Backers of California governor hopeful drop $1.4 million on Super Bowl ad

A political ad backing a hopeful for California governor will appear during the Super Bowl.

An independent committee supporting the candidacy of San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan bought the 30-second ad on NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service for a reported $1.4 million, the Los Angeles Times said.

It’s the only ad in the governor’s race scheduled for the big game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. The Seattle Seahawks face the New England Patriots.

Mahan has staked out a position as a moderate Democrat who claims to have a track record of solving the state’s thorny problems in the city he runs, The Sacramento Bee reported.

San Jose Insider reported his ad will appear in Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento markets, but not in the Bay Area, where commercial spots were already sold out.

It was purchased by the Back to Basics California committee, the publication said. It’s funded mostly by Silicon Valley executives, the Los Angeles Times said.

Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, who also has announced a bid for governor, will appear in an ad during Animal Planet’s “Puppy Bowl” pre-game show, the publication said.

Who is Matt Mahan?

Mahan is young for a gubernatorial candidate, at 43-years-old. Newsom was 51 when he was first inaugurated.

But Mahan’s political career has moved fairly quickly, going from his first public office in 2020, when he won a seat on the San Jose City Council, to running for governor in just six years.

Mahan won the mayor’s office in November 2022, emerging victorious from a tight race that took a week to call.

Mahan grew up in Watsonville, a strawberry-growing farm town near Monterey Bay. His mother was a teacher and his father was a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. In an interview, Mahan described his upbringing as working class, and said “his lucky break” came through a scholarship to an all-boys Catholic school in San Jose. He went on to graduate from Harvard University.

After college, Mahan participated in the Teach for America program, then launched a career as a tech entrepreneur before entering public office. He has said he was swayed into tech by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whom he met at Harvard. Zuckerberg, like other tech billionaires, have fallen out of favor with many Californians as he’s shifted to cater more to Trump and Republican interests.

Mahan, with his focus on public safety, hiring police officers and clearing homeless encampments from public spaces, has won favor with moderate voters and some of Silicon Valley’s ultrawealthy, while upsetting advocates who say he’s criminalized homelessness and drug addiction.

Mahan is married to Silvia Mahan and the couple has two young children.

In a post on X announcing his campaign, Mahan, who last year said he wouldn’t run for governor, attributed his change of heart to his wife.

“A couple weeks ago, I came home and my wife, Silvia, said something I almost couldn’t believe,” he wrote. “She looked at me and she said, ‘I think our state needs you.’ Because she believed I could help our kids. Help San José. And help California.”

The Sacramento Bee’s Andrew Graham contributed to this story.

This story was originally published February 8, 2026 at 2:36 PM.