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Municipal elections in San Jose, California (2016)
2018 →
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| 2016 San Jose elections |
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| Election dates |
| Filing deadline: N/A |
| Primary election: June 7, 2016 General election: November 8, 2016 |
| Election stats |
| Offices up: City council |
| Total seats up: 5 |
| Other municipal elections |
| U.S. municipal elections, 2016 |
The primary candidate field for the open race in District 6 featured eight candidates vying to replace Oliverio. Four candidates competed in the District 2 primary and five ran for the District 8 seat. Candidates Steve Brown and Sergio Jimenez in District 2, Helen Chapman and Dev Davis in District 6, and Sylvia Arenas and Jimmy Nguyen in District 8 were the top two vote-getters in their respective races. They competed in the runoff elections in November.[1]
Elections
General election
Candidate list
|
District 2 |
District 6 |
District 8 |
Results
| San Jose City Council District 2, General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Sergio Jimenez |
54.97% | 17,629 |
| Steve Brown | 45.03% | 14,441 |
| Total Votes | 32,070 | |
| Source: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," December 8, 2016 | ||
| San Jose City Council District 6, General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Devora Davis |
53.85% | 20,360 |
| Helen Chapman | 46.15% | 17,450 |
| Total Votes | 37,810 | |
| Source: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," December 8, 2016 | ||
| San Jose City Council District 8, General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Sylvia Arenas |
50.14% | 17,258 |
| Jimmy Nguyen | 49.86% | 17,161 |
| Total Votes | 34,419 | |
| Source: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "Official Final Results," December 8, 2016 | ||
Primary election
Candidate list
Incumbents Ash Kalra, Pierluigi Oliverio and Rose Herrera were term limited from seeking re-election to their District 2, 6 and 8 seats.
|
District 2 |
District 4
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District 6 |
District 8 |
District 10 |
Note: Unofficial results put Diep ahead of Nguyen by 28 votes out of more than 17,000 in the District 4 primary. An automatic recount put Diep's lead at 14 votes. A second recount, funded by Nguyen, confirmed that Diep won the election.
Ballot measures
November 8, 2016
• Measure E: San Jose Additional Hours for Part-Time Workers 
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of requiring employers with 36 or more employees to give additional work hours to existing part-time employees before hiring new employees, including subcontractors and temporary workers, so long as the additional hours did not require overtime pay rates. |
| A no vote was a vote against this initiative to require employers with 36 or more employees to give additional work hours to existing part-time employees before hiring new employees, including subcontractors and temporary workers, so long as the additional hours did not require overtime pay rates. |
• Measure G: San Jose Business Tax Increase
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of raising the base business tax from $150 to $195, increasing the per-employee tax and per-rental unit tax such that business with more employees or more rental units pay higher rates, allowing online business registration and payment, and raising the maximum cap on business taxes from $25,000 per year to $150,000 per year. |
| A no vote was a vote against this proposal to raise the base business tax from $150 to $195, increasing the per-employee tax and per-rental unit tax such that business with more employees or more rental units pay higher rates, allowing online business registration and payment, and raising the maximum cap on business taxes from $25,000 per year to $150,000 per year. |
• Measure X: San Jose-Evergreen Community College Bond Issue
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of issuing $748,000,000 in bonds to fund classroom upgrades and repairs. |
| A no vote was a vote against issuing $748,000,000 in bonds to fund classroom upgrades and repairs. |
• Measure F: San Jose Pension Modification Agreement
| A yes vote was a vote in favor of developing an agreement between first responder and city employee bargaining groups to, among other provisions, stop funding retiree health care for new employees, reduce costs of supplemental pension payments, and reinstate disability retirement provisions for first responders and city employees. |
| A no vote was a vote against this measure to develop an agreement between first responder and city employee bargaining groups to, among other provisions, stop funding retiree health care for new employees, reduce costs of supplemental pension payments, and reinstate disability retirement provisions for first responders and city employees. |
June 7, 2016
• Measure C: San Jose Medical Marijuana Collectives Initiative 
| A "yes" vote would replace the city's medical marijuana ordinances with less restrictive provisions expanding the city zones in which collectives would operate and allowing collectives to buy products from outside sources. |
| A "no" vote would leave the city's marijuana laws unchanged. |
• Measure B: San Jose Sales Tax Measure
| A "yes" vote would enact a 0.25 general percent sales tax for 15 years. |
| A "no" vote would reject the proposed 0.25 percent sales tax. |
Campaign finance
| San Jose City Council campaign finance summaries, 2016 calendar year through November 6, 2016[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District | Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash | Debt |
| 2 | Steve Brown | $53,488.00 | $56,499.43 | $2,769.90 | $4,592.23 |
| 2 | Sergio Jimenez* | $112,084.09 | $109,250.54 | $19,514.69 | $0.00 |
| 6 | Helen Chapman | $145,419.25 | $146,907.80 | $13,712.98 | $16,000.00 |
| 6 | Devora Davis | $188,506.42 | $182,119.95 | $22,591.41 | $16,364.04 |
| 8 | Sylvia Arenas | $76,108.40 | $50,670.50 | $26,455.30 | $750.00 |
| 8 | Jimmy Nguyen | $78,716.00 | $90,428.99 | $2,158.55 | $9,000.00 |
| *Summary covers the 2016 calendar year through October 22, 2016. | |||||
The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may not represent all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer, and campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Issues
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and the business-labor divide
Liccardo defeated Dave Cortese in the 2014 mayoral race. Between the time he took office and the 2016 elections, Liccardo worked with council members generally aligned with business interests. Coalition members voted with Liccardo to postpone studying a commercial development fee that would have funded low-income housing. In addition, the coalition voted to make smaller adjustments to the rent control cap than those favored by labor and affordable housing advocates.[4][5][6] They also sent a worker-friendly proposal, Measure E, to the ballot rather than approving it as an ordinance and authorized Liccardo to write the official ballot argument against it.[7][8]
However, with Liccardo ally Manh Nguyen's loss in the June primary and Herrera and Oliverio term limited out of office, labor supporters saw an opportunity to shift the balance of power on the city council in 2016. Labor interests and business interests lined up on opposite sides of the November runoff election, with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council backing opposing slates of candidates.
| San Jose City Council endorsements, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| District | South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council[9] | San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce[10] |
| 2 | Sergio Jimenez | Steve Brown |
| 6 | Helen Chapman | Devora Davis |
| 8 | Sylvia Arenas | Jimmy Nguyen |
One issue that divided the two slates was Measure E, the worker-friendly proposal that went before voters in 2016. Measure E proposed requiring businesses to offer part-time employees more hours before bringing in additional workers.[7] Jimenez, Chapman, and Arenas supported the measure while Brown, Davis, and Nguyen opposed it.[11][12][13]
Housing affordability
Like neighbors San Francisco and Oakland, San Jose faced a housing affordability problem in 2016. Housing rental site Zumper ranked San Jose's rental market the fifth most expensive in the country in April 2016, with a median monthly rent of $2,270.[14] By August 2016, the price of a typical home in the city was over $1 million.[15]
In April 2016, Mayor Liccardo and Councilmembers Herrera, Jones, Manh Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, and Khamis voted to lower the cap on rent increases in rent-controlled units from 8 percent to 5 percent.[16][17] However, some councilmembers thought the measure didn't go far enough. Councilman Raul Peralez, who voted against it, said, "It's vastly improved but nowhere near where we could have been."[18]
Rent control also split the city council candidates in District 2 and District 6.
| San Jose City Council candidates' positions on stricter rent controls | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race | Supports | Opposes |
| District 2[11] | Sergio Jimenez | Steve Brown |
| District 6[19] | Helen Chapman | Devora Davis |
The District 6 candidates explained their positions on rent control at a candidate forum in October 2016. Rent control "doesn't help the people that it's supposed to help, necessarily. It doesn't keep rents low, and it also deteriorates the quality of housing," Davis said. "If you could help people in the short term but they're going to be hurt in the long term even more, then it's important to say I have to take a firm stance," she continued. "I can't support rent control, even though it sounds like it's going to help the affordable living problem in San Jose."[19]
Her opponent, Chapman, opposed rent control in the primary but supported it in the runoff election. She explained her change of heart at the October candidate forum, saying, "It's having a friend of mine that I've worked with who's 40 years old and has a daughter in middle school that's getting evicted from her apartment because they sold the apartments. I think it's talking to the mobile park owner that's afraid of losing their home. I think it's the fact that we have 9,000 units of rent-controlled buildings, and people are scared that their buildings are going to be sold out from under them."[19]
San Jose voters had the opportunity to vote on another proposed fix for the affordability crisis in November. Measure A, which was sent to the ballot by a unanimous vote of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, proposed a $950 million bond to fund first-time homebuyer programs, housing for low-income and homeless residents, and loans for out-of-county commuters to move into the county.[20][21] The measure had the backing of city council candidates Jimenez in District 2, Chapman and Davis in District 6, and Nguyen in District 8.[11][19][22] District 8 candidate Arenas voiced general support for increasing the available stock of affordable housing while District 2's Brown criticized Measure A as not "well written."[11][13]
Public employee benefits and public safety
In 2012, San Jose voters approved a ballot measure to change pension benefits for city workers. The measure, which was supported by then-Councilman Liccardo, aimed to address increases in the city's pension spending by limiting public employee benefits and requiring city workers to accept smaller pensions or make larger pension contributions.[23]
Measure B prompted litigation from public employee unions and a drop off in interest in city employment.[24] Thirty-seven of the 50 police officers the city hired in September 2013, after the benefit reductions went into effect, had left the force by July 2014. Five hundred officers left between 2012 and 2016.[25] According to San Jose Police Officers Association president Jim Unland, officers were leaving because "they have the worst pension plan in the state, it provides no disability protections for them if they're seriously hurt."Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[26]
An initial attempt to address the police shortage by amending Measure B's disability provisions ended when the city council opted not to put the measure on the 2014 ballot.[27] Union representatives claimed that the proposed measure would not have done enough to reverse the understaffing trend. Although then-Mayor Chuck Reed maintained that the adjustments "would not change the savings from Measure B, but they would possibly help with retention and recruitment," firefighters union president Joel Phelan said, "Mayor Reed and his City Council majority's fix to their mistake is akin to pouring gasoline on an already raging fire." South Bay Labor Council head Ben Field added, "They want to look like they're doing something about the problem that they've created," but "it does not solve the public safety crisis—it will not help the city recruit and maintain police officers."[28]
Amid concerns about the police shortfall and the potential for further litigation, San Jose asked a court to repeal Measure B and negotiated a replacement agreement with the public employee unions.[29] The city council put the compromise deal, which proposed restoring disability retirement provisions but discontinuing funding for retiree health care, on the November 2016 ballot.[29][30][21]
All of the November 2016 city council candidates except District 2's Brown, who worried the measure would do little to fix the police shortage, backed the pension reform measure.[11][13][12] Each candidate also offered other suggestions for addressing the police shortfall.
| San Jose City Council candidates' proposals to address the police shortage | ||
|---|---|---|
| District 2 | Steve Brown:[11]
|
Sergio Jimenez:[11]
|
| District 6 | Helen Chapman: | Devora Davis:
|
| District 8 | Sylvia Arenas:[13]
|
Jimmy Nguyen: |
About the city
- See also: San Jose, California
San Jose is a city in Santa Clara County, California. As of 2010, its population was 945,942.
City government
- See also: Council-manager government
The city of San Jose uses a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[33]
Demographics
The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.
| Demographic Data for San Jose, California | ||
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | California | |
| Population | 945,942 | 37,253,956 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 178 | 155,857 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 39.9% | 59.7% |
| Black/African American | 3% | 5.8% |
| Asian | 35.9% | 14.5% |
| Native American | 0.6% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Other (single race) | 14.8% | 14% |
| Multiple | 5.3% | 4.9% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 31.6% | 39% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 84.6% | 83.3% |
| College graduation rate | 43.7% | 33.9% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $109,593 | $75,235 |
| Persons below poverty level | 8.7% | 13.4% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms San Jose California election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| San Jose, California | California | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, "June 7, 2016 Presidential Primary Election," June 30, 2016
- ↑ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "San Jose's District 8 Council Results Could Shake Up Mayor's Coalition," June 8, 2016
- ↑ San Jose City Clerk, "Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure and Lobbyist Filings," accessed November 7, 2016
- ↑ The Mercury News, "San Jose Council Denies Studying Commercial Fees for Affordable Housing," December 18, 2015
- ↑ San Jose Inside, "San Jose City Council Lowers Rent Control Cap to 5 Percent," April 20, 2016
- ↑ People Acting in Community Together, "San Jose Renters Ask City for Protection," May 13, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Mercury News, "San Jose Voters to Decide on 'Opportunity to Work,'" June 28, 2016
- ↑ Silicon Valley Business Journal, "San Jose Mayor to Write Ballot Argument against Part-Time Worker Measure," June 29, 2016
- ↑ South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, "November 8, 2016 General Election Endorsements," accessed October 11, 2016
- ↑ San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, "ChamberPAC's Final Endorsements for the November Elections," September 29, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 The Mercury News, "San Jose: District 2 Election Offers Voters Two Dramatically Different Choices," September 18, 2016
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 The Mercury News, "San Jose: District 6 Election a Tight Race between Davis and Chapman," September 24, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 The Mercury News, "San Jose: District 8 Voters Have a Tough Decision in November," October 2, 2016
- ↑ Zumper, "Zumper National Rent Report: April 2016," April 7, 2016
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "The Typical Home in San Jose Now Costs More than $1 Million," August 10, 2016
- ↑ San Jose Inside, "San Jose City Council Lowers Rent Control Cap to 5 Percent," April 20, 2016
- ↑ City of San Jose, "City Council Agenda," April 19, 2016
- ↑ The Mercury News, "San Jose Council Approves Tightening Rent Control—But Neither Side Is Happy," September 23, 2016
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 The Mercury News, "San Jose: Davis and Chapman Clash over Rent Control during Council Candidates Forum," October 4, 2016
- ↑ Yes on A for Affordable Housing, "About," accessed October 12, 2016
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 City of San Jose, "Notice Measure to Be Voted on," accessed August 31, 2016
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Jimmy Nguyen - San Jose City Council District 1, "Jimmy on the Issues," accessed October 19, 2016
- ↑ League of Women Voters of California, "Measure B," accessed October 12, 2016
- ↑ City of San Jose, "Measure B Litigation," accessed October 21, 2016
- ↑ NBC Bay Area, "New Audit Puts San Jose Police Staffing Crisis in Numbers," October 4, 2016
- ↑ KTVU, "San Jose City Council Creates Ballot Initiative on Pension Plan Changes," July 2, 2014
- ↑ AFSCME, "Measure B - Pension Plan Amendments," December 18, 2015
- ↑ The Mercury News, "Pension Reform: San Jose Ballot Initiative Would Water Down Measure B—Is It Enough?" July 1, 2014
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 The Mercury News, "San Jose: Leaders to Finalize Measure B Replacement Ballot," August 12, 2016
- ↑ San Jose Inside, "Santa Clara County Voter's Guide to All 32 Local Ballot Measures," September 7, 2016
- ↑ Helen Chapman for City Council, "Making San Jose Safer - A Working Plan of Action," May 4, 2016
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Devora "Dev" Davis - City Council District 6," accessed October 19, 2016
- ↑ City of San Jose, "Government," accessed October 29, 2014
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