San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a 43-year-old Democrat with deep Silicon Valley roots, announced Thursday that he is entering the crowded race to replace Gavin Newsom as California governor, just five months before the June primary.
Who is Matt Mahan?
A former tech entrepreneur, Mahan co-founded Brigade, a digital political organizing platform, after encouragement from Mark Zuckerberg while the two were classmates at Harvard. His Silicon Valley connections could help him raise significant campaign funds, and housing developers are seen as a potential support base due to his strong pro-building stance.
What is Matt Mahan’s policy focus?
Mahan became mayor of California’s third-largest city in 2021 and has positioned himself as a pragmatic, “Back to Basics” leader focused on public safety, homelessness, housing affordability and government accountability.
He has taken a tougher stance on crime than many Democrats, supporting harsher penalties for certain theft and drug offenses and proposing that the city arrest homeless individuals who repeatedly refuse shelter offers — positions that have sometimes put him at odds with his party.
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Is Matt Mahan a Democrat or a Republican?
Pitching himself as a moderate willing to challenge the Democratic status quo, Mahan has criticized Newsom over crime and homelessness, as well as the governor’s combative social-media posture toward Donald Trump, which Mahan called a “blind leap into meme land.”
Mahan is married to Silvia‑Wedad Scandar Mahan, whom he met at Harvard. The couple married in 2012 and have two children, Nina Luz and Luke Alejandro. Scandar Mahan holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College and a law degree from Georgetown University and has worked as an attorney.
Mahan’s mayoral term runs through 2028, allowing him to campaign without giving up his seat, but he must finish in the top two in the June primary to advance to the general election.
He enters a field that includes Democrats Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond, Betty Yee, Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer, alongside Republican candidates Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, and Jon Slavet.
What is Matt Mahan’s stance on the billionaire tax?
The main challenges he faces, despite a shorter campaign period of just four months, are being lesser-known outside of the Bay Area and working with mainstream Democrats whom he has criticized.
Mahan has more recently made news for aligning with Newsom — someone he often disagrees with — in opposing the controversial “billionaire tax,” arguing it would hurt California’s economy.
