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San Ramon resident and entrepreneur Chirag Kathrani is now in the throes of a third political campaign in two years as he prepares to square off against the incumbent for City Council District 2.
Kathrani is vying for the seat currently occupied by Councilmember Richard Adler, who was appointed to the position by the council after it was left vacant by Mark Armstrong’s successful campaign for mayor in November 2024 against Kathrani.
In June, Kathrani came in third place in a three-way race for the 16th Assembly District seat that Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is seeking to defend in a runoff election against Republican Joe Rubay (R-Alamo) in November.
“I see so many bright people who want to contribute to better governance but are kept out of the system. I want to fundamentally change this by building a better governance framework, which is based on community first approach,” Kathrani said on his campaign website.
“To achieve this vision, I founded and launched Open Governance News (OpGov.News) where we not only educate the community but with local civic-minded journalists, follow up and question the authorities.”
Kathrani launched the AI-assisted platform following dissatisfaction with the outcome of the 2024 mayoral election and the coverage his campaign and city government issues had received from legacy local news outlets, including DanvilleSanRamon.com. He says he now oversees a team of 33 editors for the site and six student volunteers.
Adler’s appointment to the City Council in early 2025 is also something Kathrani has vocally expressed dissatisfaction over, contending that the council ignored dozens of his supporters who advocated that he be appointed instead, and that the city declined to take his application seriously or interview him for the role.
“After losing, what I witnessed made things worse. The council ignored 11,031 votes and appointed their own ally — someone who had not even considered running when the seat was going unchallenged,” Kathrani wrote on his campaign site. “Even more troubling, a council member had already signaled before the appointment who they intended to select. That is not governance; it is corruption.”
Kathrani’s campaign priorities consist of “affordable by design” housing, traffic mitigation, protecting open spaces, public safety, open governance, and a “small business ecosystem”.
“Since my last run for Mayor of San Ramon in 2024, I have seen how the city is functioning and largely documented the unheard voices of San Ramon through my Open Governance platform (OpGov.News),” Kathrani wrote on his campaign site. “I have learned that when the leaders do not engage the community their participation drops significantly.”
In addition to the specific platforms for each of his three campaigns and other endeavors, Kathrani has been committed overall to “ensuring that no races go unchallenged” since running for mayor in 2024.
While it remains to be seen whether Kathrani will win election to the council seat, his wish for contested campaigns has come true in San Ramon this year.
“This term, every council seat has a challenger — as promised,” Kathrani wrote.
More information is available at chiragforcommunity.com.
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