Late Ballots Slow San Mateo Count as South Bay Council Leaders Emerge

Late Ballot Surge Leaves Menlo Park's Measure P and District 4 Race Narrowly Divided

San Mateo County election workers counted ballots until 2 a.m. Wednesday, November 4, tallying all vote-center ballots and mail-in ballots received through October 30 rather than November 1 after a surge of late mail ballots and two-worker adjudication reviews strained county servers, Assistant Chief Elections Officer Jim Irizarry told The Almanac. With the next update scheduled for Thursday, November 5, challenger Vamsi Velagapudi led incumbent Drew Combs by just nine votes—721 to 712—in Menlo Park City Council District 4, while Laura Melahn held an early lead over Charlotte Reed in another council contest.

At the same time, Menlo Park's Measure P—a citizens' initiative organized by Alex Beltramo and Save Downtown Menlo to require voter approval before redeveloping eight city-owned downtown parking lots—trailed by more than 300 votes, with 47.8% in favor (3,474 votes) to 52.2% opposed (3,799 votes) after trailing at 47.9% (by 232 votes) in the first drop, according to The Almanac. Opponents led by Karen Grove (who founded Menlo Together in 2018), Will Oursler (who estimated canvassers spoke with 15% of the electorate), and Lydia Lee gathered at Mama Coco's and compared the contest to 2022's Measure V (rejected by 61.8% of voters), while Measure P supporters gathered at the Dutch Goose. Even if Measure P fails, the city's planned 345-unit affordable housing development on three downtown lots under a $1 ground lease faces developer funding gaps ranging from $19 million to $45 million.

Campbell Candidates Dan Furtado and Davis Fields Lead as 337,600 County Ballots Await Count

In Santa Clara County, where the Registrar of Voters reported approximately 337,600 unprocessed ballots remaining countywide and turnout around 29.6% to 29.7% ahead of a 5 p.m. Thursday, November 5 update, Campbell Mayor Dan Furtado and Planning Commission Chair Davis Fields held wide early leads, San José Spotlight reported:

• District 3: Incumbent Mayor Dan Furtado, 82—a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel with 18 years on the council—led with 62.7% (926 votes) over 36-year-old South Bay Suds owner Joseph "Joe" Brenner at 37.2% (549 votes).
• District 4: To succeed departing Councilmember Elliot Scozzola, Planning Commission Chair Davis Fields (who joined the commission in 2022) led with 67.8% (908 votes) over grocery store clerk Joseph Guardado at 31.8% (426 votes) amid focus on traffic safety and repairing the public pool closed permanently in July.
• District 5: Candidate Daraius Sorabji, 62, ran unopposed to succeed terming-out Councilmember Anne Bybee.

Los Gatos and Cupertino Council Contests Signal Pro-Housing Shifts

In neighboring Los Gatos—a town of 33,000 residents where the average home price is $2.6 million and no council election was held in 2024—three candidates led the six-person race for three seats on the five-member Town Council as of Wednesday, according to San José Spotlight:

• Mayor Rob Moore, 28, led with 23.8% (4,466 votes), followed by 28-year-old economic analyst Jeff Suzuki (whose team knocked on more than 9,000 doors) at 18.7% (3,514 votes) and 69-year-old retired tech executive Rob Stump (whose grandfather moved to town in 1924) at 17.9% (3,353 votes).
• Trailing by 212 votes behind Stump was incumbent Councilmember Mary Badame in fourth at 16.7% (3,141 votes), followed by Steve Raspe at 13.1% (2,461 votes) and Heidi Owens at 9.5% (1,778 votes).
• Following Los Gatos's missed January 31, 2023 state housing certification deadline toward its mandate of 1,993 new homes by 2031, the town approved about 800 new homes over the past year while candidates also proposed navigation-app and interchange solutions for beach traffic where Highway 17 meets Highway 9.

In Cupertino, the pro-growth Cupertino Together slate swept the top three spots for three open at-large seats on the five-member City Council after knocking on nearly 11,000 doors, positioning the council to flip from its current preservationist majority (Mayor Kitty Moore, Ray Wang, and terming-out Vice Mayor Liang Chao, alongside departing Councilmember Sheila Mohan), San José Spotlight reported:

• Former Chamber of Commerce President John Tang led with 18.5% (4,651 votes), followed by incumbent Councilmember J.R. Fruen at 17.1% (4,293 votes) and Planning Commissioner Seema Sharma Lindskog at 16.5% (4,136 votes).
• Trailing were Planning Commission Chair Tracy Kosolcharoen at 12.8% (3,222 votes), Planning Commissioner Santosh Rao at 12.5% (3,130 votes), Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Gopal Kumarappan at 10.7% (2,689 votes), civil engineer Mark Fantozzi at 6.3% (1,578 votes), and businesswoman J.Z. Wang at 5.3% (1,327 votes).