Anthony Tordillos

Anthony Tordillos is a member of the San Jose City Council in California, representing District 3. He assumed office on August 12, 2025. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Tordillos ran in a special election to the San Jose City Council to represent District 3 in California. He won in the special general runoff election on June 24, 2025.

Tordillos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Anthony Tordillos earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 2014. His career experience included working as an engineer.^[1]

Elections

2025

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for San Jose City Council District 3

Anthony Tordillos defeated Gabby Chavez-Lopez in the special general runoff election for San Jose City Council District 3 on June 24, 2025.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Anthony Tordillos (Nonpartisan)	64.4	5,355
	Gabby Chavez-Lopez (Nonpartisan)	35.6	2,966

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,321
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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General election

Special general election for San Jose City Council District 3

The following candidates ran in the special general election for San Jose City Council District 3 on April 8, 2025.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Gabby Chavez-Lopez (Nonpartisan)	30.0	2,712
✔		Anthony Tordillos (Nonpartisan)	22.2	2,006
		Matthew Quevedo (Nonpartisan)	22.1	2,000
		Irene Smith (Nonpartisan)	16.0	1,443
		Adam Duran (Nonpartisan)	7.6	691
		Tyrone Wade (Nonpartisan)	1.5	137
	Submit photo	Philip Dolan (Nonpartisan)	0.6	54

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,043
= 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.
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Endorsements

Tordillos received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Tordillos's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released February 25, 2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

Anthony Tordillos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tordillos' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in a working-class, low-income family. My dad, a machinist, lost his job due to chronic illness, and we ended up relying on disability insurance to get by. Thanks to quality public schools and a strong social safety net, I made it to Yale and became an engineer, helping build YouTube. There, I learned how to solve big problems: innovative ideas, data-driven decisions, and accountability. I took that approach to the Planning Commission, where I’ve worked to make it faster and cheaper to build affordable housing. As my neighborhood president, I’ve brought people together to clean up our streets, invest in public art, and foster community. At every step, I’ve demanded accountability from city staff, public officials, and, most importantly, for myself. I believe in what San José can accomplish with a fresh approach. Together, we will tackle public safety head-on, combat our affordability and homelessness crises, and end the excuses.

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?

Housing Affordability: I’ll work to ensure every local teacher, first responder, and San José resident has an affordable place to call home. I’ll cut red tape and support new housing construction at all affordability levels.
Homelessness: We need to move faster to address our homelessness crisis. I’ll push to construct quick-build shelter and invest in increasing mental healthcare and addiction treatment capacity to get folks off the streets and into care.
Public Safety: I will work to recruit and retain 100+ new police officers so everyone feels safe on our streets. I’ll also work to expand after-school and youth support programs that address the root causes of crime, and invest in non-police responder programs like TRUST to assist with calls involving mental health crises.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Given my background, I’m personally very passionate about leveraging public policy to address our housing affordability crisis. The high cost of housing is a direct consequence of our housing shortage, and San José needs to substantially increase housing production to keep up with demand. Addressing this crisis has been my top priority on the Planning Commission, and on Council I will use the levers of power available to local government to make housing more affordable and easier to build. For more information, you can read my affordable housing plan at AnthonyForSanJose.com/plans.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was working retail at a music store in high school. I worked there for 2 years, until I left for college. I had a campus job throughout college and worked full-time during the summers to help work my way through school.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Santa Clara County Democratic Party

Operating Engineers Local 3
Equality California
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
BAYMEC
Rated 100% by Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte
Housing Action Coalition
Silicon Valley Young Democrats
Santa Clara County Supervisor (fmr.) Ken Yeager
Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Jorge Pacheco Jr
Mountain View Councilmember & Former Mayor Lucas Ramirez
Mountain View Councilmember Emily Ann Ramos
Cupertino Councilmember & Former Vice Mayor J.R. Fruen
Los Gatos Vice Mayor Rob Moore
Palo Alto Councilmember George Lu
Palo Alto Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims
Sunnyvale Councilmember Richard Mehlinger
Oak Grove School District Trustee Diego Martinez

Cupertino Union School District Trustee Ava Chiao

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

We need a city government that is accountable and responsive to District 3 residents, and that starts with the kind of campaign a candidate runs. I’m proud to be the only candidate running for city council rejecting corporate and lobbyist contributions because you deserve a city government you can count on. On City Council, I’ll work to implement a real ethics plan to increase transparency and decrease the influence of special interests in our elections.

I’ll also hold regular town halls, canvass our neighborhoods to inform residents of council business, and have an open-door policy for any District 3 resident with concerns they want to discuss. I’m running to be a councilmember you can count on.

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.

External links

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Candidate

San Jose City Council District 3

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 10, 2025

Political offices
Preceded by Omar Torres	San Jose City Council District 3 2025-Present	Succeeded by -

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 10, 2025

[1]

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Anthony Tordillos

Contents

Biography

Elections

2025

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for San Jose City Council District 3

General election

Special general election for San Jose City Council District 3

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2025

Video for Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

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Additional analysis

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