Hundreds of thousands of dollars are pouring into a special election to represent San Jose’s downtown neighborhoods on the City Council for the next two years.
Campaign finance filings show Matthew Quevedo, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Matt Mahan, has raised the most money so far, with more than $200,000. Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabby Chavez-Lopez and San Jose Planning Commission Chair Anthony Tordillos are in second and third for fundraising, with more than $122,000 and $120,000 raised respectively. The special election is scheduled for April 8.
Seven candidates are vying for the open seat. Quevedo, Chavez-Lopez and Tordillos are the frontrunners, with pro tem judge Irene Smith, retired family counselor Tyrone Wade, retired sheriff Lt. Adam Duran and Philip Dolan, a knife sharpener salesman, also vying for the seat.
Quevedo has also spent the most money — more than $70,000 — leaving him with roughly $128,264 on hand.
Notable donors to Quevedo’s campaign include landlord advocacy group California Apartment Association, a statewide PAC, GFC Courage Committee, which supported retail theft crackdown measure Proposition 36, and executives at developer firms such as Madrone Ventures and Swenson Builders.
Quevedo said his fundraising lead reflects neighbors’ enthusiasm for priorities such as getting homeless people off the street, safe neighborhoods, affordable housing and making San Jose “the most small business-friendly city in America.”
“Our neighbors are ready for City Hall to work faster on these common-sense priorities, and I will be proud to fight for them every day on the city council,” Quevedo told San José Spotlight.
Chavez-Lopez’s fundraising committee saw more support from food, construction and public employee labor unions, organizers from community groups such as Working Partnerships USA and SV@Home and local businesses. She also reported donations from lobbyists including Teresa Alvarado of PG&E, which Chavez-Lopez later refunded.
Tordillos’ campaign received a large boost from himself, with loans totaling $20,000 and a self-contribution of more than $70,000. Donations came from tech industry colleagues at companies such as Meta and Apple, as well as the Silicon Valley Young Democrats and an organizer for California YIMBY.
Notable donors to Smith’s campaign include Silicon Valley property management companies Bollinger Rentals LLC and Zell Associates, residential real estate broker Rich Crowley and John Davis, Jr., the CEO of a private investment company and managing partner at Club Auto Sport. Smith also loaned herself $10,000.
Notable donations to Duran’s fundraising committee came from family members and individuals living in and outside of San Jose. Among Duran’s top San Jose donors is Juan Gallardo, an enterprise architect for Santa Clara County. Duran also loaned himself $20,000 and donated another $5,000 to his committee.
Two candidates — Wade and Dolan — have not filed campaign finance forms.
City officials appointed Carl Salas, founder of engineering and technical services firm Salas O’Brien, to represent District 3 until voters choose a new councilmember.
The seat is open following former Councilmember Omar Torres’ resignation in disgrace after he was arrested for alleged child sex abuse.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X. Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
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