Going into Tuesday, there was little question that voters would give San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan another four years in office. Early results show Mahan winning by a wide margin against challenger Tyrone Wade.
But what remained unsettled was whether voters would deliver a City Council who will work with the current mayor to advance his moderate agenda — which includes building more interim housing for the homeless and reining in the city’s budget — or maintain the slim majority held by allies of labor groups who have pushed the mayor to compromise at times.
Five council seats in the city’s even-numbered districts are up for grabs, all attracting multiple candidates. Races will head to a runoff in November if no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote.
Early tallies gave Joe Lopez and Pamela Campos a lead in District 2, David Cohen with a lead over Kansen Chu in District 4, Michael Mulcahy and Olivia Navarro leading in District 6, incumbent Domingo Candelas and Tam Truong leading in District 8, and George Casey and incumbent Arjun Batra pulling ahead in District 10.
A ballot measure passed by voters in 2022 aligned the mayor’s race with presidential races, which forced Mahan to run for re-election just two years after he was first elected. This election gives Mahan a full four-year term — and he could serve another if he decides to run again in 2028.
Final election results may not be tallied for several days.
Mahan faced no serious competitors in the race, despite winning narrowly against Labor’s candidate, Santa Clara County Supervisor, Cindy Chavez, in the 2022 election. The election broke records for the amount spent in a mayoral campaign — but Chavez decided not to run again this year, and instead is asking voters for another term on the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors.
A former tech executive and political rookie, Mahan served two years on City Council before he ran for the city’s top post. He was backed by former Mayor Sam Liccardo, as well as business and real estate interests.
In the year since he took office as mayor, he struck a compromise with the City Council to reallocate some of the money voters approved to spend on affordable housing in Measure E to build more interim solutions like safe parking sites. He has also pushed for an encampment ban along San Jose’s waterways, and called for reform of Prop 47 to combat retail theft and drug crimes.
“We’ve got to do more to hold our government accountable for using the limited tax dollars we have to move the needle on our biggest challenges: unsheltered homelessness, crime, and the high cost of living,” Mahan said in a recent interview.
Despite facing no serious competitors, Mahan raised nearly $800,000 going into Tuesday’s election, spending mostly on voter awareness and phone banking, he said. San Jose law bars Mahan from carrying funds over to the next election, so he must either spend the leftover funds, donate them to a nonprofit, or turn them over the city’s general fund. As of March 3, his campaign had $317,547 in cash on hand.