Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter announces bid for reelection to the City Council

Joining a growing list of candidates, Mountain View Mayor Pat Showalter has announced that she will seek another term on the City Council ahead of the November 5 election.

This time around, Showalter views herself as one of the more experienced candidates in the race, after serving on the City Council for nearly eight years, including two years as Mountain View’s mayor.

“I think it’s always good to have a mix of people who have experience and people who come with completely fresh ideas. But this time, I think I’m in the experienced (category),” Showalter laughed.

Showalter, a retired civil engineer, was first elected to the Mountain View City Council in 2014 and quickly distinguished herself as a pro-housing advocate, supporting just about every housing project that came before her, according to previous Voice articles. Four years later, Showalter narrowly lost her reelection bid, but then returned to the council in 2020, winning a seat for a second time.

The chance to serve for a third term is another opportunity to contribute to the city, while bringing some of her top priorities closer to the finish line, Showalter said.

Showalter identified housing and the environment as two critical issues to tackle in the next four years. The number of affordable housing units has doubled in the past ten years, she said, but she also acknowledged that there was a lot of housing in the pipeline that still needed to be built.

It’s a big undertaking, as state and county funding sources are drying up, including the countywide Measure A bond that voters approved in 2016. Still, reducing the funding gap was one of her top priorities, Showalter said.

For these reasons, Showalter backs a multibillion bond measure proposed by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) that will be on the ballot in November. It will be a challenge to get it passed, Showalter said, while also noting that it would help the region build more housing and stem the growing tide of homelessness.

“As we move forward into the next five to 10 years … that is something we’re going to put much more emphasis on – that is preventing homelessness in the first place,” she said.

Looking to the future, Showalter also has identified the environment as a top priority. Since her time on council, Showalter has distinguished herself at the forefront of environmental causes, and has played a big role in some of the city’s most substantial efforts to address climate change.

Showalter supports the city’s goals to slash greenhouse gas emissions and, as a civil engineer, has particular insights about its sea-level rise protection plan – something that she is determined to see implemented, she said.

To prepare for anticipated flooding in the North Bayshore area, the city has developed a plan for infrastructural developments and environmental mitigations that includes levees, floodwalls, pump stations and marsh habitat restoration projects.

But like housing, the projects are expensive to implement. “Making sure we get the funding to construct them is a really crucial role for the City Council, and that’s something I will not forget. I will keep my eye on the ball,” Showalter said, adding that the city has had a good track record of cobbling together funds to support key projects in the past.

While Showalter already has plenty of public recognition as the city’s mayor, she plans to lead a ground campaign of knocking on people’s doors to meet voters and hear their concerns directly, she said. “I care deeply about what happens here. And I feel like this is a way for me to contribute, and I hope I get the opportunity to continue that contribution,” she added.

So far, three other candidates have publicly announced their intentions to run for City Council. This includes City Council member Emily Ann Ramos, who announced her candidacy June 4, and former City Council member John McAlister and Nicolas Hargis, a congressional aide for U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, who were the first to kick off the campaign season in early May.