San José Mayor Matt Mahan Announces Run for California Governor

Matt Mahan, the centrist mayor of San José who has frequently sparred with fellow Democrats over his stances on homelessness and public safety, jumped into the crowded race for California governor on Thursday.

As mayor of the state’s third-largest city, Mahan has engineered a sea change in homelessness policy. He spearheaded a shift of funding from permanent housing toward temporary shelter and has presided over a decrease in unsheltered homelessness during his tenure.

“I’m very optimistic that California’s best days are ahead of it,” Mahan said in an interview with KQED. “I know that we can solve the big challenges facing our communities because we’re proving that in San José.”

Mahan has positioned himself outside of the state’s political establishment, which could allow him to run as a “change” candidate in a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls.

He has clashed repeatedly with local Democrats and organized labor. And he emerged as a leading supporter of Proposition 36, a voter-approved, tough-on-crime 2024 ballot measure that put him at odds with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“I think that what I can most add to the campaign is that as the only current mayor of a large city, I’m closest to the problems and solutions that we need,” Mahan said.

A former tech executive, Mahan enters the race with less statewide recognition than Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter. And San José’s “weak mayor” system of governance (in which the city manager oversees day-to-day operations of departments) could hamper Mahan’s ability to tout executive government experience akin to Xavier Becerra, who served as California’s Attorney General or Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County.

Another hurdle to Mahan’s candidacy could be the desire among Democratic voters in deep blue California for leaders who mount a fight against President Donald Trump.

Newsom’s approval ratings have risen as he has clashed repeatedly with Trump — using a pugilistic social media strategy which Mahan dismissed as a “sugar high” for voters. By contrast, Mahan has rarely criticized Trump, preferring to focus on local issues such as homelessness and public safety.

As governor, Mahan said he would “fight for our values while also fixing our problems.”

“I will not be shy about standing up to this administration for the sake of our people and our democracy,” he said. “I also think it’s important to remember that the best resistance is delivering results.”

Mahan has been an underdog before. He was a little-known city council member less than a year into his first elected position when he launched a campaign for mayor — eventually upsetting Cindy Chavez, a county supervisor and local political heavyweight, in the 2022 general election.

After an uneven first year in office, when Mahan was bucked by a council majority on homeless spending and city worker raises, he has won the passage of successive city budgets that have funded the buildout of an interim shelter system and added new penalties on people experiencing homelessness who refuse to come indoors.

Last year’s point-in-time homeless count found a 10% drop in unsheltered homelessness in San José since Mahan took office.

For months, Mahan denied interest in a run for governor. He proposed that leaders of the state’s largest cities collaborate on a shared “Back to Basics Agenda” that could serve as a policy blueprint for the next governor.

In December, he hosted a handful of gubernatorial candidates at an interim housing site in South San José to tout the city’s progress in developing tiny home communities for people experiencing homelessness.

“I got home from a Valley Transit Authority meeting a few weeks ago, my wife looked at me and said, ‘I think you need to reconsider jumping in this race,’” Mahan said.

“She and I are both worried about the direction of the country on the one hand — particularly what we’re seeing out of Minneapolis right now — but also the issues we face locally that we’re starting to get traction on in San José but are going to require a different kind of leadership and partnership from our state government,” he said.

Mahan sailed to reelection in 2024 after San José voters moved the mayoral election to align with presidential election years. That change will allow Mahan to run for governor without having to give up his post — and then potentially run for another term as mayor in 2028 if this campaign is unsuccessful.