SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ed Berger cast his vote for Cindy Chavez in the San Jose mayor’s race, but he wasn’t totally surprised by the political veteran’s narrow loss to newcomer Matt Mahan.
While he thought Chavez did a fine job representing the downtown area on the City Council years ago, the Northside Neighborhood Association president felt Mahan had tapped into a frustration among residents that put Chavez, now a Santa Clara County supervisor, on the defensive. Many feel the neighborhood has been “overrun” with homeless people, and aren’t clear what Chavez and the county — the key local provider of homeless services — have been doing to help.
“That may have been part of Cindy’s problem,” Berger said.
Now, it will become Mahan’s problem to solve. The former social media executive and schoolteacher elected two years ago to the District 10 City Council seat campaigned with a fresh Silicon Valley-style approach to use metrics and accountability to lead America’s 10th largest city. His message seemed to tap into voters’ frustration, and his personal touch — including numerous face-to-face coffees with voters — proved distinctive amid the expensive attack ads that threatened to overshadow the race.
“He won because he was clearly articulating a message that resonated with residents who are fed up with the current environment of trash and homelessness, and to an extent crime,” said Pierluigi Oliverio, a Willow Glen Neighborhood Association board member and former councilman, who said he was neutral in the race.
To be sure, Mahan’s message was off-putting to many. Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, a civil rights and criminal justice reform advocacy group in San Jose, felt the Mahan campaign rhetoric demonized the poor and desperate, and was surprised most voters went along.
“I was really concerned with the framing, how he interpreted public safety, the further criminalization of poor people, people of color and all the fallout that happens as a result,” said Jayadev, adding his nonprofit was politically neutral in the race. “San Jose is already hurting and suffering from a really challenging economic moment we’re in. The houselessness epidemic is one of the worst I’ve seen, and the idea that we might police our way out of homelessness or incarcerate our way out of economic inequality is what I’m concerned with.”
The race between the two Democrats was close — Mahan edged Chavez 51.26% to 48.74%, and she conceded on Wednesday. But given Chavez’s advantages in experience, name recognition and funding, with $5 million in campaign contributions and independent political committee backing to Mahan’s $3 million, former Mayor Tom McEnery, who supported Mahan, called his victory “an historic election, as important as any I can remember.”
Mahan also had the endorsement of outgoing Mayor Sam Liccardo and support from business and real estate groups. But Chavez was backed by Mahan’s City Council colleagues, labor unions and some influential business leaders, from the San Francisco 49ers ownership to Carl Guardino, former president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. She also had decades of experience on the City Council and Board of Supervisors.
Chavez even won over former city leaders with whom she’d sparred in years past, like Rose Herrera, the former District 8 City Council member and president of the United Veterans Council of Santa Clara County. Herrera said she was impressed with Chavez’s leadership during the pandemic, and wanted to see another woman mayor.
“I thought she would win with her experience and years being involved and all the endorsements she received,” Herrera said. “But the voters made their decision.”
McEnery said Mahan benefited from an effective grassroots campaign, tirelessly sitting down with residents over coffee to talk about their concerns. While Mahan was being pummeled in TV and radio ads by Chavez’s big-money allies, he spoke to residents about problems they could plainly see.
“I’ve never seen anybody connect like Matt did with normal people,” McEnery said. “I think it becomes a case of people saying, should I believe those ads or my own eyes?”
Eduardo Arellano, former president of the Lucretia Area Neighborhood Association in central San Jose, saw what others were seeing.
“I see just homeless hanging around everywhere,” Arellano said. “They make a mess everywhere. That’s the biggest problem we have.”
Mike Kraus, president of northeast San Jose’s Penitencia Neighborhood Association, said Mahan had a clarity in his responses that persuaded him.
“Matt was more definitive in his responses,” Kraus said. “I was impressed with Matt’s ability to communicate. It was how he projected himself was how he convinced me, and maybe that’s what convinced others.”
The challenge for Mahan now will be to mend fences and move forward with a City Council that largely backed his opponent, with an unusually short time to prove himself. Due to a voter-approved realignment of the city’s mayoral elections to presidential elections, he’ll have to run again in two years. Mahan, who just turned 40, will be among the city’s youngest mayors.
“Mayor-elect Mahan is in a position to bring together the community and his council colleagues to help San Jose in its pandemic recovery,” said Scott Knies, executive consultant to the San Jose Downtown Association, who said Mahan won by capturing the political center, as is typically the case in the city’s mayoral elections.
Herrera noted that Mahan has “got a very short time frame to establish relationships and collaboration with his colleagues on the City Council. But even though they didn’t support him, I think they will support anything that’s reasonable. I want whoever’s mayor to be successful.”
Jayadev said he’d like to see Mahan reach out to the justice reform advocates with a shift in tone.
“I feel like he went pretty extra on the rhetoric – that’s not the way to govern,” Jayadev said. “I’m hoping he backs off that and meets with those who are really hurting right now and looking for political leadership.”
McEnery said he’s hopeful that the city bureaucracy and other elected officials will work with Mahan.
“The people certainly want to give him a chance,” McEnery said. “And it’s good to side with the people of San Jose.”
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