Voltaire Montemayor launches sixth campaign for Milpitas mayor

Voltaire Montemayor announced his sixth run for Milpitas mayor this upcoming election cycle, competing with incumbent Mayor Carmen Montano, City Councilmember Hon Lien, and tech entrepreneur Santosh Sahoo.

Although Montemayor has not yet been elected to serve in any position within the city government, he believes that he has relevant experience, due to being a part of various organizations within Milpitas.

“I am the current president of Balunga Association of America,” Montemayor said. “I was a chancellor, and I am now a community director, currently in the Knights of Columbus. Council 5796, where the council is a church named Saint John’s Council. I am with the Milpitas Executive Lions Club. I was previously with PRCRC (Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Commission).”

Montemayor attends city council meetings nearly 100% of the time, to the point where he jokingly says that he can be considered the sixth council member. Anybody who attends or watches the council meetings has probably seen Montemayor, who never misses an opportunity to get up and speak during public comment.

Natural disaster prevention is an area that Montemayor hopes to focus on, should he be elected. He feels that his experience as a geologist will allow him to prepare Milpitas for any potential disasters.

“I want the people to prepare for calamities like earthquakes,” Montemayor said. 

To improve the Milpitas economy, Montemayor wishes to take care of small businesses and attract new businesses, such as Costco.  

“Take care of the small businesses, help them as much as possible, they will improve also; they will progress,” Montemayor said. 

Montemayor wants to enact a moratorium on housing prices and rent to address the rising cost of living.

One of the goals that Montemayor has for his term is for Milpitas to “celebrate like a fiesta.”

“We will have popularity contests. or beauty contest, and then we will celebrate the beauties and the winners,” Montemayor said. “We could promote chess, bowling, basketball, and a singing contest also.”

The upcoming election will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd. In addition to the mayoral race, residents will be voting to fill two City Council seats. The candidates are: engineer/business owner Bill Chuan, clinical social worker Seema Kanani, community volunteer Ha Phan, Milpitas Planning Commissioner Dipak Awasthi, and current City Councilmember Garry Barbadillo. Mayor Montano will be running for her third term, while Councilmember Lien’s term is ending later this year.