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.
Santa Clara County supervisor race heats up with call for tax returns
Santa Clara County supervisorial candidate Otto Lee loaned his own campaign a staggering $460,000. Now his rival Kansen Chu wants to know if that money is clean. In a recent Facebook post, Chu demanded Lee disclose his income taxes and posted photos of his own 2019 federal tax returns. Chu, an assemblymember, challenged the the former...
Exclusive Q&A: U.S. House District 18 candidate Rep. Anna Eshoo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, is running for re-election against Democratic challenger Rishi Kumar. Eshoo was elected to Congress in 1992 and currently chairs the Subcommittee on Health and serves on the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Eshoo and Kumar were recently given the opportunity to answer the same 10 questions from San...
Santa Clara council candidates, 49ers, police union point fingers over campaign donations
The San Francisco 49ers have now poured millions more into a campaign to unseat Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s allies on the Santa Clara City Council — drawing the ire of the city’s police union. The NFL team initially invested $250,000 into a PAC to help elect Anthony Becker, Suds Jain, Harbir Bhatia and Kevin Park. The...
Kevin Park pushes for more collaboration on the Santa Clara council
Santa Clara City Council hopeful Kevin Park hopes to improve collaboration in the Mission City — rather than take the limelight. Park compared his mindset to that of Los Angeles Lakers guard Alex Caruso, his favorite player on his hometown basketball team. “(Caruso’s) the engineer on the team. He’s not there to make the spotlight plays,”...
San Jose asks voters if card room measure is worth the gamble
San Jose is betting on Measure H to boost its coffers by millions. Measure H would increase the gross revenue tax for Bay 101 Casino and Casino M8trix to 16.5 percent from 15 percent. Officials say the ballot measure is a byproduct of legal battles between the city and Bay 101, and San Jose recently approved...
Alum Rock Union School District candidates face off in new forum
East San Jose parents on Tuesday heard from three candidates vying for two seats on the Alum Rock Union School District. The half-hour long virtual forum, hosted by neighborhood group District 5 United, came three days after another Alum Rock candidate forum hosted by SOMOS Mayfair was canceled because only one candidate — Corina Herrera-Loera...
Exclusive Q&A: U.S. House District 18 candidate Rishi Kumar
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrat Rishi Kumar is attempting to replace Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, in November. Kumar is serving his second term on the Saratoga City Council and serves as an executive board member for the California Democratic Party. Kumar and Eshoo recently were given the opportunity to answer the same 10 questions from...
Harbir Bhatia aims to expand diversity on Santa Clara council
When Harbir Bhatia first came to the United States, she never envisioned drafting policy and working in government as part of the American dream. But now, Bhatia is vying for the District 1 Santa Clara City Council seat against incumbent Councilmember Kathy Watanabe as the city is embroiled in a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit, tensions with...
Kathy Watanabe fights for four more years in Santa Clara
Kathy Watanabe has spent much of her first four years on the Santa Clara City Council battling the 49ers, and she does not plan to stop if voters return her to the council for another four-year term representing District 1. The 49ers and the city have clashed over a variety of issues since 2010, including...
East San Jose candidates skip on school board forum
Alum Rock Union School District organizers scheduled a virtual forum with five board of trustees candidates Saturday morning – but when around 20 parents tuned in over Zoom, there was no candidate in sight. “Unfortunately we are not hosting the candidate forum today,” said Andrea Portillo of the East San Jose organization SOMOS Mayfair. “We...