San José Council Election Headed to Runoff, Chavez-Lopez Leads

Updated 10:30 a.m. Wednesday

A hard-fought campaign for San José City Council will continue into the summer, after voters in Tuesday’s special election appeared to propel Gabby Chavez-Lopez into a June 24 runoff for the District 3 seat.

Chavez-Lopez leads the seven-candidate field with 30% of the vote — short of the majority needed to win the election outright. The second spot in the runoff remains up for grabs: Matthew Quevedo has captured 23% of the vote, holding a narrow 159-vote lead over Anthony Tordillos, who has received 20%.

“I’m super encouraged by the results,” Chavez-Lopez told KQED. “Just having such a wide lead really speaks to just the voters’ confidence in a lot that we’ve shared, the plans for our district, the plans for the future, wanting to just start a new chapter for our district.”

The election was scheduled after former Councilmember Omar Torres resigned in November. He was arrested on the same day and charged with child molestation.

On Tuesday, Torres pleaded no contest to three child sexual abuse charges, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said.

With the balance of power at City Hall at stake, the campaign has become a referendum on Mayor Matt Mahan’s policy agenda, particularly on homelessness.

Mahan wants to earmark city dollars for short-term housing and use the threat of arrest to compel people experiencing homelessness to accept shelter offers. Mahan needs the support of five council members to enact his agenda — a majority he could either maintain or lose in the District 3 race.

Chavez-Lopez is the executive director of the nonprofit Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley. She ran on a platform of restoring downtown vibrancy through police foot patrols and converting office buildings into new housing.

Chavez-Lopez was critical of Mahan’s plans throughout the campaign and is backed by political groups, most notably the South Bay Labor Council, which is often at odds with the mayor’s agenda.

On Tuesday night, dozens of Chavez-Lopez’s supporters crowded into a dentist office on Santa Clara Street that has served as the campaign’s headquarters. Raucous cheers and chants of “Gabby, Gabby” broke out after the initial results were projected onto a screen.

“I’ve spoken to thousands of voters, and I’ve walked every inch of this district,” Chavez-Lopez said. “I feel a lot more confident that I know what the needs are and that I know what the pulse is in the community because I’ve done the work.”

The scene was more subdued at Quevedo’s election night gathering, held blocks away in San Pedro Square. Quevedo is a staunch ally of Mahan and has worked as the mayor’s campaign manager and deputy chief of staff. He said he felt hopeful of securing a spot in the runoff as additional votes are counted.

“We’ll, of course, keep an eye on it,” Quevedo said. “We know the voters that we contacted in the last couple of days are turning out those last-minute ballots, which are so crucial.”

Quevedo distinguished himself in the race through his strong support of Mahan’s agenda, including plans for prioritizing investments in temporary units over permanent housing and arresting unhoused people who have refused three offers of shelter.

“I think voters like the direction the mayor is going in, in terms of focusing on the basics and the essentials,” Quevedo said. “But of course, representing [voters’] interests is first and foremost. So if there are issues where I’m going to be in disagreement with the mayor, making sure I’m representing the community, I’m of course going to take that purely to heart.”

Big money also poured into the race. Quevedo’s campaign spent $250,110, Tordillos spent $156,642, and Chavez-Lopez spent $117,306.

That spending, however, was dwarfed by the activity of political groups operating independently from the campaigns. Chavez-Lopez was bolstered by over $450,000 from the Labor Council and a separate business-aligned super PAC. Quevedo benefited from over $250,000 in spending from committees funded by business and real estate interests.

That spending, much of which was used for negative advertisements and mailers, may have given an unexpected boost to Tordillos, chair of the San José Planning Commission. Tordillos lacked the support of big-dollar groups who aligned with Chavez-Lopez and Quevedo and instead ran on a pledge to reject corporate contributions.

“I definitely heard out at the doors [from] voters who feel like there’s too much of an influence from corporations and other special interests,” Tordillos said. “So I think my message of having a corporate-free campaign and being the only corporate-free candidate in this race really resonated with a lot of folks.”

Even some of Tordillos’ supporters, who gathered on the terrace of an apartment building on First Street, sounded surprised that he was within reach of a top-two finish. The results, Tordillos said, “very much surpassed all of the expectations from the pundits and a lot of the special interest groups.”

“So feeling good about where we are and looking forward to seeing the rest of the vote counted,” he added.

Santa Clara County’s Registrar of Voters office will release an update Wednesday afternoon with the results of ballots cast or received on Tuesday.

The candidates spent the condensed campaign barnstorming around the city’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, such as Northside and Guadalupe-Washington. However, voter interest was muted, with turnout at just 15% of registered voters in the district.

The seven-candidate field included Irene Smith, a financial analyst and neighborhood activist, with 17% of the vote. Smith, who lost to Torres in the 2022 general election, centered her campaign on fiscal conservatism and increasing neighborhood input on development.

Smith was followed by Adam Duran, a former sheriff’s lieutenant, with 8%. Tyrone Wade, a family counselor, had 2%, and Philip Dolan, a knife sharpener salesman, received 1%.