He Plans to Run
- Livable El Cerrito
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
Vice Mayor Gabe Quinto, now in his eleventh year on the City Council, plans to run for re-election in 2026, he told Livable El Cerrito on Oct. 31. Quinto is slated to be named El Cerrito’s mayor in December and to serve as mayor throughout 2026.
Elected President, League of California Cities
Quinto, 64, was recently elected president of the League of California Cities, the main lobbying group for California’s 483 incorporated cities and a key source of training and education for city officials and staff. He was the focus of a “Meet Gabe Quinto” reception at this year’s Cal Cities conference in Long Beach last month.
“It brought a lot of attention to El Cerrito,” said William Ktsanes, who is in his first year on the council and also attended the conference. “It seemed that everyone knew El Cerrito and Gabe.”
Quinto said his experience in El Cerrito is the basis for presentations he has made in recent years at league conferences, sometimes with City Manager Karen Pinkos. Pinkos is one of 57 members of the League of California Cities board.
“Cities are learning from what El Cerrito has gone through,” he said.
In the coming year, Quinto will be trying to work in a nonpartisan way to gain support for issues that affect cities. He’ll fly to the league’s national conference in Salt Lake City and to Washington, D.C., in March to meet with officials there.
Expenses are paid by the league, not the city, Quinto noted.
More Leadership Roles in 2026
2026 will be a big year for Quinto when it comes to leadership roles.
He will be chair of MCE Community Choice Energy, a not-for-profit energy provider in Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano counties. He will chair Contra Costa LAFCO, (the county’s local agency formation commission) which has power over changes to city and special district boundaries. He will continue to serve on the Bay Area Air District board.
“I didn’t plan it,” Quinto said. “It’s just happening and I’m looking forward to it. It took me all these years to get where I am.”
LGBTQ Community and Democratic Politics
Quinto has also been active in the LGBTQ community and in Democratic politics. For years he was the only gay council member. That changed in 2022 when Carolyn Wysinger was elected. Currently four of five council members are LGBTQ.
Quinto said he’s been a mentor to Wysinger, who was born in 1979 – the same year Quinto was a senior at El Cerrito High School.
Recently he endorsed State Sen. Scott Wiener, another gay candidate, who announced he will run for the congressional seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
Prior to being elected president of the League of California Cities, Quinto served as vice president, 1st vice president, 2nd vice president, and a board member.
Quinto added that he’s not the only council member serving on regional boards, and seniority on the council does not determine who is named to represent El Cerrito. That’s a change from when Quinto first got elected in 2014, he said.
Started as a Volunteer
Quinto first got involved in city politics as a volunteer working with the late Janet Abelson, who served on the El Cerrito City Council for 23 years, including a record five terms as mayor.
Quinto helped Abelson with a postcard campaign to get a Trader Joe’s at the Plaza and with work to restore the art deco Cerrito movie theater on San Pablo Avenue now known as Rialto Cinema Cerrito.
He had a close relationship with Abelson and took her to doctor’s appointments and surgeries.
“I spent more time with her than I did with my own mom,” Quinto said.
He was also mentored by former mayor Jane Bartke, he said.
After becoming known as a volunteer, he was appointed to the city’s Human Relations Commission and later served on the city’s Committee on Aging.
Grew Up in El Cerrito
Quinto grew up on Lexington Avenue in El Cerrito, riding his bike to Fairmont Elementary School and learning to swim at the city pool.
“I want to make sure that the young families moving in have the same opportunities raising a family here that my family did,” he said.
Positions on Issues
As an incumbent candidate, Quinto explained some of his positions on issues.
He supports:
· Construction of a Plaza Station library as part of the Transit-Oriented Development
· The decision to remove more than 60% of parking on Richmond Street north of Moeser Lane as part of a plan to add new bike lanes and pedestrian improvements
· Activities for seniors at the Community Center
Two of his top concerns are public safety and a loss of funding at many levels.
When it comes to lobbying at the state and national levels, Quinto said one important issue is redevelopment. California dissolved its redevelopment agencies effective Feb. 1, 2012, to provide more tax revenues to schools and other local needs.
“I would like to get redevelopment back as a way to repair old aging infrastructure,” Quinto said.
Bill Changes Open Meetings Law
At the state level, the League of California Cities took a position against the recently passed Senate Bill 707, which requires cities to provide remote participation options, and makes other changes to local meeting requirements.
The league argued that the bill placed costly mandates on cities without providing funding or flexibility.
At an Oct. 21 meeting, the El Cerrito City Council endorsed moving forward with the purchase of a new audio-visual system, in part because SB 707 requires cities to provide hybrid meetings with public participation by July 1, 2026. The estimate cost is $285,777, the council was told.
Partisan and Nonpartisan Politics
Although Quinto is a committed Democrat, he said working in a bipartisan and nonpartisan way is feasible.
“If we concentrate on policy we can work together,” Quinto said.
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