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Endorses Vonnegut
The race
This school board election is on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot in the Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District (Santa Clara County). The district has moved from at-large to trustee-area elections (Resolution No. 24/25-39), and Trustee Areas 1, 2 and 3 are on the 2026 ballot, per the Registrar of Voters' district page. Only one of the three is a contest:
- Trustee Area 1 — Nir Paz: appointed in lieu of election. No more candidates qualified than seats, so this area is not a contest and does not appear on the ballot (Ed. Code 5328).
- Trustee Area 2 — Ellen Kamei: appointed in lieu of election. Same status — not a contest.
- Trustee Area 3 — contested: Catherine Vonnegut vs. Thida Cornes vs. Sanjay Dave. Unusually, all three have held this board's seats before: districting placed two sitting trustees in one area, and a former trustee is running to return.
The candidates
### Appointed in lieu — Trustee Area 1: Nir Paz
The Palo Alto Daily Post's filing roundup describes Area 1 as a seat with no incumbent, for which Paz was the only candidate. No campaign platform, questionnaire, or news profile of Paz was found in this pass. He takes the seat by appointment in lieu; there is no vote to call.
### Appointed in lieu — Trustee Area 2: Ellen Kamei
Kamei is a Mountain View city councilwoman who is termed out on the council and filed for this seat, per the Daily Post's filing roundup. She carries labor endorsements (OE3 and IBEW Local 332 list her for Area 2). Credit: a full run of elected municipal service is a documented governing record. Dirt: none proven found in this pass. She takes the seat by appointment in lieu; there is no vote to call.
### Trustee Area 3 (contested)
Catherine Vonnegut — trustee. First elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, she is the longest-serving current board member, per her statement in the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association's Lamppost voter guide. Her stated record and priorities there: the board weathered COVID-19, substantially completed the $290 million Measure E bond, established wellness centers at all high schools, and expanded career-technical and alternative learning programs; her priorities remain "excellent academics, fiscal responsibility, safe campuses, and student wellness." Credit: the most complete documented record in this race, stated in her own words. Dirt: none proven found in this pass.
Thida Cornes — trustee. Elected in 2022. Her documented priorities from her 2022 election coverage (Mountain View Voice via the MVHS Oracle): improving student mental health, academic achievement for students of all backgrounds, and increasing fiscal transparency. She carries 2026 labor endorsements (OE3, IBEW) and the Silicon Valley DSA guide's recommendation, which credits her advocacy "for the disadvantaged" and "equity" work. Credit: a sitting trustee with a stated fiscal-transparency priority and organized backing. Con, on this page's doctrine: her public framing runs through equity programming rather than academic basics and parental rights.
Sanjay Dave — former trustee. Dave served on this board and resigned in 2024, per the Daily Post's filing roundup; he is now running for the Area 3 seat. His earlier documented profile (MVHS Oracle's candidate overview): a decade in the semiconductor industry, volunteer GED tutoring, and a belief that "all students are gifted" with an emphasis on critical thinking. Credit: prior board experience and a STEM background. Dirt, proven and priced: a trustee who resigns mid-term and asks voters to re-hire him two years later carries a demonstrated follow-through problem — the resignation is a documented fact, not an allegation.
Pros and cons
- Vonnegut — Pro: Longest service, a completed $290M bond program and wellness centers on the record, and stated priorities that name academics and fiscal responsibility first. Con: Eight years of incumbency means she co-owns every board decision of that span, including the contested move to district elections whose evidence she publicly questioned.
- Cornes — Pro: Sitting trustee, fiscal-transparency priority, labor backing. Con: Her documented emphasis is mental-health and equity programming; no parental-rights or curriculum positions were found.
- Dave — Pro: Prior experience, industry and tutoring background. Con: Resigned from this same board in 2024 — a proven reliability failure for a four-year term.
Record gaps
Searches run: the Registrar's district page (trustee-area transition and terms); the Registrar's qualified list (roster and appointed-in-lieu annotations); the Daily Post's August 2026 filing roundup (Paz's open seat, Kamei's filing, Dave's 2024 resignation, both Area 3 incumbents); the Lamppost neighborhood voter guide (Vonnegut's and Dave's statements — not every candidate provided one); MVHS Oracle election coverage (Cornes's and Dave's stated priorities); OE3, IBEW and DSA endorsement guides (Cornes and Kamei backing). No 2026 campaign site or questionnaire was found for Paz, and no vote-by-vote board record on curriculum or library books was found for any Area 3 candidate in these sources.
OUR CALL
Trustee Area 3 — endorse Catherine Vonnegut. She is the only candidate in this race whose own stated priorities put excellent academics and fiscal responsibility at the top, backed by the longest documented record on this board. Cornes is a credible trustee whose framing does not match this page's doctrine as closely, and Dave's 2024 mid-term resignation is a proven disqualifier for our endorsement. Trustee Areas 1 and 2 — no call. Nir Paz and Ellen Kamei are appointed in lieu of election; there is no contest for voters to decide.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources - Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — Final Qualified List of Local Eligible Candidates, Nov 3 2026 General Election — https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1296/2026-09/qualified-list-of-local-candidates-9-28-26.pdf?VersionId=CM6jbwAVTLFIjLakj6hJku2l9KPAIxli - Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters — Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District page (trustee-area transition, terms) — https://vote.santaclaracounty.gov/mountain-view-los-altos-union-high-school-district-0 - Palo Alto Daily Post — A look at who is running for local offices this fall (Aug. 19, 2026) — https://padailypost.com/2026/08/19/a-look-at-who-is-running-for-local-offices-this-fall/ - Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association — Lamppost, October 2026 voter guide (Vonnegut and Dave statements) — https://www.omvna.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/October-2026-Lamppost_Final-website.pdf - MVHS Oracle — Meet the newest MVLA board member-elects (Cornes priorities) — https://mvhsoracle.com/32379/news/meet-the-winners-of-mvla-high-school-board-election/ - IBEW Local 332 — Voter Guide (Cornes, Kamei endorsements) — https://www.ibew332.org/voter-guide - Silicon Valley DSA — 2026 November Voter Guide, MVLA section — https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQAtAN3xtKSl7Pkx34nNpJyypPlm_Zga45PZHEYVk6jNpwxcp0GDBFrLsU9wjTjliya6ZP0OrMkljEt/pub
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.