Spending has skyrocketed on the eve of San Jose’s special election, which will determine who will represent downtown on the City Council.
Heading into Election Day, Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Matt Mahan, is holding on to his fundraising lead with about $271,000 raised, according to recent campaign filings. Among the seven candidates, San Jose Planning Commission Chair Anthony Tordillos is second in fundraising, overtaking Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabby Chavez-Lopez since the previous filing deadline, raising about $163,000 to her nearly $152,000.
The special election is scheduled for April 8. If no candidate gets 50% of the vote, the top two vote getters will head to a June 24 runoff.
Along with the thousands of dollars spent by candidates, seven political action committees have spent more than $800,000 on the race, including on a flurry of last-minute attack ads against Quevedo and Chavez-Lopez.
Seven candidates are vying for the open seat in District 3, including Quevedo, Tordillos, Chavez-Lopez, pro tem judge Irene Smith, retired family counselor Tyrone Wade, retired sheriff Lt. Adam Duran and Philip Dolan, a knife sharpener salesman.
Campaign war chests
Quevedo has raised $271,687 and spent $245,485, leaving him with roughly $26,000 on hand. He previously said he was honored by the support his campaign has received.
Quevedo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kurt Frewing, campaign spokesperson for Tordillos, said they’re proud of where Tordillos stands in terms of fundraising, especially since he hasn’t received money from large companies. He said Tordillos is continuing to knock on doors going into Election Day.
“We feel confident,” Frewing told San José Spotlight. “Voters do not want a candidate that’s in the pocket of PG&E, private prisons and corporations, they want a candidate who’s on their side.”
Tordillos and Chavez-Lopez have been close in their campaign fundraising. Chavez-Lopez said she’s not worried about having been overtaken, as her campaign hit her fundraising goal.
“We had a really clear program from the beginning,” Chavez-Lopez told San José Spotlight. “We reached our goal in the last fundraising period. Since then, I and my team have been really focused on just connecting with voters and making sure that we can meet them where they’re at.”
Special interests
A handful of PACs have spent more than $200,000 alone on negative campaigning in the past week. The PACs are using their money to support or oppose two candidates — Quevedo and Chavez-Lopez.
The biggest spender has been the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council Committee on Political Education Sponsored by South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, which has spent more than $424,000 to support Chavez-Lopez. Expenditures range from feeding door knocking volunteers to yard signs and buttons to mailers and online ads. The group is funded by more than 100 unions across the region.
Common Good Silicon Valley, a PAC created in 2021 by freshman Congressmember and former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, has spent more than $77,000 on digital ads, literature and text campaigns to support Quevedo. Liccardo stepped away from the PAC six months after it formed, though he’s endorsing Quevedo in the District 3 race. In the past few months, the PAC has received funding from various local businesses, including a coalition of fast-food franchise owners.
A flurry of spending at the end of last week and into the weekend has focused on negative advertisements. The California Association of Realtors, which represents real estate agents statewide, has spent more than $147,000 on polling, digital advertisements and mailers — all opposing Chavez-Lopez.
A PAC formed in March to support Chavez-Lopez has spent almost equal amounts to support her and oppose Quevedo. The PAC — Working Families in Support of Gabby Chavez-Lopez for City Council 2025 — is primarily funded by large companies, such as PG&E, Chevron and Walmart.
Many of these PACs have a vested interest in topics the city council is primed to weigh in on, from fast-food workers rights to housing and homelessness solutions.
Chavez-Lopez said she “remains positive” in light of a slew of negative campaign mailers and other advertising that’s circulated in the final week. She doesn’t know why a committee of companies has formed to support her, though she disagrees with special interests’ involvement in elections at all.
“Dark money is gross and it doesn’t feel great having anybody being attacked, whether it’s me or any of the other candidates,” Chavez-Lopez said.
Other candidates have slammed Chavez-Lopez and Quevedo for their special interest support and connection to the negative campaigning.
“In the last week, with all this spending, it’s been more clear than ever that Gabby Chavez-Lopez and Matthew Quevedo are on the side of the corporate special interests that are backing their campaigns,” Frewing said.
Story updated April 8 at 9:26 a.m. Original story published April 7 at 6:02 p.m.
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
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