Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano has announced her intention to run for State Senate in California’s district 10, asserting more moderate voices are needed to collaborate across partisan lines.

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

Montano is a retired schoolteacher who has long been a figure in Milpitas public office. She served for eight years as a school board trustee for Milpitas Unified School District starting in 2000, before being elected to city council in 2012, where she served for two non-consecutive terms. In 2022, Montano made history when she became the first woman to be elected mayor of Milpitas, and in 2024 was re-elected in a close race with a crowded field of four ca

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