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Bien Doan beat incumbent councilmember Maya Esparza for the San Jose City Council District 7 seat in November 2022. Doan finished the race with 54% of the vote. He represents portions of central and East San Jose, including Kelley Park and the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds.
Doan immigrated to Porterville in 1975 from Vietnam. Prior to serving in office, he climbed the ranks in the San Jose Fire Department, eventually becoming the first Vietnamese-American fire captain in the department’s history. Doan is the co-founder and president of Vietnamese American City Employees (VACE). According to his campaign, his priorities while serving on the council include addressing homelessness, promoting environmental equity, improving city infrastructure and supporting public safety workers.
First elected: November 2022
Notable quote: “District 7 is a great district, multicultural. But the equity was never there. I’ve seen the unequal services compared to other districts. I’ve seen our citizens suffer.” (Source: San Jose Spotlight)
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.
