Jack Balch Running For Mayor Of Pleasanton

PLEASANTON, CA — Jack Balch, a District 4 council member who serves on more than 17 boards, commissions, and task forces, announced that he will run for mayor of Pleasanton.

Balch has served as a council member since 2020, and a vice mayor in 2023. Before he was elected to the City Council, he served as a planning commissioner from 2014 to 2020, and as a parks and recreation commissioner from 2009 to 2014. He is currently chair of AVA Community Energy Joint Powers Authority, and serves on several other boards, including the Alameda County Waste Management Joint Powers Authority and Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department Joint Powers Authority.

He will run against current Mayor Karla Brown, who ran uncontested in 2022. According to city campaign disclosure statements reviewed by Pleasanton Weekly, Brown has filed papers to run for re-election in November.

“The current direction that Pleasanton is on is not my vision for Pleasanton’s future,” Balch told The Weekly. “I don’t see how the current paths and choices by the council are ones for vibrancy and growing Pleasanton. Ones that work to solve problems.”
Balch was often the lone dissenting voice on issues like raising water rates and building a new skate park.

“I’m running because I believe the vast majority of Pleasanton residents have shared priorities, that we must recommit to true civic engagement, to genuinely listen to concerns and ideas and fold them into common-sense solutions that we can agree on to improve our community for all,” he said in a news release announcing his candidacy. “That demands a change in leadership and a directional shift to focus on service to others, giving back to our community, and living within our means.

“I’m profoundly thankful for the trust Pleasanton residents have placed in me to promote our shared priorities of public safety, fiscal discipline, transparent and open government, and clean and safe water solutions,” he said. “Along with our ongoing collaboration and commitment to our excellent schools that support our children, these form the foundation for the tangible outcomes that enhance every aspect of our quality of life in Pleasanton.”

Balch is a Certified Public Accountant and licensed real estate broker who works as the chief financial officer for his family’s commercial real estate and property management firm in Hayward. He grew up near the Fremont-Sunol border and attended Sunol Glen Elementary School, Mission San Jose High School, and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Business Administration. He and his family have lived in Pleasanton for over 20 years.

Balch will kick off his candidacy by partnering with Kids Against Hunger Pleasanton for a food packaging event on April 13 from 9-11 a.m.

For more information, visit jackforpleasanton.com.

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