San Jose sets special election dates to fill open seat

San Jose officials and residents are gearing up for the race to replace disgraced former Councilmember Omar Torres and lift downtown from a troubled past few years.

The San Jose City Council has opted to hold a special election to fill Torres’ seat on April 8, with a June 24 runoff if necessary and results certified in August. City leaders will open the election nomination period from Dec. 16 to Jan. 10. During that time, they’ll also take applications from residents interested in becoming an appointed interim councilmember, who will represent District 3 until voters decide who fills the remainder of Torres’ term through 2026.

Councilmembers have agreed to make the interim appointment after the election filing period closes — ensuring no special election candidates have an incumbent advantage.

The last time the city held a special election to fill a vacancy was 2015, when voters elected former Councilmember Kansen Chu to the California Assembly. The end cost was nearly $1.2 million.

County elections officials say the special election to fill Torres’ open seat could cost $2 million to $3.2 million per election. That cost isn’t accounted for in this fiscal year’s budget, so funds would have to be appropriated from the general fund. The estimate for a runoff election would be included in the budget for next fiscal year.

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 — fueled a resident-led recall initiative, scrutiny over the city charter and a divide over how to fill his vacant seat.

Several residents are either considering or lining up for a run 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.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Comments (3)

Robert Dec 04, 2024 at 8:42AM

This time, let’s try leadership that is more moderate and not beholden to the nonprofits or the loud extreme political factions. We have an opportunity to elect free-thinking representation that will stand for what is best for San Jose and is passionate about working for “the people”.

C L Dec 04, 2024 at 10:47AM

I got an email from Irene Smith and she makes the most sense to me so far.

Here is what the email said:

“How the 2025 D3 race will not be like 2022

This time, it’s different.

When I ran for D3 councilmember in 2022 against Omar Torres, I think it’s fair to say that the race was fundamentally a contest between:

More of the same: Omar’s alignment with (what I consider to be the slow, expensive, lumbering) City Hall status quo, and;

Change (my calls for quicker, less expensive, more accountable reform to homelessness, housing, and fiscal oversight).

More of the same–won.

But as we kick off the D3 special election, I’m predicting a much more favorable landscape for reform candidates like me. Here’s why:

1.) The situation on the ground for residents in D3 has not improved. No fair-minded person can deny that blight, environmental degradation, crime, business failures, sideshows, traffic & parking problems–all remain at unacceptable levels in D3. And let’s be frank: whatever strategies local gov’t are implementing to fix these problems, aren’t getting it done in D3. Residents are hip to the excuses and prevarications from elected officials and are eager to see real change.

2.) Homelessness is only a little bit better–and is improving way too slowly. While the City and County have done some good things (SJ RV parking site, SCC rapid re-housing program, tiny homes, continued efforts on Homekey solutions) they’re small-ball answers to our big problems. A shelter here, safe parking there, a few more beds down the street–this won’t get it done. The significant solution missing from this strategy is large-scale congregate housing, much like the Salvation Army housing solutions, which I support 100%. And until we implement that kind of solution, we will be facing decades and decades of decay in D3.

3.) Democracy still under siege at City Hall. I remain floored that there were voices on the SJ Council calling for appointments instead of elections for D3. And whether it’s bond measures or increased taxes or eliminating public comment for infill housing, it’s as clear as Mt. Hamilton on a sunny day that City Council and Staff neither seek nor respond to popular will on important issues. We need a radical reimagining (with an Office of Public Outreach: Improving citizen input and trust in government such as I have advocated) of how the city identifies and responds to residents on key issues.

This time, the landscape has changed.

The wind’s at our back.

And this time, we can bring real change.

Irene”

I do disagree that “homelessness is better” but I generally agree with most of her points so far, and during the last election cycle. Potential candidates like Escobar are more of the same “young democrat ultra progresssive” group that fixates on more national social issues than the nuts and bolts of local politics.

David Poeschel Dec 04, 2024 at 4:35PM

From MN, “If none of the election candidates break the 50% vote threshold in the primary, the city would be obligated to hold a June runoff. In that case, the Registrar of Voters would not be able to certify the results at the City Council until the first week of August.” From SJSpotlight, “County elections officials say the special election to fill Torres’ open seat could cost $2 million to $3.2 million per election. That cost isn’t accounted for in this fiscal year’s budget, so funds would have to be appropriated from the general fund. The estimate for a runoff election would be included in the budget for next fiscal year.”

You know, folks, rank choice voting eliminates the need for a runoff and taxpayer direct costs, not to mention all the Labor and Chamber money poured into filling text messages and your mailbox with junk mail in exchange for getting “favorable treatment” from the elected representative.

San Jose sets special election dates to fill open seat

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