All three Sunnyvale City Council races on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot are uncontested: Linda Sell in District 1, Murali Srinivasan in District 3 and Vice Mayor Richard Mehlinger in District 5 are each the only candidate for their seat.
Why it matters: Voters in those districts will still see the races on their ballots, but with one name each. Other cities, including Livermore this year, canceled uncontested races and appointed the incumbents to save money.
Why the races stay on the ballot
Sunnyvale is keeping the council races on the ballot because voters have other city questions to decide, The Silicon Valley Voice reported. The city did the same in 2024, when District 4 Councilmember Charlsie Chang ran unopposed and stayed on a ballot that also included Measure F.
"I was in a meeting, and someone said, 'Oh, it's a waste of taxpayer money,'" Srinivasan told the Voice. "But democracy is expensive."
The three incumbents
- Linda Sell (District 1): unopposed for the second time. In 2022 the city appointed her instead of holding an election, saving about $20,000. She credits name recognition from her Cupertino Union School District activism, including a 2010 effort that saved more than 100 teaching jobs.
- Murali Srinivasan (District 3): in 2022 he and his opponent each got 2,814 votes, and the city settled the tie by drawing names out of a bag.
- Richard Mehlinger (District 5): won nearly three-quarters of the vote in 2022. "Obviously, an uncontested campaign is much less stressful," he told the Voice.
Is district voting working?
Sunnyvale voters switched from at-large to district elections in 2020. Former Councilmember Glenn Hendricks called the lack of competition a failure: "This does not seem to be the way we wanted district elections to go." Mehlinger and Srinivasan disagreed, pointing to their own contested races.
Santa Clara County mailed ballots on Oct. 5. Nearby, see the contested Campbell council races and our full Election 2026 guide.