Meet The Candidates!

Commitment to community service is what drove Bhatia to run for city council. Bhatia unsuccessfully ran for the District 1 seat in 2020 and is now CEO of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce. Bhatia also traveled to Ukraine at the onset of the war, earning recognitions from multiple state and county representatives.

Bhatia, 53, said she wants to engage and inspire new community leaders, especially among Santa Clara’s youth, to become more involved in local governance.

“I don’t want to be sitting on that seat for the rest of my life,” Bhatia told San José Spotlight. “I always tell kids to get involved, because if they look, the decisions we make today, (they’re) stuck with.”

She also said the city’s northern neighborhoods have seen significant growth in the past few years, and she’ll prioritize maintaining and improving roads and other infrastructure to make that growth sustainable. Bhatia said she wants to facilitate tourism in Santa Clara to capitalize on the 2026 Super Bowl and World Cup and invigorate the local economy.

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