Silicon Valley voters this November will cast ballots in one of the region’s most consequential elections: From deciding who to send to Washington to a historic county supervisorial election, there is no shortage of major decisions up and down the ballot.
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Former San Jose assistant police chief jumps into sheriff’s race
A former police officer is stepping into the increasingly crowded election for Santa Clara County sheriff. Dave Knopf, former assistant chief of the San Jose Police Department, filed papers last week to run for sheriff. Knopf began his career in law enforcement working for the Morgan Hill Police Department in 1988. He transferred to SJPD in...
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UPDATE: San Jose to explore extending voting rights to noncitizens
San Jose will explore a proposal to allow immigrants who are not U.S. citizens to participate in local elections. After hours of passionate public testimony, the City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday night to explore a plan proposed by Councilmembers Magdalena Carrasco and Sylvia Arenas to extend voting rights to noncitizen residents. Councilmember Dev Davis casted...
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Longtime political figure joins race for San Jose City Council seat
Rosemary Kamei, who’s represented Silicon Valley in a variety of public roles, is throwing her hat into the District 1 San Jose City Council race. Kamei brings 30 years of experience in local politics from having served on Morgan Hill’s Planning Commission and Valley Water board to most recently sitting on the Santa Clara County...
San Jose lawmaker running for county supervisor
San Jose Councilmember Sylvia Arenas is running for Santa Clara County District 1 supervisor, campaign filings show. The newly drawn District 1 expanded during a contentious redistricting process to include San Jose neighborhoods like Evergreen and Silver Creek—the area Arenas currently represents on the City Council—allowing her to throw her hat into the race. District 1...
Santa Clara County supervisor candidate moves to stay in race
Santa Clara County supervisor candidate Johnny Khamis is moving back into District 1 after a contentious redistricting process drew him out. The Board of Supervisors moved Almaden Valley and Los Gatos out of District 1 into District 5 at the end of last year, as part of a once-in-a-decade adjustment of political boundaries to account for population changes. The redistricting...
San Jose mayoral candidate Matt Mahan leads pack on fundraising
Cash is flooding into San Jose’s mayoral race—a sign the election is going to prove costly for all contenders. Councilmember Matt Mahan leads the way, raising $504,000 from roughly 1,000 donors during the first 23 days of San Jose’s fundraising period. Mahan, a tech entrepreneur who announced his mayoral campaign a little over a year after...
What’s in store for Silicon Valley in 2022?
Lawmakers in Silicon Valley have wrapped up a tumultuous and busy year. 2021 was marked with major decisions that will have a lasting impact on the region—as well as those that lay the groundwork for future changes. With the world entering the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, local businesses struggling to recover, housing costs exploding and San...
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San Jose mayoral candidate polls residents on defunding police
A San Jose mayoral candidate is taking a stand against defunding the police, even though there has been little public conversation around the topic for months. San José Spotlight obtained a picture of a flyer that appears to originate from Councilmember Matt Mahan’s mayoral campaign. The flyer asks, “Should we defund the police?” Then claims there are...
Silicon Valley lawmakers to run for reelection in redrawn districts
Four South Bay assemblymembers intend to run for reelection in newly drawn state districts, but one has to relocate. Assemblymembers Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), Evan Low (D-Cupertino), Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and Alex Lee (D-San Jose) are running for reelection in districts that have changed in size, population counts and number. The new redrawn state...
Final congressional map splits San Jose into four districts
In a surprising upset, the state commission charged with redrawing California’s political boundaries drew San Jose into four districts after briefly considering an option that would have limited it to three. The California Citizens Redistricting Commission voted Monday night to approve a map that places San Jose in four congressional districts: 16, 17, 18 and...