The race to steer the nation’s largest blue state has been outlined by voter considerations about their high quality of life in California and the affect of particular pursuits in Sacramento.
It may not seem to be the suitable second for California’s subsequent governor to return from Silicon Valley. Matt Mahan and a giant group of Big Tech backers assume it’s.
Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, the state’s third-largest metropolis, is waging an uphill battle because the lone Democrat — in his telling — prepared to problem his personal celebration and the way it tackles huge issues within the period of Donald Trump. He typically says Californians “don’t need MAGA, but we also don’t need more of the same.”
“He’s a strong Democrat. He makes it clear what his values are,” mentioned Tracy Hernandez, co-founder and CEO of the New California Coalition, a group of enterprise and civic leaders. But, Hernandez mentioned, “I think that Californians are moving off of that hyperpartisan-at-all-costs (mindset) and demanding solutions.”
After coming into the race in late January, Mahan has drawn consideration for his efforts to differentiate himself from different Democrats, for his background as tech entrepreneur-turned-politician and, maybe most notably, for the sum of money behind his candidacy. His marketing campaign has raised $14 million, greater than another candidate moreover billionaire self-funder Tom Steyer, whose marketing campaign has spent greater than $137 million on promoting.
Despite his supporters’ enthusiasm, Mahan has remained mired within the single digits in current polls, overshadowed by Steyer and different better-known and extra standard Democrats. His low numbers will likely be mirrored by his place on the sting of the stage at Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate hosted by NCS.
“I’m in the process of introducing myself to Californians, and I think that people are just starting to tune in,” Mahan informed NCS in an interview final week. “We have a lot of people to get to know over the next few weeks.”
Mahan is leaning closely on his three-plus years as mayor of San Jose, the place he has clashed with fellow Democrats on homelessness, housing and public security. His positions have additionally typically put him at odds with Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate who can’t search reelection as a result of time period limits.
Between the assist from the tech business and his unorthodox standing inside his celebration, Mahan has a lot to stability forward of the nonpartisan June 2 major to choose the highest two candidates for the November poll.
Steyer has mentioned Mahan is funded by the identical folks “who profit off your data, crush competition, attack unions, and pour money into surveillance and defense contractors.”
But for Mahan’s backers, it’s a worthwhile experiment — with nationwide implications.
“I do not believe we will have a Democrat in the White House until there’s a big blue state that is governed well, and right now there’s no big blue state that is governed well,” mentioned David Crane, president of Govern for California, a pro-Mahan group that works to counter particular pursuits in California politics, and who served as a particular adviser to former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The son of a instructor and letter service, Mahan grew up in Watsonville, an agricultural hub alongside California’s Central Coast, and would journey north to San Jose to attend a school prep college on a scholarship for low-income college students. He then attended Harvard University and dove into politics there, serving as scholar physique president.
While at Harvard, he met Mark Zuckerberg, who he says recommended him to skip regulation college and go into tech to “change the world.”
Mahan adopted Zuckerberg’s recommendation. In 2008, he joined Causes, one of many earliest Facebook apps, which allowed customers to advertise their favourite nonprofits. Within a few years, he was its CEO, and in 2014, he co-founded Brigade, a nonpartisan on-line platform for civic engagement.
He received a seat on the San Jose City Council in 2020 and ascended to the mayor’s workplace two years later after a tight race in opposition to Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who had a longer file in native politics and extra assist amongst his council colleagues.
Going in opposition to his native Democrats and Newsom
In San Jose, Mahan has gone in opposition to fellow Democrats by pushing to construct momentary housing, together with tiny houses, for the town’s homeless residents and by proposing a police unit to arrest folks for trespassing in the event that they reject three provides of shelter inside 18 months.
His critics say interim housing just isn’t a long-term resolution and that the arrest coverage is simply too punitive. Mahan maintains he’s performing with the urgency the problem requires.
On public security, he break up with most of his celebration’s management in 2024 by backing Proposition 36, a poll measure to make some drug and theft crimes felonies as a substitute of misdemeanors. Voters overwhelmingly accepted it over the opposition of the California Democratic Party and Newsom, whom Mahan has criticized for refusing to fund the regulation.
Mahan has additionally clashed with Newsom on the governor’s social media tactics, penning a column final 12 months that criticized Newsom’s group adopting a tone mimicking and mocking Trump on his governor’s press workplace accounts. Mahan ripped Newsom’s group for “belittling those who disagree with them.”
NCS has previously reported that Newsom and Mahan have a contentious private relationship. Newsom declined to handle Mahan’s gubernatorial bid throughout a Bloomberg occasion earlier this 12 months in San Francisco, saying: “I don’t know enough about him, I wish him good luck.”
Asked for remark about their historical past of variations, Newsom’s workplace mentioned it had nothing so as to add for this story.
Throughout his tenure, Mahan has additionally had tensions with organized labor and native Democratic activists, and he has saved his distance from the native celebration.
“He’s sort of like trying to operate outside of the Democratic Party while also not labeling himself as a Republican, which is fatal … for a statewide office in California,” mentioned Bill James, the Democratic chairman of Santa Clara County.
Some of Silicon Valley’s heavyweights have turn into more and more concerned in state politics in an effort to rein in what they see as liberal excesses of the state’s Democratic leaders. They are additionally organizing this 12 months in opposition to a proposed one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires that Mahan — like Newsom — opposes, arguing it will drive entrepreneurs out of the state.
Mahan has raised the utmost $39,200 donations from Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings. Some of the most important donors to an impartial expenditure committee supporting Mahan, California Back to Basics, embody enterprise capitalist Michael Moritz, who has given $3 million, and former Y Combinator Startup Accelerator CEO Michael Seibel, who has contributed $1 million.
During a current debate, moderators pressed Mahan on whether or not he may very well be trusted to manage synthetic intelligence given these sorts of donations. Mahan mentioned he understood each the advantages and dangers of AI as a mayor who has moved aggressively to combine it into native authorities.
“I am not afraid to regulate Big Tech or any other industry,” he mentioned.
In an interview with NCS, he mentioned there have been “quite a few areas” the place he would break up with some within the tech business who could also be supporting him. He helps banning cellphones in Ok-12 colleges, requiring parental consent for youngsters below 16 to make use of social media, and desires data-center builders to completely cowl power prices.
“I’m not interested in trading one special interest for another,” he mentioned. “I’m running against the whole corrupt feedback loop that we have in Sacramento right now.”
On Tuesday, Steyer’s marketing campaign introduced the endorsement of the Secure AI Project, a group that backed California’s landmark AI security regulation final 12 months, and took a swipe at rivals who “are being bankrolled by Big Tech.”
US Rep. Ami Bera, who endorsed Mahan, mentioned it was “not a bad thing” that tech executives and different enterprise leaders had been lining up behind Mahan, as a result of they drive the state’s huge financial system.
“A lot of folks are looking at this the same way I am, which is that we can’t just do business as usual,” mentioned Bera, who represents a Sacramento-area district. “I think that’s what’s attracting a lot of the tech folks. Obviously they’re centered around Silicon Valley and San Jose, and they’ve seen his track record up close, so I think that’s why they’re flocking to him, not for any other nefarious reason.”
Mahan’s largest problem, in keeping with his supporters, is that he’s merely not well-known sufficient, particularly in a subject with a self-funder, Steyer; a former congresswoman and Senate candidate, Katie Porter; and a former Cabinet secretary and state legal professional basic, Xavier Becerra. Back to Basics has now spent practically $20 million targeted on introducing him to California voters exterior San Jose.
“We are 100% focused on getting more Californians to know Matt, because if Californians get to know him, he wins,” mentioned Crane, the ex-Schwarzenegger adviser now backing Mahan.
April noticed two main shakeups within the broader race: Former US Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies; and Trump’s endorsement of conservative commentator Steve Hilton. The remaining candidates have been scrambling to seek out new alternatives for assist since then. Bera, who had supported Swalwell, flipped to Mahan.
A CBS News/YouGov ballot, carried out April 23-27, discovered simply 4% of voters mentioned they might vote for Mahan if the election had been held that day, although the highest-polling Democratic candidate — Steyer — solely had 15% assist, and about a quarter of voters had been undecided.
Mahan’s supporters preserve he’s nonetheless within the hunt.
“He is a fearless underdog,” mentioned Hernandez, co-founder and CEO of the New California Coalition. “I’m not counting him out.”