San Leandro voters will choose a mayor on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a two-person race between Mayor Juan González III, who has held the office since 2023, and James Maes, a retired federal operations executive who serves on the city's Recreation and Parks Commission. The mayor is elected citywide to a four-year term ending Dec. 31, 2030, according to the City Clerk's Office. A third would-be candidate, James Day, pulled nomination papers but withdrew.
Juan González III: the incumbent
González holds a Ph.D. in economics from MIT, where he specialized in public finance and industrial organization, and spent more than 30 years on financial, regulatory and forensic work before retiring as a principal at KPMG, he told Patch. He also taught government regulation of industry at UC Berkeley for six years. Outside City Hall he sits on the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board, is president of the Alameda County Mayors Conference, and is set to become board chair of Ava Community Energy in December.
His top three issues are infrastructure, the city's structural deficit and economic development. He lists seismic upgrades at three firehouses, the Neptune Drive levee, the MacArthur roundabout, the East Bay Greenway, safety work on Lewelling Boulevard and failing neighborhood streets as priorities. He says current revenue cannot cover infrastructure, deferred maintenance and pension costs, and that he would turn first to growth and state and federal grants. If that is not enough, he would consider "fee tweaks" and specific, not general, taxes. He credits the council under his tenure with reducing crime, improving emergency response, expanding behavioral-health services, adding housing and strengthening renter protections, and argues the city should "build on our progress, not start over."
James Maes: the challenger
Maes says he spent 34 years in public service across six federal agencies, ending his career as a chief of staff and business director managing regional budgets. His campaign says he led housing, water and wastewater projects for rural communities and several Native American tribes in Arizona. Locally he has coached track and cross country at San Leandro High School, served as president of the Floresta Baseball League and recently joined the San Leandro Education Foundation board.
He told Patch his top issues are fiscal discipline to close the structural budget deficit, restoring trust after what he called "multiple external investigations involving city council members," and turning voter-approved money into finished housing and infrastructure projects. His first-year plan is a "Community-Driven Budget & Operations Audit": a line-by-line review of every department, public budget workshops where residents weigh trade-offs, and an audit of housing and infrastructure accounts to free up stalled funds. He contrasts his project-delivery record with what he calls González's "career in theoretical economics."
Where they differ
Both candidates call the deficit San Leandro's biggest money problem and both promise to get delayed projects built. González is running on continuity, experience in the job and outside funding. Maes is pitching an outside-in audit, new standards of conduct for the council and faster housing approvals.
The council races
This is the city's first general election since voters approved Measure F on June 2, 2026, which moved City Council seats from citywide to district elections, the city says. Only District 3 is contested, between Lee Thomas and Joseph Trujillo. Sbeydeh Viveros-Walton in District 1, James Aguilar in District 2 (a partial two-year term) and Xouhoa Bowen in District 5 are unopposed.
Mail ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrive by Nov. 10, or go in a drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Patch reports. Read our earlier report on San Leandro ballots that listed every council district, compare the Hayward mayor race next door, and see every local contest in our 2026 Bay Area election guide.