Ellen Kamei, a Mountain View City Council member who is being forced out of office by term limits, has pulled papers to run for a brand-new seat on the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District board. So far, she's the only person who has filed to run for the district's Area 2 seat, a stretch of northeastern Mountain View that takes in Rex Manor, Stierlin Estates, the Moffett Boulevard corridor, North Whisman, and the Wagon Wheel, Slater, Whisman Station and Sylvan Park neighborhoods.
Candidates have until next Wednesday to file nomination paperwork with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, according to Mountain View Voice. Esmeralda Ortiz, who lives in Area 2 and had been expected to run, will not enter the race, citing growing familial and career responsibilities, the outlet reports.
A District Redrawn by State Law
This is the first time MVLA trustees will be elected by geographic area rather than at-large, a shift the district adopted to comply with the California Voting Rights Act. The boundaries were drawn using 2020 U.S. Census data analyzed by demography firm SchoolWorks Inc., a change intended to prevent minority vote dilution, according to the Los Altos Town Crier. Each of the district's five newly drawn areas will elect one trustee.
Area 2 isn't the only seat on the ballot this fall. Engineer Nir Paz is running unopposed in Area 1, while Area 3 has drawn a three-way contest between incumbents Thida Cornes and Catherine Vonnegut and former trustee Sanjay Dave, per the Palo Alto Daily Post.
Term Limits Force a Council Shake-Up
Kamei's move to the school board race stems from Mountain View's own election rules, which cap council members at two consecutive four-year terms and require a two-year break before they can run again. That structure is pushing three termed-out members, including Kamei, off the council when their terms end in January 2027, and seven candidates have already entered the scramble for the three seats that will open up, according to San José Spotlight.
Kamei leaves behind a council record that includes votes on some of Mountain View's biggest recent debates, from an 8-story downtown condo plan to a middle-income homebuyer program and the city's $1.2 billion park fight.
From City Hall to Higher-Ed Government Affairs
Off the dais, Kamei works as Director of Government Affairs and Public Information Officer for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, according to a biography published by American University. Earlier in her career, the bio notes, she worked as a legislative aide to state and federal lawmakers.
Kamei's local political career has already produced one historic milestone. In January 2020, she served as vice mayor alongside Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga, a pairing political historians noted as the first Japanese American female mayor and vice mayor duo in continental U.S. history, according to The Rafu Shimpo. She went on to serve as Mountain View's mayor in both 2021 and 2025.
A Political Family, and a Resolved Lawsuit
Kamei isn't the only officeholder in her family. Her mother, Rosemary Kamei, serves as vice mayor and District 1 councilmember in neighboring San Jose, and the two were sworn into their respective council seats on the same day in January 2023, forming what Nichi Bei News described as a rare mother-daughter local government pairing. Ellen Kamei is also a third-generation Mountain View resident of Japanese, Chinese and Puerto Rican background who speaks Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin and grew up working on her family's 10-acre flower nursery; her father was born at the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming, the outlet has also reported.
Kamei's council tenure also included a federal lawsuit that has since been resolved. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins dismissed a civil rights suit in November 2025 that accused Kamei of using her official position to cause the arrest of a tow truck driver who had towed her car in April 2023. The judge ruled the plaintiff failed to show that Kamei acted without probable cause or directly caused the arrest, per the Daily Post's report.
The $150 Million District Awaiting a New Trustee
Whoever wins the Area 2 seat will help oversee a district projected to bring in $150.2 million in general revenue for the 2025-26 school year, with $129.4 million of that coming through California's Local Control Funding Formula, according to the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District's own accountability plan, which includes $1.78 million earmarked specifically for high-needs students. The district serves roughly 4,450 students across Mountain View High, Los Altos High and Alta Vista High, and Niche ranked it the No. 2 public school district in California for 2026.
