Fremont City Councilmember Jenny Kassan Resigns, Helps Husband's Run for Mayor

Fremont City Councilmember Jenny Kassan is planning to resign from her post this year, in part to help support her husband’s candidacy for mayor.

Kassan, who was first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022, submitted a letter of resignation to the city clerk’s office on Thursday. She told KQED she plans to stay on long enough to help appoint an interim successor to her seat, which could take several weeks.

Kassan said a confluence of factors influenced her decision to resign amid her second term, including an increased workload in her day job as a private practice attorney and a part-time job she took on last year as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County. She also cited the expansion of issues in the city of Fremont that require council members’ attention.

She said she takes pride in responding to every call, email and voicemail from residents and constituents as a council member and doesn’t want to remain on council if she can’t commit to it fully.

“I just feel like if I’m going to be in the role, I need to perform at a certain level, and that takes a lot of time and energy,” she said.

Her husband, former Councilmember Vinnie Bacon, is also running for mayor, and Kassan said she didn’t want potential voters to have to weigh any concerns about her being on council at the same time if Bacon were elected.

“Just to make sure it doesn’t hinder him from being able to get people excited about his candidacy, I thought it’s a good time to take that out of the mix,” she said. “There’s a lot of other reasons, but that is definitely something that adds to the decision that this is the right time.”

The couple have previously served on the council together in 2019 and 2020, making local history as the first married couple to do so. And while some initial concerns after the 2018 election were raised at that time, Kassan said people seemed to be able to tell the couple were “independent thinkers” on the dais.

However, with Bacon potentially serving as mayor, it could change the dynamics, and she said she has heard some voters on the campaign trail express concern about it.

“The optics are not great,” Kassan said. “I don’t want that to prevent him from becoming mayor because I really, really want him to be our mayor.”

Sean McMorris, the head of transparency, ethics, and accountability at nonprofit good government group Common Cause California, said no laws would prevent the two from serving on the same council again, even with Bacon as mayor.

“But again, the public has a right to their opinion and to voice their concerns,” McMorris said. “Public perception is extremely important, and I’m glad they’re taking that into account.”

Bacon, for his part, said he respects Kassan’s decision.

McMorris said Kassan has every right to choose to step down both as a “strategic political decision” to help support Bacon and as a way to balance the demands on her time.

“If indeed she feels like she’s not able to devote as much time to that role as she would like to or her constituents deserve, then yes … that’s an honorable reason for stepping aside,” he said.

In a written statement, Kassan thanked residents for electing her and said she is proud of her contributions to the city.

“I will continue to fight for the underrepresented and under-resourced members of our community, but as a private citizen rather than a public official,” Kassan said.