FREMONT — Mud is beginning to fly in the four-way contest to become Fremont’s next mayor, with two of the candidates and their supporters now attacking the other on new websites.
The Nov. 5 election to replace Mayor Lily Mei has also become personally expensive for the two front-runners — Vinnie Bacon and Raj Salwan — who are largely self-financing their campaigns in an attempt to outspend opponents.
Bacon, a software engineer and former councilman, has loaned $200,000 to his own campaign this year, while Salwan, a current councilman, veterinarian and landlord, has dropped $155,000 of his own money into his campaign. Both Bacon and Salwan are ahead in terms of City Hall experience, fundraising and endorsements. The other two candidates, Hiu Ng and Rohan Marfatia, have not filed any campaign finance documents.
Bacon’s campaign is behind a website attacking Salwan for being sued by his tenants for alleged roach infestations and property neglect, and labeling him a “pro-landlord” candidate who has fought for the interests of property owners and developers while on City Council.
A campaign committee supporting Salwan has created its own anti-Bacon site, calling him out for allegedly having poor attendance at council committee meetings, breaking campaign finance rules and claiming he has has “bullied, threatened” and intimidated constituents on social media and more. The site, which depicts a red “stop” sign planted in a pile of bacon, claims Bacon also wanted to reduce firefighter pensions and implement rolling firehouse closures and voted repeatedly to raise his own salary while on council.
On Monday, Salwan clapped back at Bacon, telling this news organization that “these allegations are nothing more than a smear tactic and do not reflect how I manage my properties.”
He said that Bacon’s website is “just another desperate attempt to distract voters from his own record of failures.” Salwan says that while Bacon “talks about transparency,” he has more Fair Political Practices Commission “complaints that anyone in Fremont’s history,” alleging he has missed campaign finance filing deadlines.
Salwan said that the tenant lawsuit “stems from a situation that was fully addressed, but the tenant in question refused to cooperate, despite multiple offers of assistance.” He said that his family has received only eight complaints in the past 20 years after housing a total of 2,500 tenants, and that seven of the complaints were dismissed when the tenants didn’t show up to the court hearings.
“This clearly shows that my family and I take our responsibilities seriously, always prioritizing the well-being of our tenants by offering stability and affordability,” Salwan wrote. “We consistently keep our rents below market rates to help working families and those at risk of homelessness, and we handle any issues swiftly and responsibly.”
Bacon owned up to missing “a number of meetings” and called it “regrettable.” On the FPPC complaints, he said, “I take ownership of that and I really have no excuse.
“But they did find that the harm to the public was minimal and they also said there was no intent to hide money,” Bacon said in an interview Monday, adding the site contains “the normal slurs against me.”
The most recent campaign finance records available show Bacon has received $224,276 to date and spent $99,504, including $50,150 alone on TV ads, according to the Sept. 21 filing. Bacon, who previously served on council between 2012 and 2020, claims to provide an approach to government unencumbered by the “special interests” of developers and real estate money. His interests, he says, include protecting open spaces, caution when considering new housing and commercial developments and increasing investment in homeless services and safe parking spaces.
He said the anti-Salwan website is intended to show Salwan’s “priorities are maximizing the profits at his facilities, and not providing people with a decent place to live.”
“That’s why he treats the people at his properties the way he does,” Bacon said in an interview with this news organization.
Salwan, meanwhile, continues to outspend and out fundraise Bacon.
As of Sept. 21, Salwan had received a total of $104,302 in contributions. He spent $124,491.02 to date, with $52,782.30 on hand. That doesn’t account for $85,000 he loaned his campaign on Oct. 3, which came in addition to a $70,000 personal loan made in August. The website attacking Bacon was created by a committee called Preserving Agriculture in Alameda County Supporting Raj Salwan for Mayor 2024, which received $60,000 on Oct. 9 from a contributor called Golden State from Norwalk in Southern California.
Salwan has repeatedly stood for increasing funding for police, most recently this year championing a proposal to approve a 2 percent retention raise for Fremont’s officers. He has promised to “keep taxes low,” while preserving open space, funding road work and public facilities improvements and reducing homelessness and high-density luxury housing.
“What’s even more telling is that despite serving on the City Council for eight years, with his wife serving an additional four years — a total of 12 years combined — Vinnie Bacon doesn’t have the support of a single councilmember who worked alongside him,” Salwan wrote. “This speaks volumes about his ability to collaborate and lead.”
Meanwhile, Salwan has scored endorsements from the Fremont police and fire unions, Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Treasurer Fiona Ma, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, state Attorney General Rob Bonta, Assemblymember Evan Low, Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert and Mei, who is termed out after serving eight years as Fremont’s mayor.
Bacon highlighted his own notable endorsements, including state Senator Aisha Wahab, Assemblyman Alex Lee and current Fremont Councilwoman Teresa Cox. The Muslim Democrats and Friends Club of Alameda County, the American Muslim PAC and the Working Families Party have also endorsed Bacon.