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Councilmember Cecilia Taylor announced that she will not run for a third term on the Menlo Park City Council on Sunday night.
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve the Belle Haven and Haven Avenue communities for the past eight years,” she wrote in a June 28 email to supporters.
Taylor, first elected in 2018, is the first person to represent the Belle Haven community on the City Council after Menlo Park switched to district-based elections. A third-generation Belle Haven resident, Taylor had run unsuccessfully in 2016 under the city’s at-large system and lost to two incumbent candidates who lived west of Interstate 101.
After that election, a law firm threatened the city with a lawsuit if it did not enact district elections, citing Taylor’s loss as an example of how the at-large system disenfranchised Black and Hispanic voters.
In the two years before her next campaign, Taylor founded the nonprofit Belle Haven Action, where she serves as executive director. She went on to win the District 1 seat in 2018 with more than 75% of the vote and ran unopposed for reelection in 2022. She is the first African American woman to serve on the Menlo Park City Council and the first Belle Haven resident to hold a seat since 1986.
Taylor told supporters she made the decision not to run on this November’s ballot after careful consideration on how to best serve the community.
“Although I will be stepping away from elected office, I will never step away from this community. Belle Haven and Haven Avenue are part of who I am, and I look forward to continuing to serve in new ways while supporting the next generation of leaders who will carry our work forward,” Taylor wrote.
“Councilmember Cecilia Taylor has been a great colleague for the past eight years. She has made a big difference for Menlo Park. I look forward to her future successes,” Mayor Betsy Nash wrote in a message to this news organization following Taylor’s announcement.
The District 1 seat is one of three that will go before voters in November, along with District 4, which includes Allied Arts and downtown Menlo Park, and District 2, which represents the Willows.
Mayor Betsy Nash, who represents District 4, previously announced she will not seek reelection. Two candidates, Charlotte Reed and Laura Melahn, have entered the race for that seat.
Councilmember Drew Combs is running for reelection in District 2 and will face a contested election, with Vamsi Velagapudi throwing his hat into the ring.
The official nomination period for candidates to file paperwork with the Menlo Park City Clerk’s Office starts July 13.
Thank you for your service to our community. Enjoy your new adventures. All the best to you and your family.