In summary
The San Jose mayor broke with fellow Democrats on crime and wants to arrest homeless people who refuse shelter. He joins a crowded Democratic field for governor.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a moderate Democrat, is jumping in the race for California governor, joining a crowded field of Democrats vying for the seat that so far has no clear frontrunner just a few months before the June primary.
Mahan has made a name for himself in part as a Democratic critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom. As others in his party have scrambled for ways to push back on the Trump administration, Mahan last summer wrote in an op-ed that the governor’s social media trolling, which has delighted many Democrats, goes “beyond taking on the excesses and abuses of the Trump administration and begins disparaging businesses merely for expressing concerns over very real problems of crime, homelessness, and overregulation.”
He’s expected to have backing from deep-pocketed tech and business leaders; Los Angeles real estate developer Rick Caruso and Garry Tan of San Francisco venture capital firm Y Combinator were quick to praise his candidacy on Thursday. Mahan’s campaign website indicates he’ll style himself as a pragmatist who would put “toxic politics aside,” eschew new taxes, cut red tape for construction and force more people who are unhoused into drug treatment.
“We don’t just need to be against something,” he wrote on social media announcing his campaign. “We need to be for something — a government that proves it can solve problems for working people again.”
Newsom, who leaves office at the end of the year, offered a tepid response to Mahan’s candidacy when asked about the mayor’s criticism of him at a Bloomberg event Thursday. The governor said, “I don’t know enough about him, I wish him good luck,” and avoided answering whether he thought the mayor had done a good job in San Jose.
In an interview with CalMatters, Mahan said he doesn’t plan to run an anti-Newsom campaign, pointing out that the pair agree on many issues, including amending the state’s environmental law to make it easier to build housing. He said as governor he would continue the Newsom administration’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants for cities to address homelessness and push counties to properly implement Newsom’s CARE Courts program to prod people with certain psychotic disorders into treatment.
“I want to follow through on a number of things the governor has initiated,” he said.
Mahan worked in tech before running for San Jose city council in 2020. He won the race for mayor in 2022 and has focused much of his two terms on street homelessness.
He’s been a particularly zealous adopter of placing unhoused residents into tiny homes as an alternative to traditional shelters because they can be built faster and cheaper. He has also gotten tougher on pushing unhoused residents to accept shelter placements and urged the state to remove more encampments. Last June, the city council passed Mahan’s plan to arrest people if they refuse multiple offers of shelter.
Mahan was also a vocal supporter in 2024 of Proposition 36, a state ballot measure backed by police, prosecutors and the GOP to increase penalties for some drug and theft offenses, and compel some defendants into treatment programs. Newsom opposed the measure, along with much of the Democratic Party; voters passed it overwhelmingly.
Other Democratic candidates for governor include Rep. Eric Swalwell, attorney and former congresswoman Katie Porter and billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer. The open field has led even more to consider running, potentially giving Republicans an advantage in the state’s top-two primary system.
Recent pollshave shown a Republican candidate, Fox News commentator Steve Hilton or conservative Riverside County sheriff Chad Bianco, leading, though Democrats outnumber GOP voters nearly two-to-one.
