Editorial: San Jose mayor should not run for governor

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is making the rounds. He’s all over national and statewide TV news stations, splashed across the pages of California’s top news websites and flooding our social media feeds.

The media circus is centered around Mahan’s not-so-subtle hints that he might run for governor. After about six years in local politics, Mahan believes he has what it takes to run America’s most populous state and the world’s fifth largest economy.

But the move shortchanges hundreds of thousands of San Jose residents who elected him mayor four years ago. He promised change, innovation and solutions to the city’s most urgent problems — affordable housing, homelessness, blight and public safety — that leaders before him couldn’t solve. But without even completing a full mayoral term, Mahan is ready to bail and move up the political ranks.

It’s starting to become a pattern. Mahan has never served a full term in any political role, which leaves one wondering if his potential brief stint in San Jose was only meant to be the first rung on the political ladder.

He won a San Jose City Council seat in March 2020 — and before the ink could dry on his new letterhead, he was eyeing the mayor’s seat. He won the mayor’s race in November 2022 and he’s already looking for the nearest exit.

San Jose residents deserve a mayor squarely focused on the city’s issues and its future — not one who has eyes on Sacramento.

And the city’s challenges are far from over.

A count last year found San Jose has 6,503 homeless residents, up 237 people from two years ago. In Santa Clara County, chronic homelessness increased 21% with 4,650 people who have been homeless for a year or longer.

Mahan touts his office’s initiative to move 1,000 homeless people off the streets into temporary shelters. But he dipped into revenue from a voter-approved measure to accomplish this, diverting dollars from permanent housing to temporary housing. Experts across the region agree that without enough permanent housing, Mahan’s plan is unsustainable — people will end up back on the streets.

To date, the city has permitted just 9% of its state-mandated target of building 62,200 homes by 2031.

Is the solution to put people in tents or parking lots full of RVs because they can’t afford rent in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.? Is this the formula he will take to Sacramento?

The most recent Silicon Valley Pain Index report found 40% of renters and homeowners in the region are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing. San Jose is the most expensive large U.S. city when it comes to household bills.

And the wealth divide keeps growing: 30% of Silicon Valley households are not self-sufficient, and 37% of children live in households at risk of food insecurity.

The Milken Institute ranked the San Jose metropolitan area 108th out of 200 large metro areas nationally in a report last year evaluating cities on tech sector growth, labor market and access to economic opportunities. Ten years ago San Jose was ranked No.1. The city’s retail growth is also one of the slowest in the nation.

Mahan’s idea to force people with severe mental illness or substance use disorders into treatment is stymied by the lack of state funding for in-patient beds and shortage of health care workers. The same problem exists with public safety measure Proposition 36. Mahan argues Sacramento has refused to fund the voter-approved initiative to punish people accused of repeated drug and theft crimes. How will Mahan allow those dollars to flow amid a budget deficit?

When it comes to climate, the city is falling behind in its goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2030. The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes San Jose, ranks second for regions people are moving away from.

While these problems persist, Mahan has posted countless times on social media about Sacramento politics, statewide issues and shared media interviews about his potential gubernatorial run. He’s redirected his focus away from the job San Jose residents elected him to do.

Is he doing this on city time, using his office’s resources? If yes, it’s an undeniable abuse of power and violation of public trust and taxpayer resources. If not, he is shifting time and energy from his actual taxpayer-funded job — helping San Jose residents — to engage in political theater across the state.

Mahan had the hubris to invite candidates for governor to San Jose to size them up and decide if they can lead California. Then he declared none of them have a clear and bold vision to improve the economy or well-being of Californians. So with a grand total of about six years in government under his belt, Mahan thinks he can do the job better.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with political change and fresh leadership. One could argue the state’s biggest challenges are exacerbated by the establishment of entrenched politicians who are no longer effective.

But to do that, there needs to be some record of success. Mahan has not done that. He is a freshman politician looking for a big break at the expense of the city that brought him this far.

Maybe after the headlines fade and the news cycle ends, the mayor will stop political grandstanding and get back to work — serving the city of San Jose.

Ramona Giwargis is co-founder of San José Spotlight. Contact Ramona Giwargis at [email protected] or follow @RamonaGiwargis on X. Moryt Milo is an editor at San José Spotlight. Contact Moryt at [email protected] or follow her at @morytmilo on X.