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Now in her second term as the District 5 council representative, Magdalena Carrasco describes the East San José district—home to the Mexican Heritage Plaza, the National Hispanic University campus, and Alum Rock Park—as “a vibrant mix of neighborhoods that create a unique sense of community for residents and businesses.” Carrasco graduated from Independence High School in San Jose; the first in her family to finish high school, she went on to get a degree in Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara. After college, she came back home and spent a decade with the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children Services.
As the District 5 councilmember, she has fought illegal dumping and graffiti, hosting community clean-ups with more than 4,000 hours of volunteer service for these East Side projects. She also focuses on policies that help women and families, including the passage of the Women's Bill of Rights, and increased aid to domestic violence survivors and victims of human trafficking. In November of 2020, Carrasco mounted a campaign for the seat Dave Cortese vacated on the County Board of Supervisors; she was defeated by former Sunnyvale mayor Otto Lee.
First elected: November 2014
Twitter bio: Mother of four amazing children, Councilmember & Fmr Vice Mayor of San José, representing the East Side.
Other offices held: Eastside Union High School District Board (2013-2014)
Notable quote: “These are the issues that I want to grapple with and address head on at the county board, so it just feels like a very natural fit. We need to make sure that whatever seeds we sow, we will be happy with the harvest 10 to 20 years from now.” (Source: San Jose Spotlight)
Committee, board and commission assignments
Community & Economic Development
Neighborhood, Services & Education Committee
Arts Commission
Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force
Santa Clara County Health Benefits Coalition
Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency Governing Board
Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority Board
Santa Clara VTA Policy Advisory Board: Eastridge to BART
San Jose residents want a neighborhood improvement initiative to restart after it sunsetted last June due to lack of funding.
Latino members of the San Jose City Council are calling for more funding for undocumented immigrant protections as the incoming presidential administration threatens to ramp up deportations.
If no candidate receives a majority on April 8, the top two candidates will run against each other in a special runoff election on June 24. The winner will serve the remainder of the term through 2026.
Housing and business developers in San Jose avoid building public improvements by paying fees to the city, but this often leads to infrastructure projects slowing to a crawl.
