Karen Nyamu to Launch Nairobi Woman Rep Campaign in November

Senator Nominee Karen Nyamu has declared her candidature for the Nairobi Woman Representative position for the upcoming 2027 General Elections, stating that she intends to start her political campaign in November 2026. Karen will be competing against the current representative, Esther Passaris, who is vying for a third consecutive term in parliament.

Karen is set to start her campaign for the Nairobi woman representative position in November, well before the 2027 General Election. In an interview with local press on Friday, October 23, 2026, she stated that she deliberately decided to delay the launch of her campaign. She emphasized the significance of the timing in politics. The Senator wanted to create momentum slowly without tiring herself prior to the election period.

Karen commented, “I’m planning to start that in November. I’ve been holding. You know, in politics, timing is everything. You can get burnout very early before you star.”

Key Highlights:

• Karen Nyamu plans to launch her Nairobi woman representative campaign in November 2026
• Esther Passaris is considering her political options, including a possible 2027 gubernatorial bid
• Esther highlights women’s under-representation in Nairobi’s county leadership and Parliament

Karen has announced her candidature as the woman representative for Nairobi County, putting her at odds with Esther Passaris. According to Karen, her campaigning strategy will be to move slowly as starting early can result in political exhaustion just before the peak of the election period. Her campaign will officially commence in November when the aspirants start making preparations for the general elections of 2027 in Kenya. The Women’s Representative seat in Nairobi County will attract candidates interested in representing women in the National Assembly.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Karen responded, signalling her readiness to contest the seat. The move comes after Esther Passaris suggested she might decide to withdraw from seeking re-election for the Nairobi woman representative seat and vie for governorship in 2027. According to a report in People Daily, Esther Passaris threatened Governor Johnson Sakaja in a women’s conference in Nairobi on Tuesday, October 13, 2026. She told him to up the game regarding governance in his administration or else she will decide to run for office in case of losing Nairobi to the opposition.

Esther Passaris cited the absence of women in elected leadership positions as one of the issues that have been affecting governance in Nairobi.

According to her, the number of elected women MCAs reduced from five in 2017 to four in 2022. She further pointed out that there is limited representation of women in the Parliament since only one woman is elected from the 17 constituencies in Nairobi during every election. The representative in 2017 was Mercy Gakuya from the Embakasi Central constituency, and the 2022 representative is Beatrice Elachi from the Dagoretti North constituency.