SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Kelly O’Haire is entering the 2026 South Lake Tahoe City Council election with a résumé that spans law enforcement, criminal prosecution, municipal government and legal practice.
O’Haire is among the candidates officially qualified for the Nov. 3 election, when South Lake Tahoe voters will choose three City Council members. The city’s official candidate list, updated Aug. 13, includes O’Haire along with Gantt Miller, Erika Gonzalez, Dyna Boen, Doug Williams, Nick Piliae, John Friedrich and Dina Ramaha.
O’Haire has lived in South Lake Tahoe for 23 years. According to her campaign biography, she worked full time as a police officer and police detective while attending college and law school at night. She later served as a county prosecutor and as an attorney representing large and small cities.
The State Bar of California lists Kelly Marie O’Haire as an active California attorney. Her professional background also includes serving as director of Moral Character Determinations for the State Bar, where her work involved reviewing applicants’ moral-character files and overseeing staff responsible for background investigations.
From police work to municipal law
O’Haire’s campaign emphasizes the variety of government roles she has held.
Her campaign website says she served as a prosecutor handling adult and child sexual assault cases and later worked with city governments and high-ranking municipal officials. She also identifies volunteer service on a Police Advisory and Review Board, a victims-of-crime organization and a homeowners board.
In an Aug. 14 letter published by South Tahoe Now, O’Haire described her career as a progression from police officer to prosecutor, municipal attorney and small-business owner.
“That progression – from police officer, to prosecutor, to attorney working with local governments, to small-business owner – has given me the opportunity to see government from many different perspectives,” O’Haire wrote.
Her campaign argues that this combination of law enforcement and government experience would be useful as South Lake Tahoe addresses what she characterizes as a period of transition.
Public safety and wildfire preparedness
Public safety is a central theme of O’Haire’s campaign.
She has identified police and fire services as core municipal priorities and called for continued improvements to wildfire preparedness, evacuation planning and emergency communications.
That focus carries particular significance in South Lake Tahoe, where the 2021 Caldor Fire forced widespread evacuations and underscored the challenges facing communities in the Tahoe Basin during a major wildfire.
O’Haire wrote that she and her husband evacuated during the Caldor Fire along with an elderly neighbor.
“Experiences like these remind me that the decisions made by our City Council are not abstract,” she wrote. “They affect our neighborhoods, our safety, our businesses, our homes and our daily lives.”
Her campaign website similarly identifies emergency preparedness and evacuation planning as continuing priorities following the Caldor Fire.
Roads, tourism and the local economy
O’Haire is also campaigning on basic city services and infrastructure.
In a July campaign update after receiving official certification as a candidate, she said conversations with residents repeatedly brought up the condition of city roads and the need for continued work.
Tourism is another major issue.
South Lake Tahoe’s economy is heavily influenced by visitors, while residents also contend with the effects of tourism on traffic, neighborhoods, infrastructure and quality of life. O’Haire says city policy should seek to retain the economic benefits of tourism while reducing its costs to residents.
“We need to minimize the wear and tear on the city and maximize the benefit of tourism to the City while promoting our small businesses at all times,” O’Haire wrote in the July campaign statement.
She has also pointed to parking, neighborhood crime, vacation rentals and trash as issues she has encountered personally as a South Lake Tahoe resident.
A campaign focused on government operations
O’Haire’s platform places significant emphasis on how city government operates.
Her campaign website calls for “professionals running the City in a professional manner” and argues that residents should be able to rely on a city government that functions effectively and delivers basic services.
She has also emphasized transparency, respectful leadership and evidence-based decision-making.
“I am not running because I believe one person has all the answers,” O’Haire wrote. “Good local government requires listening, asking difficult questions, examining evidence and working with people who may not always agree.”
That message comes as South Lake Tahoe voters prepare to select three council members in an election that also includes contests for city treasurer and city clerk.
The 2026 South Lake Tahoe City Council race
The city initially reported three qualified City Council candidates in late July, but additional candidates entered the race during the extended filing period after Mayor Cody Bass did not seek another term. By Aug. 13, the city’s official election page listed eight qualified candidates for the three available seats.
For O’Haire, the campaign is built around a combination of professional experience and more than two decades of living in the community.
Her campaign says she wants to strengthen confidence in local government while focusing on public safety, infrastructure, wildfire preparedness, tourism, small businesses and city services.
The Nov. 3 election will determine whether South Lake Tahoe voters want O’Haire to bring that experience to the City Council.
For voters seeking additional information about O’Haire’s background and campaign positions, her campaign website provides her biography and stated priorities.
Kelly O’Haire for South Lake Tahoe campaign website
City of South Lake Tahoe — Elections and Campaign Disclosures
