In San José Council Runoff, Candidates Aim to Heal City’s Political Divides

After months of political acrimony in a scandal-rocked district, City Council candidates Gabby Chavez-Lopez and Anthony Tordillos are pledging to heal civic divides and rebuild political trust in District 3 ahead of a June 24 runoff election.

They are vying to fill the seat formerly held by disgraced Councilmember Omar Torres, and the candidates are pitching unique bridge-building strengths. Chavez-Lopez’s ties to Santa Clara County officials could help repair a fractured city-county relationship that threatens to impede progress on reducing homelessness.

Tordillos, meanwhile, is the rare San José candidate with support from both sides of the city’s business-labor political divide.

The election could scramble the political alignment at City Hall. A win by Chavez-Lopez, the executive director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, could weaken Mayor Matt Mahan’s moderate governing majority. Tordillos, chair of the San José Planning Commission, is endorsed by the mayor but is seen as more progressive than interim District 3 Councilmember Carl Salas, a Mahan ally.

Tuesday’s runoff election will cap a tumultuous eight months in the district that includes downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods of Northside, Japantown and Guadalupe-Washington. Torres resigned from the council in November, and was arrested the same day on charges of child sexual abuse. He later pleaded no contest and is awaiting sentencing.

The council appointed Salas, an engineering executive, to fill the vacant seat in January. Chavez-Lopez finished first in the April special election, but fell short of the majority vote needed to win outright. An automatic recount determined the second spot in the runoff, with Tordillos narrowly edging out Matthew Quevedo, a close Mahan advisor.

Since then, Tordillos has picked up support from moderate groups such as Common Good Silicon Valley, an organization created by former Mayor Sam Liccardo. And while Chavez-Lopez is backed by the influential South Bay Labor Council, the region’s umbrella union group, Tordillos also has support from several labor unions and progressive organizations, including the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, which co-endorsed Chavez-Lopez.

“We are the job center of San José, the economic center of the city, but we are also home to thousands of public-sector unionized workers, construction workers, members of the building trades — all of these workers who are really building up our city for the next hundred years,” Tordillos told KQED. “So I think that we need a council member who can speak to both of those communities and who can help to bridge that historic business-labor divide.”

The divide is evident in the soured relationship between Mahan’s moderate council majority and the more progressive, labor-aligned Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Tensions rose this spring when the City Council approved a plan to arrest people experiencing homelessness who refuse multiple offers of shelter.

Santa Clara supervisors and law enforcement officials opposed the plan, calling it unworkable within the county system. The two sides have yet to reconcile the city’s prioritization of shelter and short-term housing with the county’s focus on permanent housing and social services.

Chavez-Lopez told KQED it doesn’t make sense for the city and county to have different strategies for reducing homelessness. She said her longstanding relationships with elected officials — including the endorsement of all five county supervisors — would help her hit the ground running on the City Council if elected.

“I think that’s a very important bridge that needs to be built — and fast — quite frankly,” Chavez-Lopez said. “Trust isn’t built in a day, but because I have such trusted relationships with many city leaders and many city staff, as well as all of the county board of supervisors who have endorsed me in this race … I think that there’s a real opportunity for partnership [and] collaboration.”

Campaign spending has continued at a furious pace since the special election. From April 7 through June 7, Tordillos’ campaign spent $124,902, while Chavez-Lopez spent $91,484.

Spending by outside groups favored Chavez-Lopez before the April vote, but has turned decisively toward Tordillos, according to filings through June 17.

The South Bay Labor Council has shelled out $103,597 to boost Chavez-Lopez. But outside groups have spent $251,840 backing Tordillos. Most of that total comes from the California Association of Realtors, which has paid $148,878 for digital ads and mailers attacking Chavez-Lopez, who supports expanded rent control.

Jordan Eldridge, a political strategist who worked for Tordillos before the special election but is not involved in the runoff, said either candidate could emerge victorious.

“[Chavez-Lopez] has maintained strong support from progressive and labor institutions since the beginning of her campaign, and that backing has only solidified over time,” Eldridge said. “That said, it would be a mistake to count Anthony Tordillos out. … Anthony has built his campaign from the ground up, essentially starting from scratch.

“This race will likely come down to the wire.”