The jockeying over how to fill Omar Torres’ soon-to-be vacant San Jose District 3 City Council seat has begun as Mayor Matt Mahan said a proposal to appoint a replacement before the end of the year “reeks of politics.”
The District 3 seat will become vacant on Nov. 27 — potentially shifting the balance of power between labor and business — after the embattled Torres tendered his resignation following his arrest last week on child molestation charges. The case is unrelated to another sexual misconduct probe that had residents and political leaders already clamoring for his ouster.
City leaders have two options: an appointment or a special election.
While District 2 Councilmember Sergio Jimenez has urged the city to have new leadership in place at the start of 2025, Mahan — who favors a special election to replace Torres — said the City Council should first understand and weigh its options before making a decision.
“I firmly believe voters should choose their representatives and there is no better vetting process,” Mahan said. “I understand an appointment is faster and cheaper. It doesn’t make it better.”
City leaders have been aware of a possible vacancy since last month, after Torres became the target of a police investigation into sexual allegations involving a child.
Despite the start of a recall campaign and calls from the San Jose Police Officers Association, the City Council and prominent political and business organizations.for him to step down, Torres maintained his innocence and asserted his desire to remain on the council.
However, that came to a crashing halt last week when a relative came forward and detailed years of molestation in the 1990s, including after Torres turned 18 and the victim was underage. Police said that Torres, 43, admitted to the crimes in a phone call with the victim that law enforcement officials were monitoring.
With the seat set to become vacant in two weeks, city leaders have two options: an appointment or a special election.
Research conducted by the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, or SPUR, found that the city has faced vacancies eight times over the past thirty-plus years, and has opted for the special election route in most instances.
The Council bucked that trend two years ago, despite overwhelming public support for a special election, when the seats in District 8 and 10 became available after then-Councilmembers Sylvia Arenas and Mahan won elections for other offices.
At the time, Jimenez, Arenas and District 6 Councilmember Dev Davis authored a memo advocating for an appointment, citing low voter turnout and a potential price tag between $7.6 million and $11.4 million for the two districts. Ultimately, the progressive majority on the Council opted for appointments, despite then Mayor Sam Liccardo’s comment that the move “brings shame to our city.”
Jimenez has made a similar argument in asking the City Council to set a special meeting before Dec. 27 to make an appointment.
“After the 2022 election, the City of San Jose deliberated extensively on the process for filling a vacant Council seat,” Jimenez wrote in a memo set to be heard at Wednesday’s Rules Committee meeting. “After careful analysis, the Council chose to proceed with the most efficient, cost-effective process — an appointment. With the recent resignation of Omar Torres, it is crucial that constituent services and representation of District 3 residents be addressed and restored as soon as possible.”
Jimenez’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Although the exact costs of a special election have yet to be determined, conservative estimates suggest the price tag could be at least a couple of million dollars. A special election would also mean District 3 could go several months without representation. Should none of the candidates receive 50% of the vote in the primary, the city would need to hold a runoff election.
District 4 Councilmember David Cohen and District 9 Councilmember Pam Foley have joined Mahan in asking the city to discuss its options first instead of voting on a pre-determined method for filling the seat.
Despite the downsides, many neighborhood leaders have spoken out in favor of a special election.
“There’s only one way to re-establish trust in our political system for D3, and that’s for us to take ownership through a direct election,” Vendome Neighborhood Association President Tim Clauson said. “A City Hall appointment wouldn’t re-establish D3 ownership because that’s just us delegating our problem to people who don’t even live here.”
The City Council’s last two appointments saw mixed results in this year’s election. While District 8 Councilmember Domingo Candelas — aided by his opponent Tam Truong briefly facing a felony fraud charge — appears headed to victory, George Casey zoomed to an insurmountable lead over District 10 Councilmember Arjun Batra.
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Residents who favor a direct election have pointed out that the circumstances of the District 3 vacancy differ from that of Districts 8 and 10.
“The upcoming vacancy is the result of widespread rejection of the councilmember by D3 voters, our City Council, and by his endorsers–not a vacancy caused (as during 2022’s appointments) by a popular (councilmember) moving on to another elected office,” said resident Irene Smith, who lost to Torres in the 2022 general election. “The only way to rectify this widespread repudiation of Torres is to re-establish trust through an election process. Any form of City Hall appointment could very easily become a backroom deal that will take away our district’s independence and sovereignty.”