Disgraced San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres’ replacement will be decided in a special election.
The San Jose City Council’s 8-2 vote on Tuesday was met with applause. Councilmembers Sergio Jimenez and David Cohen voted against the special election, arguing they’re more costly and tend to yield lower voter turnout which favors wealthier candidates. But a majority of councilmembers said it’s time to let District 3 voters — set back by a pandemic, empty storefronts and blight — choose their next leader and close one of the darkest chapters in city history.
“We have a lot of work to do to ensure that everyone is aware that an election is happening and I take seriously (the) point about participation rates, though I would still prefer the collective wisdom of 100,000 District 3 residents over the collective wisdom of 10 councilmembers,” Mayor Matt Mahan said before the vote.
Councilmembers will hammer out the details of the special election process at their next meeting on Dec. 3. They’ll also mull over how to appoint an interim leader. Officials agreed to hold off on an appointment until after the special election candidate filing period closes — ensuring none of the candidates have an incumbent advantage.
City Clerk Toni Taber said if the filing period for special election candidates opened on Dec. 16, an initial election could happen on April 8 and a runoff on June 24.
“This timeline is not set in stone. The final date will come back to council on Dec. 3 in a resolution calling the election,” Taber told San José Spotlight.
Jimenez, who favored an appointment, denied the notion it is undemocratic and echoed concerns about disenfranchisement from low voter turnout in a special election. He also warned that the victor of the special election, who would serve for the remainder of Torres’ term through December 2026, could find themselves “perpetually running for office” if they sought reelection.
“When we’re running for reelection, we’re not alway present mentally and physically. I think we have to be careful what they ask for,” Jimenez said before the vote.
Councilmember Dev Davis acknowledged special elections get lower turnout, but said circumstances in District 3 are unique. Given the media coverage of Torres, she argued more people will likely be aware of their opportunity to weigh in on his successor.
“I think people in District 3 are going to be much more aware that their seat is open and why it is open,” Davis said.
A speaker wearing military clothes goes on an explicit tirade about council-appointed council members, speaking over Mayor @MattMahanSJ and drawing several police officers toward him at the podium @SJSpotlight pic.twitter.com/VnUgfFVAgb
— brandon pho (@brandonphooo) November 19, 2024
More than a dozen residents spoke at the meeting, with most favoring a special election.
“I know it’s expensive, but no one said democracy is easy. It’s the price we have to pay. If you make an appointment and we wait for another two years to come up with an election, you’re going to have a lot of disgruntled people in District 3,” resident Jeff Levine said in public comment.
Various downtown economic interest groups showed up to echo Levine’s position, including Alex Stettinski, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, and Kat Angelov, a representative for the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
Local economist and Planning Commission Vice Chair Chuck Cantrell joined other speakers’ last ditch appeal for an appointment.
“I think to spend $3 million on a special election, which is likely to be very low turnout, is likely going to disenfranchise the very people you’re trying to protect,” Cantrell said. “When you run these elections in such short periods of time, the outcome is generally the person who has the most money wins. And that is not how we do democracy.”
Several residents are lining up to represent the city’s downtown core, including Mayor Matt Mahan’s Deputy Chief of Staff Matthew Quevedo, Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabriela Chavez-Lopez, Planning Commission Chair Anthony Tordillos, engineer Carl Salas, attorney Irene Smith and County Housing Policy Analyst and longtime politico Aimee Escobar.
The District 3 seat’s new officeholder could tip the scales of power between labor and business interests in the Bay Area’s largest city. Torres’ successor will have another task: picking up the pieces of an unprecedented scandal. Torres’ Nov. 5 arrest and resignation — amid an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged child sex abuse — has fueled weeks of City Hall unrest, a resident-led recall initiative, scrutiny over the city charter and a divide over how to fill his vacant seat.
Torres’ downfall began when police detained and released him after confiscating his electronic devices and searching his home and car. He dismissed the criminal investigation into him as “political retaliation” and maintained he was a victim.
A week later, a police affidavit revealed he sent lewd texts about minors with a Chicago man allegedly extorting him. Torres dismissed the texts as role-play and fantasy. But the affidavit prompted a relative to come forward to police with new allegations that Torres molested him while he was a minor in the 1990s. Torres resigned on Election Day just hours before his stunning arrest. He has been denied bail and is now awaiting a plea hearing scheduled for Friday.
Labor interests held a narrow council majority with Torres in power and would have continued to, even after Election Day, had he not been charged with child molestation. Now Torres is in jail — and the result could shape policies around developer incentives and worker safety protections, among others.
Appointment proponents came out on top the last time San Jose faced this crossroads in late 2022 — when officials had to fill seats left vacant when Mahan moved up to mayor and then-Councilmember Sylvia Arenas won election to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
The cost of a special election could come with a $2 million to $3.2 million price tag. A special election likely wouldn’t happen until late spring 2025 with a runoff and certification of votes in the summer.
Davis questioned whether the council could avoid a runoff election — holding just one — to cut the cost of two. But San Jose’s charter is clear: Runoffs have to happen if, in an initial election, none of the candidates win more than 50% of the vote.
It prompted Davis to pose the idea of a charter amendment to carve out exceptions for special elections.
“It’s probably worth it for the city council next year to have a real, true discussion on that point and how vacancies, which have seemed to come up more commonly, should be attended to,” Davis said.
Story updated Nov. 19 at 5:29 p.m. Original story published Nov. 19 at 4:17 p.m.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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