Chirag Kathrani
Chirag Kathrani (No party preference) is running for election to the California State Assembly to represent District 16. Kathrani declared candidacy for the primary scheduled on June 2, 2026.
Kathrani completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2026
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Nonpartisan primary
Nonpartisan primary election for California State Assembly District 16
Chirag Kathrani (No party preference) is running in the primary for California State Assembly District 16 on June 2, 2026.
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Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Chirag Kathrani completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kathrani's responses.
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As an entrepreneur, I have helped many people build small businesses. Above all, I’ve found that the greatest ideas come from the bottom up, starting with all of you.
Through meetings with community members I’ve stayed consistently engaged with since my last run for Mayor of San Ramon, I’ve connected with residents across Bay Area cities and learned many concerns and solutions, like: The cost of living is out of control. Excessive corporate ownership of homes. High insurance premiums. AI infrastructure increasing utility costs. Democracy needs attention, as I highlighted in my article at OpGov.news.
Most importantly, we must revitalize the small-business ecosystem to bring back the American Dream. Attending district-wide council meetings taught me quickly that residents often have the right answers but are ignored.
I want all community members to connect with me and share their ideas. Over the past year, I’ve engaged Tri-Valley high school students through the open-governance platform OpGov.news, which also covers 13 states, with the intention of amplifying community ideas.
As a promoter of openness, I deeply respect those who speak up at meetings. Many of my best ideas come from critics.
I keep an open calendar at chiragforcommunity.com.
My mom says, “A critic is your best friend.”
Why Independent? because I see it as the only way to save democracy.- As a Lawmaker i will be very respectful of Law unlike my opponent.
I have reached out to County Supervisor, Assembly Member, State Senate Member, Congressman when a Voter Approved Law existing for 26 years protecting our open space was DELETED via TEXT AMENDMENT illegally with no discussion ignoring many residents including past elected officials in Consent Calender.
I want to make sure all the community members when they come up with solutions will be taken into considerations.
As a Entrepreneur myself, I want to build Leadership within community which basically a core pillar of our local business ecosystem.
I want to make sure laws are not just made but enforced too. - One of my key priorities is tackling the cost of living. For the past two decades, affordability has been fundamentally ignored at the implementation level. We are not building enough smaller starter homes, making it harder for young families to call the Bay Area home. Another major issue is the high cost of utilities. Our state should prioritize human needs rather than subsidizing the AI and crypto industries. Small businesses also face growing pressure from larger, better-funded corporations. One of the biggest challenges is access to justice. Even a false lawsuit can be devastating, because legal fees alone often force small businesses to settle frivolous claims.
- Vote Independent to Make History Though significantly high number of people register themselves as independent(NPP). (34% in california) When a candidate wins by his own capability, they would be able to value the voice of people over the voice of red and blue company who work together behind closed doors. Even though primaries are open there is no independent who as crossed primaries, I am here to make the change and will focus my campaign in educating people to join in. This time there are 7 other candidates running for positions which would have gone unchallenged. For many people surprise 62% races went unchallenged in last election, which is what together we will change. I am open to guiding people in this matter.
I will focus on strict implementation of all these laws, including the CEQA violations at gold standards.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
