Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein Takes Decisive Early Lead in Race for Reelection

Larry Klein has a commanding lead in the two-person race for Sunnyvale mayor in early voting returns.

Klein, Sunnyvale’s current mayor, was far ahead of challenger Russ Melton, a two-term city council member. As of Wednesday morning, Klein held three-quarters of the votes — 29,821 — counted in the race. Sunnyvale has a population of about 150,000.

This election is only the second time voters in Sunnyvale have been able to directly elect a mayor. The second-largest city in Santa Clara County previously appointed its mayors from the City Council.

Whoever wins will be at the head of the council for a four-year term as Sunnyvale continues to plan for major growth, including a potential doubling of the housing stock to 100,000 homes over the next two decades.

Part of the growth includes plans for revamping major portions of the city, including up to 20,000 homes in the Moffett Park area, which has historically been a locus of defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, technology companies and other industries.

The city will also need to plan to accommodate more than 4,500 homes that are affordable for people earning low incomes by 2031 under the latest state affordable housing mandates.

City officials recently hired a homeless services manager to better coordinate the work of getting unhoused people connected to support and housing resources in the city and county.

Klein, who became the city’s first directly elected mayor in 2020 and who has been in the mayor’s seat since 2019, has advocated for the city to buy land to support the creation of affordable housing. In an interview with KQED, Klein said he thinks the city should explore publicly-funded ADUs if they are rented to teachers, nurses or public servants.

Melton, a two-term councilmember, said he wants to hire more planning staff to help fast-track development in the city and is also concerned about keeping pace with necessary infrastructure and protecting against sea-level rise.