Matt Mahan
Office sought: Governor
Party: Democratic
Ballot designation: Mayor of San Jose
Background
Biography. Matt Mahan graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University in 2005. [2]
Prior offices and election history
2026
See also: California gubernatorial election, 2026 General election The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Nonpartisan primary Nonpartisan primary election for Governor of California The following candidates are running in the primary for Governor of California on June 2, 2026. Candidate Akinyemi Agbede (D) Mohammad Arif (D) Submit photo Larry D. Azevedo (D) Xavier Becerra (D) Carolina Buhler (D) Submit photo Louis De Barraicua (D) Submit photo Sophia Edum-a-Sam (D) Derek Grasty (D) Joel Jacob (D) Submit photo Gary Kidgell (D) Submit photo Matthew Levy (D) Matt Mahan (D) Thunder Parley (D) Katie Porter (D) Raji Rab (D) Submit photo Satish Rao (D) Barack D. Obama Shaw (D) Submit photo Scott Shields (D) Thomas Steyer (D) Eric Swalwell (D) (Withdrew, still on ballot) Tony Thurmond (D) Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Betty Yee (D) (Withdrew, still on ballot) Submit photo Erin Zezulak (D) Submit photo James Athans Jr. (R) Chad Bianco (R) Patricia De Luca Basualdo (R) Submit photo Randeep Dhillon (R) Submit photo Rafael Hernandez (R) Steve Hilton (R) Submit photo Alicia Lapp (R) Submit photo Leo Naranjo IV (R) Tim Nelson (R) Submit photo Gretha Solórzano (R) Leo Zacky (R) Submit photo David Zickefoose (R) Tom Woodard (L) Submit photo Naomi Bar-Lev (No party preference) Submit photo Joseph Cabrera (No party preference) Submit photo Elaine Culotti (No party preference) Submit photo LivingForGod DeMott (No party preference) Serge Fiankan (No party preference) Submit photo Lukasz Filinski (No party preference) Max Fomin (No party preference) Don Grundmann (No party preference) Submit photo Jon Henderson (No party preference) Lewis Herms (No party preference) Submit photo Dawit Kellel (No party preference) Anne Komarovsk (No party preference) Submit photo Duane Loynes Jr. (No party preference) Amanda Martin (No party preference) Submit photo Brent Maupin (No party preference) Daniel Mercuri (No party preference) Mauro Alberto Orozco (No party preference) Reza Safarnejad (No party preference) Submit photo Sam Sandak (No party preference) Christine Sarmiento (No party preference) Frederic Schultz (No party preference) Submit photo Margaret Trowe (No party preference) Nancy Young (No party preference) Ramsey Robinson (Peace and Freedom Party) Butch Ware (G) (Write-in) There are no incumbents in this race. = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Ethan Agarwal (D) Toni Atkins (D) Ian Charles Calderon (D) Sebastian de Warren (D) Eleni Kounalakis (D) George Slivka (D) Michael Younger (D) Ché Ahn (R) Dylan Colbert (R) Sharifah Hardie (R) Brandon Jones (R) Kyle Langford (R) Jon Slavet (R) Ebony Taylor (R) Nicholas Thompson (L) Jesse Alberti (No party preference) Javen Allen (No party preference) Tony Fitzpatrick (No party preference) Leonard Jackson (No party preference) Liam Keel (No party preference) Belinda Yung (No party preference)
2026 — Endorsements
Mahan received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here . U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo (D) Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) BAYMEC’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by BAYMEC) Barak’s voter guide (Sway voting group by Barak Gila) Barak’s voter guide (Sway voting group by barak) CalMatters Voter Guide (Sway voting group by CalMatters) Edwin M. Lee Asian Pacific Democratic Club’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Edwin M. Lee Asian Pacific Democratic Club) GrowSF’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by GrowSF) KQED Voter Guide (Sway voting group by KQED) Thrive LA’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Thrive LA) iVoterGuide California (Sway voting group by iVoterGuide) Andrew Yang (D) -
2024
See also: Mayoral election in San Jose, California (2024) Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of San Jose Incumbent Matt Mahan won election outright against Tyrone Wade in the primary for Mayor of San Jose on March 5, 2024. Candidate % Votes ✔ Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) 86.6 144,701 Tyrone Wade (Nonpartisan) 13.4 22,363 Incumbents are bolded and underlined . The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 167,064 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.
2024 — Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Mahan in this election.
2022
See also: Mayoral election in San Jose, California (2022) General election General election for Mayor of San Jose Matt Mahan defeated Cindy Chavez in the general election for Mayor of San Jose on November 8, 2022. Candidate % Votes ✔ Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) 51.2 128,376 Cindy Chavez (Nonpartisan) 48.8 122,329 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 250,705 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of San Jose The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of San Jose on June 7, 2022. Candidate % Votes ✔ Cindy Chavez (Nonpartisan) 39.1 65,501 ✔ Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) 32.3 54,076 Devora Davis (Nonpartisan) 10.9 18,235 Raul Peralez (Nonpartisan) 9.0 15,121 Submit photo James Spence (Nonpartisan) 6.9 11,549 Submit photo Travis Nicholas Hill (Nonpartisan) 1.0 1,722 Marshall Woodmansee (Nonpartisan) 0.7 1,199 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 167,403 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Jonathan Esteban (Nonpartisan)
2020
See also: City elections in San Jose, California (2020) Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 10 Matt Mahan won election outright against Helen Wang and Jenny Higgins Bradanini in the primary for San Jose City Council District 10 on March 3, 2020. Candidate % Votes ✔ Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan) 58.5 15,387 Submit photo Helen Wang (Nonpartisan) 22.3 5,865 Submit photo Jenny Higgins Bradanini (Nonpartisan) 19.1 5,031 There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source Total votes: 26,283 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.
Issue positions (campaign themes)
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses See also: Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Matt Mahan completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mahan’s responses. Expand all | Collapse all Who are you? Tell us about yourself. I was raised by working-class parents—a letter-carrier and a school teacher—who instilled in me the values of hard work and accountability. I attended Bellarmine College Prep on a work-study scholarship and then graduated from Harvard, where I served as student body president. After teaching in San José schools through Teach For America and building tech companies focused on civic engagement, I was elected to the San José City Council in 2020 and then elected as mayor in 2022. As mayor, I have focused City Hall on core quality-of-life priorities and getting local government back to basics. We have made measurable progress on improving public safety, reducing street homelessness, cleaning up our neighborhoods, and accelerating housing production. Under this approach, San José has seen a decline in unsheltered homelessness, scaled up interim and shelter housing at a fraction of traditional costs, and earned recognition as the safest big city in the nation. I am running to bring this back-to-basics leadership to California. I live in San José with my wife and our two young children — and I am fighting every day for all of our families. Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office? Affordability With accountability and true boldness, we can make California affordable again, starting with building the housing we can afford by cutting fees and regulations, using surplus government land, and dramatically lowering the cost of construction. The number one way we can make California an easier place to live is to dramatically reduce the cost of homes and rents — which is within our reach if we work smarter and hold ourselves accountable to results. We can address our needs for improved health, housing and public education without asking our people to pay more in taxes. Instead, let’s require government to spend the money they have now better before they ask us to pay more. Ending Street Homelessness A great state brings everyone indoors. We can do that by building safe and decent shelter and then requiring that our homeless neighbors use it when available. Homelessness should not be a choice we accept. It should be a tragedy we end. And we can do more than save billions of tax dollars by ending street homelessness — we will save lives. A compassionate California should help people who are a danger to themselves and others by requiring treatment for the drug, alcohol, and mental health conditions that lead to repeated arrests and trap people on the streets. It simply isn’t humane to let so many people live and die on our streets or hurt themselves and others. Fixing Our Public Schools Let’s remember that a better future that lifts more Californians into the middle class starts with lifting up our public schools. As a former school teacher, I understand the problem isn’t our kids – it is adults who won’t hold our kids, our schools, and our state to the highest academic standards. Let’s bring back the SAT, bring back the science of reading, and bring back the best public schools, colleges and universities in the nation. What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? I am personally extremely passionate about bringing accountability to government and eliminating waste. California is one of the highest taxed states in the nation and independent analysts have clearly identified billions in fraud and waste. Let’s make government accountable to results, root out the fraud, and require state, county, and local governments to do better by working together before we ask hard-pressed taxpayers to pay even more in taxes. I believe – and I have seen in my home city of San José – that we can bring all Californians of good will together to address massive challenges like the cost of housing, energy, our budget deficit, homelessness and other pressing concerns. What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign? Our campaign just launched and endorsements are still being organized, but I’m very proud to have immediately won the support of Congressman Sam Liccardo, Senator Catherine Blakespear, Assemblymember Maggy Krell, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Councilmembers Michael Mulcahy and George Casey, former Supervisor Dave Pine and scores of others. Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate’s campaign requests it. Campaign website Mahan’s campaign website stated the following: A Better Future for California Starts with Getting Our Government Back to Basics Join Mayor Matt Mahan’s campaign to make California work for all of us by holding our leaders accountable, putting toxic politics aside, and making sure government at every level is working smarter to solve our problems and uphold our values. Mahan is running to unite Californians around the basic common-sense ideas that build a better future for every family. California is a great place to live but it is getting tougher all the time. With accountability and true boldness, we can make California affordable again, starting with building the housing we can afford by cutting fees and regulations, using surplus government land, and dramatically lowering the cost of construction. The number one way we can make California an easier place to live is to dramatically reduce the cost of homes and rents — which is within our reach if we work smarter an
2024
Matt Mahan did not complete Ballotpedia’s 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Matt Mahan did not complete Ballotpedia’s 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Matt Mahan did not complete Ballotpedia’s 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Enrichment source: Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/Matt_Mahan
Sources
- CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide
- Ballotpedia (enrichment, when available)