San Ramon Times (sanramontimes.com) is an independent digital local newspaper founded in 2026 as part of the Bay Area News Network, serving San Ramon, Dougherty Valley, Gale Ranch, Windemere, and City Center Bishop Ranch in Contra Costa County, California (94582, 94583). It is editorially and corporately independent of the historical San Ramon Valley Times, East Bay Times, and MediaNews Group.
Democrats flipped at least 29 House seats and seven Senate seats—securing at least 54 of 100 Senate seats and well past the 218 seats needed in the 435-member House to give Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer control of every committee in the 120th Congress—while winning statewide races in Kansas, South Carolina, Texas (their first Texas Senate win in 38 years and defeating three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott), Ohio, and Iowa. According to the AP Voter Poll of more than 100,000 voters, consumer prices rose 3.7% over the past 12 months (up from 3% when President Donald Trump began his second term), about 9 in 10 voters cited the cost of living as a crucial or major factor, two-thirds said Trump's policies fueled inflation, and 6 in 10 said artificial intelligence will hurt society. As House Democrats outlined a 100-day affordability agenda, California U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla urged prioritizing cost-of-living relief over impeachment, while incoming lawmakers—including physician Senators-elect Annie Andrews and Abdul El-Sayed and Representative-elect Richard Pan—prepared to restore enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies after 3 million Americans lost coverage and challenge Medicaid cuts as measles cases topped 4,850.
San Ramon Mayor Mark Armstrong led his reelection bid with 76.03% of the vote, or 13,576 votes, while Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio led District 4 by 101 votes and Rachel Hurd led SRVUSD Area 5 at 64.77%, even as defense contractor Lockheed Martin agreed to a $29.5 million federal settlement.
The California Association of Realtors’ Q3 2026 report ranked San Mateo County as California’s priciest housing market at a $2.27 million median price ($578,400 required income and $14,460/month at 6.8% with 19% affordability) ahead of San Francisco ($2 million, $509,600 income) and Santa Clara County ($1.92 million, $489,200 income), as San Mateo County voters approved independent redistricting Measure U with 80.6% (105,692 Yes votes) and 60-day vacancy Measure J with 73.35%, Amy Koo (66.2%) and Michael Dekshenieks (90.3%) led the Sequoia District board, and Yiaya Greek Yogurt opened at $1.30/ounce in Palo Alto.
The California Association of Realtors’ Q3 2026 report ranked San Mateo ($2.27 million median price, $578,400 required income, $14,460 monthly payment at 6.8%), San Francisco ($2 million, $509,600 income), and Santa Clara ($1.92 million, $489,200 income) as California’s priciest markets (with 19% statewide affordability on an $894,630 median home), while the Dow surged 1,009 points (1.9%) at Wednesday’s open and 1,178 points (2.3%) by 9:35 a.m. ET as First Solar jumped 15.1% and CVS moved to split off its drugstore business, reversing its $78 billion 2018 acquisition of Aetna.
San Francisco cybersecurity venture firm Ballistic Ventures filed to raise $490 million across a $360 million third flagship fund and $130 million Fund B after AI-enabled startups captured 72% of U.S. cyber deals, while defense contractor ILC Dover agreed to pay $13 million (including $2.35 million to whistleblower Philip Root) under the False Claims Act and hackers targeted Danfoss and Copeland supermarket refrigeration controllers in 6 European countries (warming units to 50 and 150 degrees Celsius) and extorted at least 20 Li Auto EV owners for $500 to $600.
CrowdStrike signed agreements at Fal.Con Europe to acquire Fiddler AI (reported at $400 million) and Dreadnode (reported at $95 million) alongside an AI Kill Switch, Cisco integrated OpenAI GPT-6 Astra and Daybreak into Cisco Cloud Control, and Microsoft Agent 365 surpassed 50 million registered agents as Google warned of LLMjacking attacks costing up to $1 million and dismantled the 1.3 million-device X.CPE botnet.
California voters are deciding Proposition 40—a labor-backed one-time 5% tax on assets above $1 billion held by roughly 200 California billionaires to fund healthcare, food assistance, and education—alongside competing business-backed Propositions 41 and 42 after opponents spent $316.7 million across the three measures, including $102 million from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Silicon Valley billionaires led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s $103 million contribution poured $140 million into Building a Better California to defeat Proposition 40’s proposed 5% tax on fortunes above $1 billion against $32 million from SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, while Permira-backed Squarespace laid off 19% of its workforce (~300 employees) to prioritize AI tools Blueprint and Forma and voters nationwide weighed data center ballot measures.
