Ballots started going out Monday in the race for Senate District 10, covering parts of both Alameda and Santa Clara Counties. This is one of California's economic powerhouses. It includes the cities of Fremont, Hayward, Milpitas, Newark, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Union City, as well as portions of San Jose.

The district’s economy is anchored by Silicon Valley’s technology sector, which attracts a global workforce. The Apple factory where the first Mac computer was manufactured was located in Fremont. The Tesla factory is located in the district and employs tens of thousands of workers.

SD10 is home to large immigrant Asian-American communities that have helped define the civic and cultural fabric of the South Bay in beautiful Northern California.

The main campus of California State University, East Bay, is in Hayward, and 62.5% of undergraduates are first-generation Americans.

Nearly Half of the Residents Are Foreign Born

According to the 2023 American Community Survey, the district has a population of just over 1 million residents.

More than 48% of residents are foreign-born, and 23.6% are non-citizens. The population is 52% Asian, 20.5% Latino, 18.4% White, and 3.6% Black.

Asian Voters Comprise 44 percent of the Electorate

When it comes to registered voters, Senate District 10 has a plurality Asian electorate. Asians make up 44.5% of the voting population, up from 40.3% in 2019. White voters comprise 28.6%, Latinos 18.8%, and Black voters 5.6%.

Highly Educated and Affluent Communities

The community is highly educated and affluent. The median household income is $161,447, and the mean household income is $203,883. Approximately 6.7% of residents live below the poverty line. About 3.5% of residents lack health insurance.

An astonishing 55% of adults in the district hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 26.6% have a graduate degree.

The district has 21,867 civilian veterans, or 2.7% of its population.

Housing Costs Are The Highest in the State and Nation

Housing costs are among the highest in the state and nation. The median home value in Senate District 10 is $1,173,400, and the median rent is $2,903. About 54% of homes are owner-occupied, while 46% are rented.

Almost One in Three Voters is Registered With No Party Preference

As of October 20, 2025, the district had 528,830 registered voters. Democrats account for 266,312 or 50.36%, while No Party Preference voters make up 154,831 or 29.28%.  Republicans represent 15.64%, and the remaining voters are affiliated with smaller parties, including American Independent (2.69%), Libertarian (0.68%), Peace and Freedom (0.53%), and Green (0.48%).

The partisan advantage is Democratic +34.72%. The district’s registration is split between Alameda County (53.38%) and Santa Clara County (46.62%). Alameda voters favor Democrats by 40.70, while Santa Clara voters favor Democrats by 32.60.

Past Election Results

The previous version of Senate District 10 voted decisively for Democrats in recent national contests. In the 2020 presidential election, the district voted 73.26% for Joe Biden and 24.80% for Donald Trump, a Biden margin of 48.46%.

In the 2024 general election, Kamala Harris received 234,182 votes (66.47%) to Donald Trump’s 102,961 (29.22%). Third-party candidates combined for just over 4% of the total, including Jill Stein (2.20%), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (1.22%), Claudia de la Cruz (0.47%), and Chase Oliver (0.42%).

In the 2024 United States Senate race, Adam Schiff (Democrat) carried the district with 231,558 votes (68.79%), while Steve Garvey (Republican) received 105,061 votes (31.21%).

An Open Senate Seat

This seat opened up when incumbent Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim Afghan American elected to the California State Legislature, announced she would not seek re-election. Wahab is instead running for Congress.

Six candidates qualified for the June 2 primary ballot: five Democrats and one Republican. 

The Candidates

Scott Sakakihara | Councilmember/Navy Officer

Democrat Scott Sakakihara is a Union City councilmember, U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, Harvard-trained attorney and former Palantir Technologies finance executive. A fourth-generation Japanese American, all four of his grandparents were held in internment camps during World War II. One grandfather enlisted in the U.S. military as a path out of the camps.

"Hard work and service are in my DNA," Sakakihara has said. "I come from a family of farm and produce workers. All my grandparents were in Japanese American internment camps in World War II. One grandpa was given the option to join the US military, and he did, to give our family a better future after the camps."

Sakakihara grew up in Union City. He attended Pioneer Elementary, Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School (formerly Alvarado Middle School) and James Logan High School, graduating in 2003. He spent his childhood in the city's public parks, took swim lessons at Logan High and participated in community programs at Holly Center and Kennedy Center.

He completed his bachelor's degree in political science at UC San Diego in two years, graduating in 2005, and earned his JD from Harvard Law School in 2008. After Harvard, he interned in the offices of Congressmembers Pete Stark and Mazie Hirono. In 2009, he was awarded the Japanese American Citizens League Mike M. Masaoka Fellowship, placing him in Congresswoman Hirono's Washington office. He served in the Obama White House during the push to pass the Affordable Care Act. After completing his fellowship, he returned to California, passed the State Bar and began practicing law in Silicon Valley.

Sakakihara worked as a press assistant on Barbara Boxer's 2010 Senate campaign and as deputy communications director for Joanna Rees for Mayor in 2011. That same year he joined Palantir Technologies as a business development analyst. Over nearly 14 years at the company, he rose to finance chief of staff, working on Palantir's AI platforms, before leaving in 2025 to run for office. He departed citing concerns about AI-powered cybersecurity threats and his objections to the company's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Sakakihara's Palantir tenure drew pointed questions at a recent Alameda County Democratic Party event, where delegates raised concerns about the company's federal contracts and business ties to Israel. The local party had previously adopted a resolution describing Israel's military campaign in Gaza as genocide. Sakakihara addressed the issue directly, telling attendees he left because of Palantir's cooperation with federal immigration authorities and devoted much of his speaking time to explaining that decision.

Sakakihara served on Union City's planning commission beginning in 2017, first as an alternate and later as a full member, before winning election to the City Council in 2022, representing District 4.

He is a member of the Union City Lions Club and Saint Paul United Methodist Church.

He has served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer since 2017. "I've served in an intelligence role in the US Navy Reserve, which included leading an intelligence team supporting special operations for eight months in the Middle East in 2021," he has said.

Sakakihara met his wife, Melinda, at Pioneer Elementary School in Union City when both were 6 years old. She teaches at Searles Elementary. They live on Regents Boulevard in Union City with their three young children. "Our two oldest attend the same public elementary school where Melinda and I first met as kids," he has said.

"Even though my grandparents had to start back at the bottom after the war," he has said, "they created a better future for their families because of our diversity, opportunity, and resilience."

Sakakihara leads the field in fundraising. Pre-primary reports show he raised $399,003 in total, with $299,000 from his personal coffers, and had $188,169 cash on hand as of April 18.

"I have dedicated my life to service, as a US Navy Reserve officer, Union City Councilmember, and former Vice Mayor," he said. "I love the Bay Area, where I was born and raised. And as we raise our three kids here, I feel a strong sense of duty to my family, community, and state. We can't sit back when there are people living without shelter, neighbors who can't pay for groceries, can't afford to buy a home. When there are people who can't sleep because they don't know if they can give their kids a better life than they had. California can do better."

"I was made in Union City," he said. "Everything I've achieved came from the opportunities this community gave me."

David Cohen | City Councilmember

Democrat David Cohen has served on the San Jose City Council since 2020. Before that, he spent 14 years as an elected member of the Berryessa Union School District board, serving from 2006 to 2020. 

He is stressing his governing experience in this campaign.

“Local government teaches you something important: policy isn’t abstract. It affects the street you live on, the school your kids attend, the commute you take to work, and whether your neighborhood feels safe and supported. That experience gives me a practical perspective that I’m ready to bring to Sacramento.”

Cohen was born in La Jolla, California. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell, earned in 1990, and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, completed in 1996. He started his career as a process development engineer at Clorox before spending 21 years at Lam Research, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer. He rose to senior manager of the company's computational modeling group, where he oversaw computational fluid dynamics and plasma modeling teams. 

Cohen is an inventor on more than 10 patents.

He filed his statement of intention on Jan. 30 and completed his nomination papers on March 6 in Santa Clara County. He resides in San Jose.

Cohen raised $124,005 and had $90,182 on hand heading into the primary.

He’s been endorsed by an impressive number of current and former elected officials, including US Representatives Zoe Lofgren, Ro Khanna, Sam Liccardo, and California State Senators Josh Becker and Josh Newman. He has a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood.

Anne Kepner | College Trustee/Mother

Democrat Anne Kepner (b. January 1969) is an attorney and elected member of the West Valley-Mission Community College District Board, where she has served for more than a decade. 

Kepner earned her associate's degree from De Anza College, her bachelor's from San Jose State University, and her JD from UC Hastings College of the Law in 1995. She was admitted to the California Bar that same year. She began practicing as local counsel for two Bay Area insurance companies, handling personal injury defense. 

She has been a partner at the law firm Needham Kepner & Fish since 2009.

“I represent plaintiffs in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, including bicycle, motorcycle, car and work-related accidents. I was raised in San Jose, and in my 25-year legal career, I have tried many cases to verdict, and have resolved hundreds of cases through arbitration and mediation.”

Earlier in her career, she worked as a field representative for Assemblymember Dominic Cortese.

She has run for state office before. In the 2020 open-seat primary for the 25th Assembly District, Kepner outraised the rest of the field and drew independent expenditure support from labor and trial attorneys. She finished a close third in a nine-candidate primary, in which Alex Lee advanced with 15% of the vote.

She and her husband, Tom, live in Santa Clara. They have three children.

Kepner submitted her nomination papers on March 6 in Alameda County. 

She has raised $251,905, including $80,000 in candidate loans, with $86,877 remaining heading into the primary. She is third in terms of cash on hand, behind Sakakihara and Cohen.

“As State Senator I’ll hold Big Corporations accountable when they harm seniors and children, and continue to expand skilled trades jobs, protect our public schools, and address housing affordability and homelessness,” she says on her website.

The South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council has spent $1,540 in support of her candidacy. JOBSPAC, a bipartisan employer coalition sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, has spent $104,557 opposing her. 

Carmen Montano | Mayor

Democrat Carmen Montano, the mayor of Milpitas, filed a statement of intention with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC ID 1402795) on July 3, 2025, becoming the first candidate to enter the Senate race.

In her announcement, Montano said, “Our families deserve common-sense representation in Sacramento. Too much partisan politics are strangling progress in our state. We need strong leaders who can work with all legislators to find common ground and deliver solutions that truly serve our communities.”

In interviews, Montano has emphasized her belief that moderate voices are needed to bridge divides in Sacramento.

“I’m not really about the party, I’m about the people and the community,” she told the Oakland Tribune. “I feel that I could make a difference in people’s lives.”

She also said, “People forget that they’re representing the people and not just representing the party.”

Montano brings more than 20 years of experience as an elected official to the race, having served as a Milpitas Unified School District Trustee, City Councilmember, Vice Mayor, and now Mayor. She was first elected to the Milpitas School Board in 2000, serving eight years, then to the Milpitas City Council for two nonconsecutive terms, before being elected Mayor in 2022.

Montano is the first woman to be elected mayor in Milpitas. She won re-election in 2024 in a competitive race with a crowded field of four candidates and is now serving her second term, which expires at the end of 2026. Her 2024 re-election goals focused on ensuring police and fire departments are fully equipped, beautifying Milpitas, alleviating traffic congestion, attracting high-tech businesses, and revitalizing Main Street.

Born February 21, 1955, Montano has lived in Milpitas since 1964. She is a third-generation Californian whose grandparents settled in the state in the early 1920s. Her parents were farm workers who later moved from the Central Valley to the Bay Area in search of better opportunities. Her father worked at General Motors in Fremont and became a proud UAW union member.

Montano’s family eventually settled in Sunnyhills, one of the first planned integrated neighborhoods in the country, an experience she says shaped her lifelong commitment to diversity and inclusion.

She attended Abel and Curtner Elementary Schools, Russell Middle School, Samuel Ayer High School, and Milpitas High School. Earlier, she attended Snow Elementary in Newark, where she was named Citizen of the Year, and was an active member of St. Edward’s Parish, where she made her First Holy Communion.

A semi-retired teacher with 26 years of experience, Montano continues to contract with several school districts in Santa Clara County, including Milpitas Unified School District.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from San Jose State University and a California teaching credential, which she maintains as a substitute teacher. She taught elementary and middle school students in the Franklin-McKinley School District in San Jose for more than two decades.

Montano often describes her philosophy of public service through the Rotary motto “Service Above Self.” She has served on multiple city commissions, including the Parks and Recreation Commission, Library Commission, and Planning Commission, and was elected to the Milpitas School Board before transitioning to city government.

She is touting her accomplishments, which include attracting a Rivian Electric-Vehicle distribution center to Milpitas and voting to approve two 100-percent affordable housing projects. Montano also supported efforts that cut the city’s five-year deficit by 43 percent.

In October 2022, The Mercury News reported that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) opened an investigation into a 2019 trip to China taken by then-Vice Mayor Montano. The probe centered on a $3,600 gift Montano reported receiving for an “educational and cultural exchange” and whether it complied with the state’s $520 gift cap for local officials. The complaint, filed by a Milpitas resident, alleged that the trip may have involved activities related to a trade fair rather than education. Montano said she traveled to observe new teaching strategies for her education business, Community Classrooms, and that she toured a middle school in Henan Province.

In 2023, former Milpitas City Manager Steve McHarris filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city, alleging intimidation and unethical conduct by several city officials, including Mayor Montano, Vice Mayor Evelyn Chua, and former Mayor Rich Tran. The City of Milpitas has denied any wrongdoing and has spent thousands of dollars on its own internal investigation and related legal costs.

In September 2025, Montano joined the Milpitas City Council in voting to approve a pay raise for the mayor and councilmembers. The increase, the first in more than a decade, will more than double council salaries but cannot take effect until after the November 2026 election under state rules. The ordinance raises council pay from about $10,800 to more than $24,000 annually, with the mayor’s salary increasing from $13,500 to about $29,000. “It’s long overdue,” Montano said in an interview with the Mercury News. “We work hard and we address their emails and we’re out there in the community. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love.”

As a State Senate candidate, she has pledged to emphasize public safety, affordable housing, K-12 education, job creation, and insurance reform, including proposals to allow home insurance premiums to qualify as tax deductions. She has also made modernizing mental health treatment facilities, supporting small businesses, and upholding law and order central to her campaign platform.

She said she would prioritize accountability for those who commit crimes, including increased funding for Proposition 36 to expand access to substance abuse treatment, and cited smash-and-grab thefts as an ongoing public safety concern. She also emphasized balanced housing policies, improving literacy and academic outcomes, and making home insurance more affordable.

“Right now, our two-party system is broken,” Montano said. “Both parties are often too extreme or out of touch with everyday needs. The middle class is struggling more than ever. We need leaders willing to work in the middle to find solutions that benefit everyone.”

“I will work every day,” she added, “to bring results that benefit society as a whole.”

Montano’s passion for public service traces back to the early 1990s when she noticed that the Sunnyhills neighborhood, where she grew up, was not being properly maintained. She co-founded the Sunnyhills Improvement Association (now the Sunnyhills Neighborhood Association) with community activist Bob Pecot to beautify and improve the area.

Her success with that effort led to her continued involvement in city affairs and her eventual transition into teaching, which she says reflects her belief in “improving the lives of children and families.”

Montano reported $32,400 in contributions.

Raymond Liu | Fremont City Councilman

Democrat Raymond Liu (b. Oct. 16, 1997) became the youngest person ever elected to the Fremont City Council when he took office in 2024. He worked as a software engineer for Sam's Club before entering the race. He earned an associate's degree from Ohlone College in 2017 and a bachelor's degree in computer science from UC Davis in 2019. He resides in Fremont.

This is not Liu's first run at SD10. He entered the 2022 primary, raised no money and placed fifth in a six-candidate field with 4.9% of the vote. In this cycle, he raised $25,020 and had $3,770 remaining heading into the primary.

Linda Price | Businesswoman

On the Republican side, Linda Price, a management trainer and small business executive, filed with the FPPC (ID 1463017) on October 20, 2025.

Price was born on April 13, 1946, and lives in Sunnyvale. She holds an associate’s degree from Foothill-De Anza Community College (1974), a bachelor’s in business from the University of San Francisco (1976), and a master’s in business and management from Grambling State University (1981). She also earned a teaching credential in secondary education from UCSC-Berkeley.

Price serves as vocational service director for Rotary International District 5170, has taught at eight different colleges, and is the CEO of Professional Dynamics, a management training firm.

She previously ran unsuccessfully for the Fremont Union High School District Board in 2022, placing fourth in a five-candidate race.

Pre-Primary Fundraising

Independent Expenditures

Total independent expenditures in the SD10 primary: $106,097. All IE activity in the race is focused on a single candidate, Anne Kepner.

About the 2026 California Nonpartisan Top Two Primary

Under California's nonpartisan Top Two primary system, all voters and candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party. The top two vote-getters advance to the November general election. With five Democrats and one Republican on the ballot, and nearly three in 10 registered voters belonging to No Party Preference, independent voters are positioned to play a decisive role in determining which two candidates advance.

All active registered voters in California will receive a vote-by-mail ballot. County election offices will begin mailing ballots by today, May 4. Ballot drop-off locations open May 5. Vote centers open for early in-person voting in Voter's Choice Act counties beginning May 23. Vote-by-mail ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by June 9.