Campaign finance reports for City Council candidates, as well as supporters and opponents of Measure GG, are available to view on the city’s website. Candidates and certain committees that make or receive contributions that total in the aggregate $1,000 or more in the 90 days before or on the date of an election must report them via Form 497.
Piedmont City Council is a nonpartisan body; councilmembers are elected volunteers who serve their community without compensation.
— Adam Hundt for Piedmont City Council is self-funding his campaign, contributing $25,000 to date, according to filings on Sept. 22 and Oct. 5.
— Nancy Beninati for Piedmont City Council 2026 has received a little over $6,000 from individual contributions, including $5,000 from Yu Zhen Zhen of Atherton on Oct. 1.
— The “Piedmonters in Support of Measure GG” campaign has received a little more than $12,000 in individual contributions, all under $5,000 per the latest report on Oct. 18.
— “Neighbors for an Affordable Piedmont, Sponsored by Realtors – No on GG” received $32,000 from the National Association of Realtors in Chicago on Oct. 1. That’s in addition to the $30,000 contributed by the California Association of Realtors as reported on Oct. 14, Sept. 24, and Oct. 1.
Nancy Beninati has been my friend for many years and I am volunteering as Asst. Treasurer for her City Council campaign. I want to clarify that Julia (Yu) Zhen has been Nancy’s friend and next-door neighbor here in Piedmont for 14 years. Ms. Zhen has been a longtime supporter of the Piedmont community, including donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Piedmont High School robotics team. As the founder of Zenni Optical, she has been very successful and owns homes in Piedmont and Atherton. She is also listed as an endorser on Nancy’s campaign website. The campaign used the name and address Ms. Zhen provided when making the contribution.
I wanted to give this extra context because the article may leave readers with the impression that Ms. Zhen has no longstanding ties to Piedmont, which is not the case. In addition to Ms. Zhen’s backing, Nancy has received an outpouring of support from Piedmont residents, including many smaller dollar donations.
I hope Piedmonters are immune to entities trying to buy their vote by spending a lot of money to manipulate the outcome of an election.
$62,000? Really?