Donna Colson is one of the five City Council members in Burlingame, California. Currently, she's serving as Burlingame's Mayor. Burlingame is an affluent city with 30,000 residents near the San Francisco Airport. I grew up next to Burlingame.

Mayor Colson is running for re-election to the City Council on November 5, 2019. We chatted for 30 minutes about a variety of topics, including:

• What does a mayor do every day?


• How much does she get paid?


• Why do such a job?


• What surprised her once she became the mayor?


• How much time does she spend fund-raising?


• Will we ever go beyond the two-party system?


• What political party is she in? (The answer will surprise you.)


• Why can't national politics be less tribal and more like local politics?


• Besides voting, what should citizens do?

Three candidates are running for the two council seats in Burlingame.

It looks like a slam dunk for Donna, but she thinks of Hillary Clinton's surprising loss often to keep her humble.

This interview is also available on YouTube if you want to see Donna's expressions. 

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