Will San Jose mayor face fallout after running for governor?

When San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced his run for California governor in January, the news divided residents. Longtime supporters cheered on Mahan’s bid to elevate his centrist brand of politics into the statewide policy conversation. But the decision to seek higher office before reaching the halfway mark in his four-year term also drew sharp criticism.

Even now with the campaign over — Mahan conceded shortly after polls closed Tuesday — the four-month foray into statewide politics remains as polarizing as ever in San Jose, suggesting the local political fallout may have just begun.

San Jose residents told San José Spotlight Mahan’s decision to run has led them to question his commitment to the city he leads. Meanwhile, the campaign’s reliance on financial support from wealthy tech benefactors has inflamed mistrust among the city’s already skeptical progressives. And in the eyes of some, his lackluster performance at the polls — even in Santa Clara County he drew just 9% of the votes — has exposed deep political vulnerability.

“It weakens his ability to govern the city because there’s blood in the water, and others have taken notice,” one City Hall insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told San José Spotlight. “He’s going to be in for a real fight coming up.”

In the near term, such perceived political weakness could stiffen opposition against Mahan’s local policy agenda. Further out, it could complicate his reelection bid, should he choose to seek a second four-year term as mayor in 2028.

The political fault line opened by the campaign was on full display Tuesday evening. As San Jose’s most politically engaged residents flocked to election watch parties, they offered sharply diverging appraisals.

“I feel really proud that he is representing San Jose,” resident Jill Borders told San José Spotlight at Mahan’s watch party held at San Pedro Square. “When he was up there in the debates, I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s my mayor.’”

But across town, Paul Bayon, out at a Cambrian bar to cheer on District 9 City Council candidate Gordon Chester, said Mahan’s gubernatorial campaign has undermined his credibility with residents.

“It was a joke when he announced,” Bayon told San José Spotlight. “Myself, my friends, everyone that I knew said, ‘Good lord, this man never finishes anything he starts.’”

If Mahan’s attempt to make the jump to the governor’s office had succeeded, it would have marked the second time he had vacated an elected office early for a promotion. In 2022, he cut short his first term as District 10 councilmember after winning that year’s mayoral election against former Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.

Responding to the criticism, Mahan has framed his bid for the governor’s office as an extension of his commitment to San Jose. He argues that only reform at the state level will be sufficient to solve the problems that have so far stymied progress on key quality of life issues for California cities, such as homelessness, high housing costs and crime.

Despite Mahan’s electoral defeat, spokesperson Seamus Gann credited the mayor with shaping the terms of the debate in the governor’s race, establishing some of his own policy priorities such as interim housing and performance dashboards in the broader conversation.

“Mayor Mahan will hold the next governor accountable for delivering on those commitments and better outcomes for our state,” Gann told San José Spotlight.

Still, critics point to Mahan’s frequent absences from council meetings over the past four months as evidence of his divided attention.

Over the course of the campaign, the mayor has missed more than a third of City Council meetings, according to an analysis conducted by the Bay Area News Group.

Gann contends that throughout the campaign, Mahan has remained closely involved in city governance, overseeing major initiatives such as homeless camp abatements, the preparation for this year’s series of major sporting events, as well as the city’s ongoing budget deliberations.

Mahan’s deep-pocketed tech-backers helped propel him to become the second highest fundraiser in the governor’s race. But the tech ties also made him a target for California’s labor-aligned political groups.

Meanwhile, aspects of Mahan’s policy platform — such as his rejection of a proposed statewide wealth tax on billionaires — have only widened the rift with the labor bloc in San Jose.

Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chair Bill James, an occasional Mahan critic, said the mayor will need to do more if he hopes to regain trust with rankled residents.

“I think (Mahan) would do well to turn back to San Jose now with some humility and some focus, and say, ‘I’m back, I’ve got some things wrong. Let’s talk about it, and let’s try to do some things for San Jose,’” James told San José Spotlight.

Amid the grumbling over Mahan’s absences, it appears at least one resident is attempting to organize more concerted opposition. In recent days, residents have been circulating a web page that asks others to join an effort to recall Mahan. It’s not clear when the page, apparently posted by resident and San Jose State University computer science faculty member Robert Nicholson, first appeared.

Nicholson did not respond to a request for comment.

District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, a member of the council’s majority business bloc, lauded Mahan’s campaign for putting “San Jose on the map” of California politics, a daunting task coming from a city that is often overlooked by state and national media.

“As the state’s third-largest city and a powerhouse of innovation, we should be unapologetic about taking up space and claiming our place in shaping California’s future — and if this campaign nudged us in that direction, that’s a real win for San Jose,” Mulcahy told San José Spotlight.

Whatever political fallout there may be, it ’s possible the consequences will be short lived, Garrick Percival, chair of the political science department at San Jose State University, said.

“I’m sure Mahan ruffled some feathers by running. He’s clearly an ambitious politician,” Percival told San José Spotlight. “(But) people tend to try to move past a lot of the tensions that come around campaigns.”

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.

Reporter Brandon Pho contributed to this story.