Matt Mahan
Matt Mahan is theMayor of San Jose in California. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Mahan was born inSan Francisco, California, and grew up inWatsonville. In 2001, he graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, where he attended school on a work-study scholarship. In 2005, Mahan earned a bachelor's degree in social studies from Harvard University, where he also served as student body president. After college, he spent a year in Bolivia working on economic development projects and then spent two years as a Teach for America corps member in San Jose.[1][2]
In 2008, after Harvard dormmate and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg encouraged him to pursue a career in tech rather than law, Mahan joined Facebook co-founder Sean Parker's fundraising application startup Causes, where he held positions as vice president of partnerships, chief operating officer, and chief executive officer and president. In 2014, Causes was sold to Brigade, a civic engagement platform also funded by Parker. Mahan was a co-founder and chief executive officer of Brigade. In 2019, Brigade's engineering team was hired by Pinterest, and its intellectual property was acquired by Countable.[1][2][3][4]
In 2018, Mahan was appointed to the San Jose Clean Energy Advisory Commission.[2] In2020, he ran for San Jose City Council and was elected to represent District 10 with 59% of the vote. In2022, he ran for mayor of San Jose, defeatingCindy Chavez 51%-49%. Municipal elections in San Jose are nonpartisan. Mahan is affiliated with theDemocratic Party.[5][6]
In his first term as mayor, Mahan named addressing homelessness in San Jose as one of his priorities.[7][8] In 2023, he said in an interview, "One bright spot that I’m very proud of and I think my predecessor, Sam Liccardo, deserves a lot of credit here, has been the success of our quick build interim housing units. We’ve seen an 11% decline in unsheltered homelessness year over year and it corresponds, it tracks quite closely to our expansion of interim housing[.] ... And it seems to be working, and I think we should be doubling down on that and other programs that are working, such as paying homeless individuals to clean up the city. We’re seeing that program work as well."[1]
Biography
Matt Mahan graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in 2001. He earned a bachelor's degree in social studies from Harvard University in 2005.[2]
Elections
2024
See also: Mayoral election in San Jose, California (2024)
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of San Jose
IncumbentMatt Mahan won election outright againstTyrone Wade in the primary for Mayor of San Jose on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) | 86.6 | 144,701 |
 | Tyrone Wade (Nonpartisan) | 13.4 | 22,363 | |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 167,064 | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Mahan in this election.
2022
See also: Mayoral election in San Jose, California (2022)
General election
General election for Mayor of San Jose
Matt Mahan defeatedCindy Chavez in the general election for Mayor of San Jose on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) | 51.2 | 128,376 |
 | Cindy Chavez (Nonpartisan) | 48.8 | 122,329 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 250,705 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of San Jose
The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of San Jose on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cindy Chavez (Nonpartisan) | 39.1 | 65,501 |
| ✔ | | Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) | 32.3 | 54,076 |
 | Devora Davis (Nonpartisan) | 10.9 | 18,235 | |
 | Raul Peralez (Nonpartisan) | 9.0 | 15,121 | |
| James Spence (Nonpartisan) | 6.9 | 11,549 | ||
| Travis Nicholas Hill (Nonpartisan) | 1.0 | 1,722 | ||
 | Marshall Woodmansee (Nonpartisan) | 0.7 | 1,199 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 167,403 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jonathan Esteban (Nonpartisan)
2020
See also: City elections in San Jose, California (2020)
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 10
Matt Mahan won election outright againstHelen Wang andJenny Higgins Bradanini in the primary for San Jose City Council District 10 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) | 58.5 | 15,387 |
| Helen Wang (Nonpartisan) | 22.3 | 5,865 | ||
| Jenny Higgins Bradanini (Nonpartisan) | 19.1 | 5,031 | ||
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 26,283 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Matt Mahan did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Matt Mahan did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Matt Mahan did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate Mayor of San Jose | Officeholder Mayor of San Jose | Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.11.2KQED, "Matt Mahan on Zuckerberg's Advice and Homeless Housing in San Jose," September 28, 2023
- ↑2.02.12.22.3LinkedIn, "Matt Mahan," accessed December 10, 2024
- ↑Office of Mayor Matt Mahan, "Meet Matt," accessed December 10, 2024
- ↑TechCrunch, "Sean Parker’s Brigade/Causes acquired by govtech app Countable," May 1, 2019
- ↑San Jose Spotlight, "New San Jose business PAC announces endorsements in council races," September 13, 2019
- ↑The Mercury News, "2022 Election: Five takeaways from Election Night in California and beyond," updated November 9, 2022
- ↑The Mercury News, "New law proposed to remove homeless encampments from creeks in San Jose, Santa Clara County," May 17, 2024
- ↑SiliconValley.com, "Mayor: San Jose must tackle ‘crisis of homelessness’ and make tough choices," June 3, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sam Liccardo | Mayor of San Jose 2023-Present | Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Johnny Khamis | San Jose City Council District 10 2021-2022 | Succeeded by Arjun Batra |
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