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The race for the East Palo Alto City Council will feature plenty of familiar faces – and a few new ones – as seven residents vie for two seats on the five-member council.
The race features only one incumbent, Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica. Councilmember Martha Barragan, who was elected in 2022, opted not to run for a fresh term, creating an open seat.
The seven candidates are:
Ruben Abrica, a political veteran who took part in the city’s incorporation in 1983 and who has been advocating for maintaining the city’s affordable-housing policies and representing the city in a regional effort to improve flood control near the San Francisquito Creek
Ofelia Bello, a community organizer who has served on the city’s Planning Commission and the East Palo Alto Sanitary District and who says she will advocate for affordable housing and renters rights
Sam Jimenez, owner of a plumbing business and Green Beret veteran who says he wants to promote more job training opportunities for youths
Deborah Lewis-Verges, lead pastor of Saint Mark Church and chair of the East Palo Alto Sanitary Districts, who says she wants to prioritize inclusionary housing, responsible “right-fit development” and residents’ traffic concerns
Michael Mashack, a member of the city’s Planning Commission who says he wants to support local business, improve public safety and create new opportunities for future generations to remain in Palo Alto.
Gail Wilkerson Dixon, a businesswoman who has operated a tax practice and worked as a legal researcher and who says she wants to bring a mainstream supermarket to East Palo Alto and end no-bid contracts
Holifa Windom, an East Palo Alto native who says she wants to protect housing stability, support local small businesses and calm traffic on neighborhood streets.
The election will take place on Nov. 3. The county will start mailing ballots in the first week of October.
