Raymond Goins wants to bring a voice to Palo Alto City Hall that he says no other candidate in the November race will provide: one representing the city's marginalized and unhoused residents.
Goins, a community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, filed his candidacy Wednesday, Aug. 12, the final day to pull nomination papers. He is the eighth candidate competing for three open council seats in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election, according to Palo Alto Online.
It's his first run for public office.
"I want to represent the voiceless of Palo Alto and those that are being marginalized by Palo Alto and fight from a community aspect for what's right," Goins told Palo Alto Online.
His platform rests on two pillars: inclusive representation of residents left out of city decisions, and housing for all. Goins said he believes new affordable housing construction is the best way to address the needs of Palo Alto's unhoused population, arguing that the city's wealth should be "taking care of the community that it's profiting off of."
On his candidate form, Goins listed his partisan preference as DSA. He said the Silicon Valley chapter is aware of his candidacy and he is seeking its endorsement.
A background in advocacy, not commissions
Unlike most of his opponents, Goins comes from community organizing rather than city boards or business. He has worked with Silicon Valley De-Bug, a San Jose-based criminal justice reform group, and represented the Coalition for Justice and Accountability at the Aug. 10 council meeting, where he spoke during public comment about swastikas and anti-Black graffiti found in Palo Alto park restrooms.
Goins has also been open about his own history in the justice system. He spent four years as a teenager inside Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. At a June 2023 rally outside that same facility in San Jose, he told San José Spotlight: "I know how messed up this situation is, and I know my outcome could have been prevented had the system actually worked the way it was designed to work."
The field he's up against
Goins faces a crowded slate: incumbents Vicki Veenker and Ed Lauing, Planning and Transportation Commission Chair Bryna Chang, Parks and Recreation Commission member Yudy Deng, entrepreneur Henry Etzkowitz, emergency medicine doctor Gary Gechlik and Vently CEO Brian Hamachek. As we reported Aug. 11, the field grew rapidly in the final days before the filing deadline.
The three seats include the open seat of Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims, who chose not to seek reelection, plus the seats held by Veenker and Lauing.
Goins' entry widens the ideological range of a contest that already includes commissioners, incumbents and tech entrepreneurs. Voters choose three council members Nov. 3.
