Planners Elected to Lead
Planners are bringing their expertise from the planning table to elected office.
Planners have long played an important role in ensuring elected leaders have the data-driven insights and expertise to make better decisions for our communities. Increasingly, planners are even stepping into office themselves.
This November, Nithya Raman made headlines as an urban planner unseating Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral election. While Raman is not the first planner to run for office, the 2026 mid-term election results demonstrate a continued trend of planners bringing their forward-looking perspective and comprehensive community knowledge to a more prominent leadership role.
Beyond local ballot boxes, a wave of state and federal level officials have planning backgrounds that will shape the decisions they make in the upcoming legislative sessions.
Here's a list of just a few planners-turned-electeds you should know:
- Mark Burrows, AICP (NC State Representative)
- Juan Carrillo (CA State Assembly)
- Miguel Davila, AICP (NV State Assembly)
- Norma Hernandez (IL State Representative)
- Marcy Kaptur (OH - US Representative)
- Brad Lander (NY - US Representative)
- Don Leonard (OH - US Representative)
- Forrest Mandeville, AICP (MT State Senator)
- Christine McIntosh (OH - Cuyahoga County Council)
Know another planner who was recently elected into office? Let us know! Email govtaffairs@planning.org with their name, elected office and district.
Top image: Illustration by Catherine Bixler