Meet Adam Loraine, Candidate For San Mateo City Council

Adam Loraine is vying for a seat on the San Mateo City Council representing District 5.

As county elections officials begin mailing ballots, voters will prepare to decide between candidates running for several offices, and Patch has put together local voter guides and candidate profiles.

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Learn more about Adam Loraine:

Age: 41

What is your educational background?

B.A. in Journalism from San Francisco State University

What is your professional background?

Healthcare Services Professional driving strategic growth, social impact and sustainability initiatives at ZS Associates, Inc., a professional services firm with offices in Foster City and South San Francisco focused on transforming global healthcare and more.

Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?

Councilmember, City of San Mateo City Council (Mayor 2026, Deputy Mayor 2025); Director, WestLight Energy (fka Peninsula Clean Energy) Board of Directors 2024 - present; Director, RethinkWaste Board of Directors 2023 - 2025; Director, League of California Cities Peninsula Division Board of Directors 2025; Member, Association of Bay Area Governments General Assembly 2025; Councilmember, San Mateo County Housing Our People Effectively (HOPE) Interagency Council 2023 - 2024

What are the top three issues facing your district/constituents right now?

San Mateo faces a systemic budget shortfall as some tax revenues have flattened while costs of services have increased. Additionally, the state is withholding millions of dollars of "VLF" property tax rightfully owed to the city and county. Vital services and quality jobs are at risk. The cost of living is another top concern. Residents in District 5 and citywide continue to see rising prices on everything from gas and groceries to the median home price, which is back over $2 million. These could force long-time residents to move and prevent newer and younger San Mateans from thriving. District and city residents are concerned about navigating impacts from new developments under construction throughout San Mateo. While these new projects may eventually provide housing relief and economic benefits, we must mitigate myriad impacts from noise and dust to displacement of small businesses, traffic, parking and more.

What is one specific policy you would implement in your first 100 days?

City Council functions through teamwork: even the Mayor can only advance policy supported by a majority of Councilmembers, so I hesitate to overpromise on any particular goal. That said, I expect the Council to be working on at least two critical priorities in the first 100 days: maintaining citywide safety and resilience through winter storms (likely to be stronger from El Nino); and drafting a city budget that addresses a systemic shortfall without sacrificing all prudent capital investment or our excellent city staff. I'm proud to have helped San Mateo improve its stormwater infrastructure following flooding from atmospheric rivers in early 2023. Council and property owners in the city approved a new stormwater utility in 2024 that raises about $4 million a year for maintenance and upgrades to aging systems in need of them. There's still much more to do, but we will be in a stronger position to weather the next big storm. I'm also working with city staff to address a multitude of budget challenges with a multi-pronged approach: reducing non-critical expenses without significantly impacting our services or workforce; using reserve funding judiciously to avoid significant cuts or zeroing out capital improvements; and pursuing revenue enhancements such as a ¼ cent sales tax increase on our ballots this November. My experience makes me the best candidate to hit the ground running and contribute to these extremely important topics in the first 100 days and beyond.

What is your plan to reduce homelessness, and how would you measure success after one year?

My plan to reduce homelessness in San Mateo combines common sense solutions that keep people housed today with a dramatic increase in our city's future housing capacity via our General Plan Update. I supported tenant protections that came before San Mateo City Council in 2025, including requiring a building permit before allowing eviction based on "substantial remodel" and allowing "no fault" eviction protections to extend to tenants after renting 11 months in one location (instead of one year). I also joined my colleagues in establishing a new emergency rental assistance fund that has provided $150,000 to more than 65 families, keeping them housed during short-term financial hardship. One of the biggest ways San Mateo can reduce the potential for homelessness is to meet our state-mandated housing production goals. As Council Member I voted for what I had supported for years as a community advocate: a General Plan Update and related Ballot Measure T that encourage building significantly more housing (and more offered Below Market Rate, thanks to our city's inclusionary program requiring 15% such units in each new large project). Now the city has a robust pipeline of developments adding up to over 6,000 housing units, hundreds of which will be BMR. Flattening the curve on housing costs won't be quick or easy, but one way to measure success in a year will be the number of projects beginning construction or moving quickly toward that phase.

What is one specific change you would make to improve public safety?

Bicycle/pedestrian/traffic safety is a big part of public safety in San Mateo. Several people lost their lives on our city streets the last few years in collisions that might have been avoided with upgraded street infrastructure. From 2023 to today, I helped San Mateo make progress by creating a new Council priority to complete all high and medium-high priority bicycle and pedestrian projects from respective master plans, taking these off the shelf and putting them directly into our city's long-term Capital Improvement Program. This helped us prioritize grant seeking and timelines for design and construction that will see San Mateo complete its first protected bike lane in a Safe Routes to Schools project this year, as well as finalize design for a $20+ million multimodal project increasing safe bike/ped routes connecting to our central Caltrain station east to west in the middle of our city. There's plenty of work to be done, however. Another Council priority I advanced allocated $500K in quick-build infrastructure to multiple priority intersections in our City; we need to keep that momentum going by making quick-build investment and implementation an annual tradition as we seek to finish an outline of safe active transportation linking to transit and other key destinations citywide.

How would you improve transparency or accountability in local government?

One takeaway from my first term is that engaging the community early and often in the planning stages of city projects is invaluable. When residents can express concerns and contribute constructive feedback early, that can lead to genuine improvements in city work, greater visibility in the process and higher satisfaction with the outcomes. Our Council can help the City stay accountable to project deadlines by being careful not to request too many extra projects or expansions of current ones. This discipline will only become more important as we navigate uncertain economic times and budget challenges. As Mayor, I urged my Council colleagues to keep our city's strategic plan priorities top of mind despite interest in expediting work on our historic resources that can wait. I will continue to model the way in a second term.

Why are you a better choice than your opponents?

I am the only candidate in this race with work experience in City Hall: almost four years on City Council, and over five years on our city's boards and commissions before that. For nearly a decade, I've worked to help San Mateo navigate challenges and plan for a sustainable future: my opponents have not. This matters because, when the Council faces important decisions impacting our future, San Mateans deserve leaders who know what we're working on and why. They deserve leaders who understand what's at stake and take steps forward in the best interest of current and future generations. I am the only candidate with a proven track record of meeting these expectations. I chose to run for a second term because there is plenty of important work ahead. I believe I am the best candidate to continue moving San Mateo forward with more affordable housing, a resilient local economy, and opportunities for all to enjoy a high quality of life today and in the future.

What changes, if any, would you support regarding the role of federal immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE, and how they interact with state and/or local governments?

While I'm outraged by what I've seen and heard of the federal government subjecting entire metropolitan areas to unconscionable mistreatment, I am heartened to see California and even our county step up against this in various ways. I support our county's Board of Supervisors looking to build upon state laws that prohibit federal use of state resources for ICE activity by applying the same to county resources, and I am open to the possibility of supporting a similar approach with city facilities.

What role do you believe government should play in regulating or supporting the development and use of artificial intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence has already begun to transform modern work and life. It has tremendous potential to benefit our lives, but with great power comes great responsibility to mitigate potential negative impacts to our jobs, security, energy costs, environment and more. I am open to supporting legislation that thoughtfully regulates artificial intelligence, data centers, autonomous vehicles and related technologies toward this balance in our workplaces and communities.