Official Links: WEBSITE CALENDAR BUDGET ONLINE PAYMENT PORTAL FACEBOOK
Until he won the 2022 mayoral race, Matt Mahan was a councilmember in San Jose District 10, which includes Almaden, Blossom Hill, Santa Teresa, and Vista Park. According to his campaign site, Mahan was raised by working-class parents (a schoolteacher and a letter carrier) in the town of Watsonville, where he developed an interest in local politics. That passion stuck with Mahan, who began working with Causes, an early Facebook app that enabled people to raise awareness and funds for their favorite nonprofits, eventually becoming CEO. In 2014, Mahan co-founded Brigade along with a few colleagues. Brigade built the world’s first voter network: nonpartisan peer-to-peer organizing tools that can be found in the Apple and Android app stores. Brigade’s team and intellectual property were recently acquired by Pinterest and Countable, respectively—leaving him free to campaign for City Council.
First elected: Nov. 3, 2020
Alma mater: Harvard University (bachelor’s degree in social studies)
Former public service: Clean Energy Citizen Advisory Commission, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Almaden Valley Community Association, District 10 Leadership Coalition, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, San Jose Rotary
Notable quote: “There’s something incredibly fulfilling about the interpersonal side of local government and being face to face with people and getting to know them really personally, which is something you kind of miss in the tech sector,” Mahan told San Jose Inside.
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.
