Hardy is a republican in Silicon Valley. Yes there is the factor that Santa Clara is more conservative, but it is Gillmor conservative, not Hardy conservative. What the 49ers did to Satish Chandra in the 2024 District 1 race by exposing his past support of Donald Trump and his republican past expect either or all the police union, Related Company and Labor Unions to go all out on that. Another flaw of Karen Hardy’s is she is silent on council and never really pushes back like other Councilmembers have against Gillmor. Maybe she is playing it safe but she has been siding with Gillmor as of late specifically like the Related Project amendment knowing the deal that she gave them that would be a problem with voters in 2026. Ultimately, Karen should step aside and let Raj run. Again Karen would be a good mayor the same as Raj but something has to budge
If not might as well call Kathy Watanabe mayor in waiting already. Like with Raj Chahal they will try to use Karen Hardy’s past support of Anthony Becker against her.
4) Anne Kepner is a current West Valley Mission College Board Member. She has been rumored often by Reclaiming Our Downtown advocate Mary Grizzle as the next Mayor of Santa Clara. Kepner was rumored to run in 2024’s District 6 race but decided against it when incumbent Anthony Becker ran for re-election despite his indictment. That is when George Guerra entered the race. It was also said that Kepner would have been the 49ers backed candidate but that is hearsay for now. Cons against Kepner is again maybe 49ers backed and she has no council experience or city committee experience that is known of. Additionally is she is an attorney which could be a turn off to voters as of late.
5) Unamed 49ers backed candidate is being floated around. The 49ers want to run someone for Mayor who won’t be a target for grand jury reports, investigations or blogger Robert Haugh’s wrath. This fact is concern that they don’t think Raj or Karen can beat a Gillmor backed Mayor candidate.
6) Mike Wiltberger tried to run for Mayor in 2022 and was kicked off the ballot for ultimately not qualifying. Wiltberger was there to split the vote for Gillmor so she can cruise to victory. Instead Gillmor panicked and released the kraken grand jury report that saved the queen. Wiltberger could come back for the same reason. Who knows maybe he might be a good pick but all signs point to Gillmor influence. It is also known that he tried to sue the Santa Clara City Clerk because he was disqualified from the ballot.
Kevin Park is currently on council and was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024 both times solidly. Kevin Park is popular but not so much with the Gillmor mafia and Gillmor voters. Currently he is being targeted to the extreme by Gillmor backed blogger Robert Haugh. Park and Becker were the most maverick and rogue Councilmembers who could not be controlled and why they were attacked and targeted so much by Gillmor’s army. Kevin Park would sure make a splash in a Mayor race but he would need both Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy to step aside should they not come to an agreement of who should run. The outcome of both Chahal and Hardy staying out and Kevin getting is slim but never zero. Councilmember Park would be a popular choice but at the rate Gillmor is going after him right now, she is trying to get him out now after the taste of blood getting Anthony Becker out.
For District 2 election in 2026 here are all the names floating around.
1) Nancy Biagini is the first name that comes to mind if you would ask as who is a possible candidate for district 2. Biagini is currently on the Santa Clara planning commission and is also a former candidate for City Council in 2018 running against Raj Chahal where she placed second. Biagini has the name recognition and has the Gillmor machine support should she run. However lately her health has been an issue so ultimately Nancy Biagini holds the keys to her own destiny and possible win for District 2. She would be a frontrunner if she jumped in because she ran before and her tenure on the planning commission. Additionally with police and fire union support behind her very strong chance.
2) Mario Bouza is currently on the planning commission and had run in previous elections with most recently being 2016 and 2018 both times coming in last. In 2016 Bouza ran for the city wide Council seat 6 then when districts took effect in 2018 he ran for district 2 against Raj Chahal and Nancy Biagini. Raj Chahal as we know won that race. Bouza is a republican in Silicon Valley and just like Karen Hardy that is a challenge. Additionally Mario Bouza has been controversial in the past and can be feisty at times on the planning commission.
3) Yvonne Inciarte is currently a Santa Clara historical and landmarks commission member, as well as on the Santa Clara Police Chiefs advisory committee this is where Gillmor likes to farm candidates like Kelly Cox and Satish Chandra. Inciarte is also Senior Advisor for Legislative Outreach for Congressman Ro Khanna. Inciarte could be a back up plan to Nancy Biagini should she not run. What holds back Yvonne is her public speaking needs improvement, yet with the support of a possible Ro Khanna endorsement and support from other influences like labor or special interests she could be force to be reckoned with. Rumor has it also that Raj Chahal is thinking she is a viable candidate. Interesting to note though is that Ro Khanna when he first won for congress almost a decade ago he had his headquarters in Franklin Mall in a building owned by Gillmor.
More district 2 Candidates in 2026 floating around.
4) Larry McCollach ran against Councilmember Raj Chahl in 2022 when Raj was running for re-election. It is known that Chahal was going to be unopposed until the last minute when Larry McColloch was drafted by Kathy Watanabe. It is said that Kathy Watanabe was desperately calling people and trying to find someone to run against Raj and sure enough Larry answered the call. McCollach the entire election regurgitated Gillmor talking points which included grand jury report quotes and how the 49ers are controlling the city. McCollach was handedly defeated by Raj. Lately though McColloch has been showing up to council meetings and most recently spoke in favor of the Related project amendment, Larry was supported by Related Company in 2022. Larry may not be a serious viable candidate again but he has run before which is a plus for campaign experience. Yet many around ask, Larry who?
5) 49ers candidate, you lastly can’t count out the 49ers who are trying to recruit. The success of Albert Gonzalez and Kelly Cox winning elections without really campaigning proves that money does buy elections and will prove that there could be an unknown in District 2 that suddenly becomes a “somebody”, we shall see.
6) Debbie Tryforos is a Santa Clara Library trustee and loyal Gillmor servant. She has been very vocal at the city council meetings and filing complaints to the civil grand jury about the anti-Gillmor Councilmembers. Debbie has been there on behalf of the Special Advisor to the Mayor Kirk Vartan and in 2024 when she was in charge of the Soroptimists where she purposely seated a civil grand juror at a city councilmembers table. In 2024 Tryforos pulled papers to run for City Clerk but then stepped aside when Gillmor backed Bob O’Keefe jumped in the race and eventually won. If Debbie Tryforos were to run it would only to be to split votes. Debbie was also the campaign manager for Larry McColloch when he ran against Raj Chahal in 2022. Debbie also has a very harsh attitude that many voters do not want to try.
For District 3 here are the 2026 possible candidates.
1) Christian Pellecchia is a front runner if you think of the power of Gillmor with no incumbent in office. Pellecchia ran for this same seat in 2022 against Karen Hardy and was handedly beaten. Gillmor and the Police Union supported him and was basically to introduce Christian and plant the seeds for possible future run. Pellecchia was involved heavily in the rebooted and Gillmor influenced Chamber of Commerce which he led till he stepped down to run for City Council. Pellecchia is also currently dating current Vice Mayor Councilmember Kelly Cox. If Kelly Cox stays on the city council and Christian were to run and win we would have dating Councilmembers. Conflict of interest much one wonders or is it incestual politics. It seems to be the norm in Santa Clara with a history of incestual politics run by the old guard by means of musical chairs before the districts came about. Pellecchia’s weakness is himself, he never stood out and never made an impact yet his girlfriend Kelly Cox didn’t and still won the same with Councilmember Albert Gonzalez. For Christian Pellecchia having prior campaign experience and Gillmor mafia behind him he is a frontrunner.
2) Eric Cruchlow is currently on the planning commission. He has been a positive addition to that commission however some say he is closed minded based on some of his votes. Cruchlow’s past comments on Robert Haugh’s blog are concerning coming from a seemingly Gillmor influence. Yet he could be a good candidate but the big question is will he side with Gillmor or be an independent servant to the city. Karen Hardy is pushing Cruchlow as her replacement.
More possible District 3 candidates.
3) Gary Ferraris is a strong candidate for the following factors. Yes he may have no experience on the council or a commission which can factor against him. Yet what he has going for him is he is a former City of Santa Clara employee, former union leader and current union rep. Ferraris worked for the City for a long time and during turbulent years when Deanna Santana was City Manager. Ferraris spoke out against the failed leadership of Deanna Santana and Mayor Gillmor that got the city in a hole. Ferraris supported Deanna Santanas termination and had major concerns over top heavy salaries at city hall. That might be the solution for Santa Clara needs. Gary is a likable guy, personable and friendly with tons of common sense. While his flaws of not having that committee experience etc that could be a plus for him. He would have big union support and knows how to campaign from past times canvassing for candidates.
4) Vickie Fairchild is a current school board member like Albert Gonzalez was. Fairchild is currently serving on the board with Kathy Watanabe. Fairchild for a while was pro Gillmor but many believe Fairchild saw the writing on the wall that Gillmor isn’t the only big name in town. One could see Vickie Fairchild taking the leap from the school board to city council because of not wanting to serve with Kathy Watanabe who will be leaking everything to Gillmor that she does. Last year while Vickie was serving as the President of the School board she divulged that Mayor Lisa Gillmor called her and yelled at her and harassed her to give her closed session information about the Dominic Caserta settlement, something Gillmor had a hand in orchestrating that resulted in a lawsuit by Caserta when his personnel file was leaked. Gillmor’s own sister had to pay $1 to Dominic Caserta. Clearly something big was there for why Gillmor wanted to know all the facts and harassed Vickie Fairchild for it. With Vickie coming forward with this revelation of Gillmor bad behavior, you can bet that Vickie is now on the Gillmor naughty list. That right there is political suicide and will work against Vickie Fairchild if she wants to run for council or even re election to school board. Vickie stood up to Gillmor’s bully behavior and we know what happens to those who stand up to Gillmor like Jamie Matthews, Anthony Becker, Dominic Castera, Tim Jefferies, Debbie Bress, David’s Restaurant just to name a few.
Here are those who would run for District 6 Council race because it is obvious Gillmor will get Kelly Cox to quit. When Councilmember Cox does quit, they will call a special election for the seat to happen in November.
1) Lisa Gillmor, this is on the list because it was prophesied by ancient civilizations that Queen Gillmor will be on City Council for 8 more years! That’s not true, but common sense points to yes it can come true. Gillmor is thankfully termed out for Mayor, however many believe she was termed out in 2022 because of some technicality. Regardless, the reign of terror should come to an end in December 2026. Yet for some reason it doesn’t seem that easy when you take account of Kathy Watanabe being Mayor, Kathy can’t do it solo, Kathy always needed support. Lisa will run for council and here is how. District 6 councilmember Kelly Cox will step down in late spring/early summer 2026 in a surprise move to focus on her education at SCU where she works or she will be moving, or her relationship with Christian gets more serious. Something will come up for Kelly and it will be Gillmor saying, “well someone had to step up to run and protect the city from the big bad 49ers”. Kelly Cox is the placeholder and always really has been. Gillmor knew she could get Becker convicted and off the Council but the issue was who to fill the void till she could flip over to run for Council. Gillmor herself would have been convicted if there was a normal non-Gillmor friendly District Attorney. Cox is the placeholder and probably was a last minute decision to throw her in. Cox in the beginning of 2024 resigned from the Parks and Recreation Commission and then changed her last name from Gonzalez to Cox. If she hadn’t changed her last name there would have been two Gonzalez’s running for Council, Albert and Kelly. Cox met with Gillmor and Barry to talk about Related and being on the ballot. Gillmor running for Council and Kathy Watanabe running for Mayor would be some evil dream team of the “Related Two”. What is against Gillmor and what could make her fail is how many see she is untouchable by the law, has a history of getting the city in debt, creating hostile work environments for councilmembers and staff. Recently she yelled and harassed School Board Member Vicki Fairchild to divulge closed session information about Dominic Caserta. It is said that she had a hand in the falls of Dominic Caserta, Jamie Matthews, Anthony Becker, Tim Jefferies, and plenty more. Her bully behavior should fully be exposed if she were to run because no one needs 4 or 8 more years of Gillmor. If she was to get elected again, she will be going on 30 years serving on the Santa Clara City Council. This is a shocking number of years and everyone wonders why it is believed she owns the city. 30 years of bad decisions and vendettas. Imagine if Gillmor gets 4 to 8 more years. The plan is that she will have a majority by 2026 and 2028. With Chahal and Hardy terming out for city council seats in 2026 and Jain and Park terming out in 2028 it looks very possible considering if she gets Kathy to win Mayor in 2026 and two candidates to win Districts 2 and 3 plus her running in District 6 would be a solid majority rule.
2) George Guerra was a candidate in the 2024 elections and placed second in 2024 behind Kelly Cox and ahead of then incumbent Anthony Becker. If Gillmor runs, watch for either no one to run against her or someone like George Guerra again who was encouraged to run following the indictment of Anthony Becker by Councilmembers, like Councilmember Chahal. He will probably be encouraged to do so again and it would only be 2 years since the last election he ran in and he would still be relevant. He would be a good Councilmember and should have won District 6 in 2024.
3) Judy Nadler is former Mayor of Santa Clara serving from 1994-2002 and was a Councilmember before that. Judy probably wouldn’t run, she is not banned from running because term limits were passed in 2016. But if Gillmor were to run, her neighbor Judy Nadler would be the perfect opposition. Why? Because in 1994, Nadler beat Gillmor for Mayor. It’s like Star Wars, “Judy you are our only hope” if Gillmor runs again.