Sonoma resident Julian Mackie has announced his intention to run for City Council in District 1. The election for a four year term takes place this November. This is the first time City Council members will be elected via the city’s new district system of voting.
Julian Mackie, 33, is currently the Executive Director of Sonoma Valley Commons.
Julian grew up on Bennett Valley Road, where he attended Yulupa and Strawberry Elementary Schools before moving on to Rincon Valley Charter School and Sonoma Academy. After high school, he took a gap year, living in both Mexico and Liberia, before enrolling at Claremont McKenna College, where he graduated with honors in Philosophy & Public Affairs and spent a semester in India studying sustainable development.
He began his career as a consultant at Deloitte, working with state governments, including helping build a state’s Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange, and later with global technology companies, including Autodesk and Keysight. He then spent four years at the online learning company Coursera, where he helped launch certificate programs connecting companies like Google and Meta with community colleges, career and technical education high schools, and workforce development organizations. Coursera went public in 2020. He went on to help start a similar company alongside other early Coursera employees, which was recently acquired by Handshake.
Julian returned to UC Berkeley to earn his Master’s in Public Affairs from the Goldman School of Public Policy, where he founded the school’s first cross-graduate club focused on housing, recruiting more than 200 students and moderating conversations with leading housing experts, including Assemblymember Buffy Wicks.
He joined the Sonoma Valley Collaborative in October, spending the spring working part-time to help build the business plan for Sonoma Valley Commons. The Commons launched in May, and Julian now serves as its Executive Director, working 30 hours a week.
His parents now live in Petaluma, his father is an attorney focused primarily on Food and Wine and his mother works for the college-access nonprofit, 10,000 Degrees. He has a twin sister in San Francisco, and an older brother in Brooklyn, New York.
He is engaged to Anna Boyer, who works for an organic wine brand. Anna attended high school in San Francisco, though her family has owned land on Lovall Valley Road since 1994. The couple lives on Second Street East in Sonoma and will marry in town this June.
In his announcement, Mackie writes the following:
Rooted in Sonoma. Ready for What’s Next.
By Julian Mackie, Candidate for Sonoma City Council, District 1
My name is Julian Mackie, and I’m running for Sonoma City Council in District 1.
I was born and raised on Bennett Valley Road, the Sonoma Mountains rising around me. I’ve been making the short, twisting drive to Sonoma my whole life. So has my fiancée, Anna, whose family owns a home in Lovall Valley and spent her childhood summers at Rhoten camps.
For years, we came back to be near our families and walk the Plaza. Recently, we became homeowners and made the move home we’d talked about for so long. I now serve as Executive Director of Sonoma Valley Commons, which I helped found to keep housing affordable for the workers, families, and seniors who give it its character.
Coming home with fresh eyes, I wanted to understand the Sonoma of now, not just the Sonoma of memory. Over the past year, I’ve sat down with neighbors to talk about housing, childcare, energy costs, wildfire safety, our local economy, and the city’s finances. I’ve heard many questions about Sonoma’s future. Can families afford to live here? Will our shops, culture, and local economy keep thriving? How do we prepare for wildfire and a changing climate?
I also heard something no one questioned: the beauty of the land, the depth of our community, the hold Sonoma has on everyone who calls it home. That certainty is our greatest asset. It’s why our problems are worth solving.
I’m running for City Council to make sure the next generation has a seat at the table. I love this place the way you love a home you intend to keep: enough to do the patient, persistent work to improve it.
I would be honored to shape a brighter future with my fellow Sonomans and hope to earn your vote this fall.
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