San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan joins crowded field for California governor
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan announced a campaign for California governor Thursday morning, throwing his hat into a crowded field where he will compete with at least eight other Democratic candidates as well as two Republicans in the state’s open primary system.
Mahan has led California’s third-largest city for four years. In an interview Wednesday evening, he touted a drop in San Jose’s homeless population that has outstripped state averages, as well as public safety gains and economic development, and said he hoped to expand those successes to some of California’s thorniest quality-of-life problems.
“I know that we can do better in California, and I know it because we’re proving it in San Jose,” he said. “And frankly, what our state desperately needs is a focus on our biggest challenges, pragmatic solutions and accountability for results, and that’s what I brought to San Jose.”
It remains to be seen if Mahan, who is a Democrat, can outstrip his many rivals in a primary that so far has been stubbornly resistant to any candidate breaking away from the pack. Current polls show Republicans Chad Bianco, the Riverside County Sheriff, and Steve Hilton leading the field. Among Democrats, former Rep. Katie Porter and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, are close behind.
Mahan has in the past broken with the state’s Democrat leaders on key issues, perhaps most notably by taking an opposite position from Gov. Gavin Newsom on Prop 36, the tough-on-crime ballot measure that voters sweepingly backed in the 2024 election.
He has also clashed with members of the San Jose City Council and advocates as he has pushed for more aggressive tactics against homeless people, including a proposed policy of jailing them if they repeatedly refuse to enter treatment.
Mahan has described such policies as more compassionate than leaving people to suffer on the streets indefinitely, but advocates have accused him of criminalizing homelessness.
Increasing housing construction, cutting back red tape for small business owners and getting people into mental health treatment programs would be among his main goals as governor, he told The Sacramento Bee.
Mahan also said he opposes the billionaire tax proposed by some labor union leaders as a way to protect social services in the wake of large funding cuts pushed through Washington D.C. by President Donald Trump.
“Part of the challenge of our government is that we try to be everything to everyone,” Mahan told The Bee. “We try to appease every interest group. We try to be responsive to every need. And we’re not always as strategic as we ought to be. The state is entering a moment in which we need to prioritize.”
On Tuesday, Mahan posted on X about government waste in Sacramento, sharing a CBS investigation that found state lawmakers repeatedly ignore the state auditor’s warnings about fraud and cost overruns. “We can, and must, do better,” Mahan tweeted.
In his interview with The Bee, Mahan called into question Newsom’s CARE Court program, which is under scrutiny for falling well short of its goals. Mahan was a prominent backer of Prop 36, and is among critics who say the Legislature and governor have been slow to enact the will of voters.
“I suppose I’m an outsider in the sense that I don’t feel beholden to any particular interest,” he said. “I’m focused on delivering results for people.”
With just four months to go until the June 2 primary, Mahan will have to work quickly to distinguish himself in the race, which also includes former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
He will also need a campaign war chest, to compete with candidates who have been fundraising for months and with Steyer’s deep pockets, which have funded an ad blitz since he announced his candidacy in November.
“Californians will choose between a government captured by wealthy interests and corporations raking in record profits, or one that stands with working people and demands fairness and shared responsibility,” a spokesperson for Steyer said in a statement responding to Mahan’s candidacy. “California needs a governor who will stand up to powerful interests, not carry their water.”
Mahan, who worked in online startups, has roots among the state’s ultrawealthy tech titans. Political observers said he would likely not have entered the race this late if he hadn’t lined up at least some financial backers. Los Angeles billionaire Rick Caruso, who earlier this month said he himself would not run for mayor, announced he would support Mahan’s campaign. In a statement sent to The Bee on Thursday, he called Mahan “a practically minded moderate.”
Many Democratic politicos have been looking for someone to step in and consolidate the party base.
For months, the rumor mill has churned as first one prominent name and then another surfaced as a possible entrant to the race. There was U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, then former Vice President Kamala Harris, then current California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Caruso. Each potential candidate ultimately announced they would not run, leaving many to wonder who might take up the mantle of the state’s powerful Democratic machine.
It’s not yet clear if Mahan fits that bill.
“So far, not running is the new black,” Elizabeth Ashford, a longtime campaign consultant who worked for both Harris and former Gov. Jerry Brown, said. “There’s been more excitement about who’s out than who’s in. It’s not clear how another Democrat throwing in their hat changes much, especially someone who isn’t known outside his constituency.”
Mahan isn’t without his statewide appeal, said Sonoma State Political Science Professor David McCuan, and may play to the anti-establishment mood and overriding economic concerns that have shaped voter preferences in recent political cycles.
“No one has moved the needle and no one has lit a fire, so his entry shakes up the race,” McCuan said.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
