Running an Unconventional Race

I aim to document this process as a potential blueprint for others who are considering leadership roles in their communities or entrepreneurship. Together Let's Break Barriers

I have been an entrepreneur for most of my life. I have built mine as well as helped guided many others to path of business who now successfully run small businesses.

My family came to San Ramon along with my brother’s family in the city as well. I have 3 kids one in elementary, one in middle and one in highschools here in San Ramon. I run a technology company where we provide digital strategy, transformation and analytics services.

1. Little about how it started:

I help youths build an organization lead4earth.org, here we help good leaders in spreading their voice through network of youth volunteers. While I was assessing which mayoral candidate in the city of San Ramon would be best for the community, I was shocked to see that the seat was going unopposed. This was around August 10th, and the deadline had been extended until August 14th.

2. Take Responsibility

I called a few of my friends, who told me it wouldn't be an easy race to win. They said it would be costly, requiring significant fundraising—around $60,000 or more. They also mentioned that I would need endorsements, and that council members are not allowed to endorse outsiders, making fundraising in a short time difficult. But my internal sense was telling if no one should run unopposed. This will at-least give me a chance to question what his vision is for San Ramon. His priorities i looked up felt pretty much continue. I went to city clerk and told her I am running to lose.

3. Take Leadership

But a few friends who believed in me said, "Why not?". I chose to collect signatures i chose to knock door asking people, like I am looking to run for mayor, I would like to know from you what your priorities are? Did you know we had mayor race going unopposed? Did you know there is tax rate increase on the ballot because our books are in Red.?

The response made me realize that the priorities of residents are entirely different from the survey given by city.

People priorities were :

1. the pace of growth is the biggest worry.

2. Businesses are leaving the city.

3. Bishop Ranch development.

4. Traffic has been another key area of concern.

   Here is the survey the city did, the results automatically become irrelevant.

4. If i didn’t run what would have happened.

Essentially, the system works like this: The mayor will run unopposed, and he will appoint someone for his current seat in District 1. This effectively gives an unopposed mayor two voting powers.

District 3 also ran unopposed, adding another voting power.

District 4's representative is running for the Senate, and if she wins, there will be yet another appointee.

This means the city could end up with four appointed members and only one elected member.

Thanks for reading. I am positive that we will build a lot of leaders in the journey.

(But trust us on the “subscribe” buttons!)

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