Gus Mattammal
Office sought: Superintendent of Public Instruction
Party: No Party Preference
Ballot designation: Educator, executive, author
Background
Biography. Gus Mattammal was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Mattammal earned a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College in 1994 and a graduate degree from Yale University School of Management in 2000. His career experience includes working as an educator, as the director of a national private tutoring group, and in TV advertising sales, consulting, and operational finance. [1] [2] Mattammal has been affiliated with the following organizations: [2] Midcoast Community Council San Mateo County Transportation Authority Citizens Advisory Committee San Mateo County Measure W Citizens Oversight Committee SHIFT-Bay Area
Prior offices and election history
2026
See also: California Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2026 General election The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Nonpartisan primary Nonpartisan primary election for California Superintendent of Public Instruction The following candidates are running in the primary for California Superintendent of Public Instruction on June 2, 2026. Candidate Richard Barrera (Nonpartisan) Wendy Castaneda Leal (Nonpartisan) Nichelle Henderson (Nonpartisan) Frank Lara (Nonpartisan) Ainye Long (Nonpartisan) Gus Mattammal (Nonpartisan) Al Muratsuchi (Nonpartisan) Josh Newman (Nonpartisan) Anthony Rendon (Nonpartisan) Sonja Shaw (Nonpartisan) There are no incumbents in this race. = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Andra Hoffman (Nonpartisan) Jeff Maffly (Nonpartisan)
2026 — Endorsements
Mattammal received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Mattammal’s endorsements as published by their campaign, click here . To send us additional endorsements, click here . CalMatters Voter Guide (Sway voting group by CalMatters)
2024
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2024 General election General election for California State Assembly District 23 Incumbent Marc Berman defeated Lydia Kou in the general election for California State Assembly District 23 on November 5, 2024. Candidate % Votes ✔ Marc Berman (D) 59.8 115,833 Lydia Kou (D) 40.2 77,949 Incumbents are bolded and underlined . The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 193,782 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 23 Incumbent Marc Berman and Lydia Kou defeated Gus Mattammal and Allan Marson in the primary for California State Assembly District 23 on March 5, 2024. Candidate % Votes ✔ Marc Berman (D) 57.4 67,177 ✔ Lydia Kou (D) 20.3 23,723 Gus Mattammal (R) 11.4 13,290 Allan Marson (R) 11.0 12,900 Incumbents are bolded and underlined . The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 117,090 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.
2024 — Endorsements
Mattammal received the following endorsements. California GOP
2022
See also: California’s 15th Congressional District election, 2022 General election General election for U.S. House California District 15 Kevin Mullin defeated David Canepa in the general election for U.S. House California District 15 on November 8, 2022. Candidate % Votes ✔ Kevin Mullin (D) 55.5 108,077 David Canepa (D) 44.5 86,797 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 194,874 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 15 The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 15 on June 7, 2022. Candidate % Votes ✔ Kevin Mullin (D) 41.1 58,806 ✔ David Canepa (D) 24.1 34,488 Gus Mattammal (R) 16.5 23,625 Emily Beach (D) 14.6 20,816 Jim Garrity (Independent) 2.2 3,081 Andrew Watters (D) 1.1 1,551 Ferenc Pataki (Independent) 0.5 671 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 143,038 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Jackie Cota (R) David Brandt (Independent)
2022 — Endorsements
To view Mattammal’s endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here .
Issue positions (campaign themes)
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses See also: Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Gus Mattammal completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mattammal’s responses. Expand all | Collapse all Who are you? Tell us about yourself. I grew up in inner-city St. Louis and was the only kid on my block to graduate high school at all, let alone go to college. My neighborhood public high school had a 25% graduation rate for 25 years in a row, with a student population that was about 70% Black and 10% Latino. An entire generation of low-income, mostly Black and Brown kids was fed into a school that functioned as a pit stop on a school-to-prison pipeline. The only reason I didn’t follow the same path as the other kids was that I won the parent lottery. My parents were great long-range planners: they rented half our house to another family and squirreled away the rent for years. So, after I graduated from my public middle school, they used what they’d scrimped and saved to send me to the Jesuit high school. I got a great education there, and it allowed me to come to California for college. I attended Pomona College, majoring in physics and math. I began my career in TV ad sales, got my MBA from Yale, worked in consulting and in corporate finance, and then joined Advantage Testing, the nation’s premier tutoring firm. I came back to California in 2007 to found Advantage Testing Silicon Valley, and have since built a multimillion dollar operation across ten states. I have had a great life—a life made possible by education. It was my hand up, and it could be a hand up for so many more kids. But here in California our kids aren’t getting a hand up, and as your Superintendent, I will work tirelessly to change that. Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Demand excellence: It is unacceptable that $130 billion is spent on our public school system despite students being unable to read a book, do math, or get a job; enough is enough. Districts must be committed to evidence-based pedagogy, including the science of reading and balanced mathematics frameworks. The California Department of Education also must take a proactive role in providing training and model curricula to districts, which no previous Superintendent has done. Last, we must reprioritize civic and home skills education to equip students to be highly capable adult citizens. Excellence in California schools is possible, but only with the leadership to expect it. Get back to basics: Strong basic skills are more important now than ever. As Artificial Intelligence grows in its capabilities, students need to be able to critically think, reason, and articulate ideas to keep up. The best way we can achieve that is with a genuine emphasis on reading and math education, which our kids are not currently receiving. As Superintendent, I will be a force for the universal adoption of the science of reading. Under my leadership, the California Department of Education will also publish evidence-based model science of reading and mathematics curricula, all made available to districts at low or no cost at all. Every child deserves to learn from what we know works, regardless of their zip code. Let kids be kids: Schools should be a place where kids can grow and thrive. That’s why I am a proud advocate for bell-to-bell cell phone bans in schools and a vocal supporter of the recently-introduced AB 2071, supporting digital wellness and mental health education for students. I am also an advocate for quality, nutritious school lunches, extended break and recess time, increased school safety measures, and age-appropriate sex education aligned with the California Healthy Youth Act. The role of the Superintendent, first and foremost, is to advocate for what is best for kids in the public school system, and that is exactly what I intend to do. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Education is a hand up – not a hand out, but a hand up. Education is a path to a middle class life and achieving the American Dream. It has downstream effects on virtually every other domain of public policy. A quality education leads to increased innovation, lifetime earnings, and family stability, not to mention lower levels of virtually everything we would like to eliminate, like violence, poverty, and substance abuse. Every dollar spent wisely on education translates to multiple dollars saved in combating downstream public problems. Unfortunately, in California, we often do not spend those dollars wisely. As your Superintendent, I will harness the energy of every parent, student, teacher, and voter who wants to see that reality change. What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system? The most important aspect of the Superintendent’s office is its political independence. The Superintendent’s office is a constitutional office: it was created as an independent political office in the original 1849 California constitution. Four times in the past, California governors have tried to remove that independence by putting a constitutional amendment before the voters, and each time the voters have decisively defeated the proposed amendment. The people of California greatly value the Superintendent’s independence. As an independent political actor, the Superintendent is free to influence education policy in whatever way they think is best. Where possible, the Superintendent should work collaboratively with the legislature, the State Board, and district-level leadership. However, if any of these actors refuse to do what is in the best interests of the students, then the Superintendent can and should pursue the best interests of the students independently, including through creating and amplifying grassroots political pressure. The Superintend
2024
Gus Mattammal did not complete Ballotpedia’s 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022 — Video for Ballotpedia
Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released March 8, 2022 Gus Mattammal completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mattammal’s responses. Expand all | Collapse all Who are you? Tell us about yourself. I’m an educator and a small businessman, and I’ve built a successful business throughout the Bay Area and around the country by working with individual families, listening to them to understand their goals and the obstacles they face, and helping them achieve those goals. I look forward to listening to you to understand your dreams and your challenges, and I want you to know: I am willing to work with anyone and everyone to help make our government work better for you, no matter who you are. One strength I bring to the table is a diverse background, both racially and economically. My father was an immigrant to this country, and he and my mom started at the bottom of the ladder. Through education and hard work, they built a middle-class life for themselves and their children, and they instilled those same values of education and hard work in me and my siblings. Because of my parents’ sacrifices, my own efforts, and the opportunities this country offers, I’ve gone on to achieve the American dream. I’m excited to go to Congress to work hard to make it easier for others to do the same. Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Republicans and conservatives: I want to bring the focus of our party back to problem-solving. All too often, our energy as a party is directed at criticizing what the Democrats do rather than offering our own solutions. Conservative policies centered on personal choice, free markets, and careful scrutiny of spending will appeal to voters across the political spectrum and would be a clear path to electoral success in red, blue, and purple states. In addition, by emphasizing a more constructive vision, our party will lead the way in making politics less emotionally fraught and in reminding everyone that though we may be conservatives, or liberals, or independents, we are, above all, Americans. Democrats/liberals/independents: this election offers an opportunity to help me refocus my party on constructive problem-solving. A world in which the Republican party is focused on problem-solving is a world that’s better for all Americans, including you. If we come to the table with our own good-faith plans for healthcare, education, climate change, and economic opportunity, then we have a basis for negotiation and compromise. Policies developed through negotiation and compromise are more lasting and stable; policies developed and passed by one side alone (e.g., “Obamacare”), are far more likely to be torn down when the government changes hands. Winning this election will help me show my party the appeal of a constructive vision. I chose “Faith in People, Faith in America” as my campaign slogan because, over the last 25 years, I’ve watched people increasingly lose their faith in capitalism and markets, in democracy and elections, and, most tragically, in each other as Americans. I’m running for Congress because I want to restore people’s faith in each other and in this great country of ours. That won’t happen overnight—it will take a lot of hard work. But it can be done. Our district is perfect to lead this effort. We can show America what healthy politics look like, and, in doing so, restore people’s faith in this country and in each other. Vote Gus on June 7th and November 8th. Send me to Washington, and let me show you what we can accomplish— together. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? I’m a policy geek, so I’m excited about almost every area of policymaking. Healthcare: I will develop a healthcare plan that achieves universal coverage through health savings accounts that follow you. You make the decisions, and you don’t have to worry about what happens if you lose your job. Education: I will develop a comprehensive education reform proposal that creates education savings accounts that follow the student, so that students have greater freedom to choose their education and aren’t forced to stay in failing schools. Entrepreneurship: My path from inner-city St. Louis to a middle-class life on the coast involved entrepreneurship, and I want to work with Republicans and Democrats, economic development organizations and business leaders, to identify ways to make it easier for people to start businesses, especially in immigrant and lower-income communities. Climate change: I will design a plan that combines the power of the private sector with targeted federal investments to develop new technologies to address climate change. I’ll work with environmental groups, established industries, and local communities to ensure that we address the challenges of a changing climate in a way that strengthens our economy and our ability to lead on the world stage. I’m also interested in getting everyday people more involved in generating policy. The ideas shouldn’t all be coming from corporations and think tanks financed by billionaire donors. Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why? I believe you can learn something from everyone. So rather than look up to or follow one person, I’ve found elements and traits to admire and emulate in many different people: George Washington: I’m inspired by his ability to motivate people to follow him to a better future, his capacity to wield power for the good of all Americans, and the wisdom and strength he demonstrated in handing power over to someone else when the time came. Abigail Adams: Abigail was the wife of our 2nd President, John Adams. She was an equal partner to her husband at a time when that was not the norm. Abigail was fiercely patriotic, extraordinarily eloquent, and very much the intellectual equal of her husband. Th
Enrichment source: Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/Gus_Mattammal
Sources
- CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide
- Ballotpedia (enrichment, when available)