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City elections in San Jose, California (2020)

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2022
2018
2020 San Jose elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: December 6, 2019
Primary election: March 3, 2020
General election: November 3, 2020
Election stats
Offices up: City council districts 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10
Total seats up: 5
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2020

The city of San Jose, California, held primary elections for city council districts 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 on March 3, 2020. A general election was scheduled for November 3, 2020, if no candidate received a majority of votes in the primary. The filing deadline for this election was December 6, 2019.

San Jose is a city in Santa Clara County, California. For information on 2020 elections in Santa Clara County, click here.

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

California modified its absentee/mail-in and in-person voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

  • Absentee/mail-in voting: Mail-in ballots were sent to all registered voters in the general election.
  • In-person voting: Counties were authorized to consolidate precincts and defer opening voting centers until the third day before the election.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

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Elections

Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.

Candidates and results

District 2

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 2

Incumbent Sergio Jimenez won election outright against Jonathan Benjamin Fleming in the primary for San Jose City Council District 2 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Sergio Jimenez
Sergio Jimenez (Nonpartisan)
 
58.5
 
12,891
Image of Jonathan Benjamin Fleming
Jonathan Benjamin Fleming (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
41.5
 
9,139

Total votes: 22,030
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 4

General election

General election for San Jose City Council District 4

David Cohen defeated incumbent Lan Diep in the general election for San Jose City Council District 4 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of David Cohen
David Cohen (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
51.3
 
20,030
Image of Lan Diep
Lan Diep (Nonpartisan)
 
48.7
 
18,993

Total votes: 39,023
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 4

David Cohen and incumbent Lan Diep defeated Huy Tran and Jamal Khan in the primary for San Jose City Council District 4 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of David Cohen
David Cohen (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
36.5
 
7,417
Image of Lan Diep
Lan Diep (Nonpartisan)
 
33.2
 
6,756
Huy Tran (Nonpartisan)
 
23.3
 
4,740
Image of Jamal Khan
Jamal Khan (Nonpartisan)
 
7.0
 
1,417

Total votes: 20,330
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 6

General election

General election for San Jose City Council District 6

Incumbent Devora Davis defeated Jake Tonkel in the general election for San Jose City Council District 6 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Devora Davis
Devora Davis (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
53.9
 
24,340
Image of Jake Tonkel
Jake Tonkel (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
46.1
 
20,840

Total votes: 45,180
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 6

Incumbent Devora Davis and Jake Tonkel defeated Ruben Navarro and Marshall Woodmansee in the primary for San Jose City Council District 6 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Devora Davis
Devora Davis (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
48.4
 
13,175
Image of Jake Tonkel
Jake Tonkel (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
27.9
 
7,596
Ruben Navarro (Nonpartisan)
 
16.7
 
4,557
Image of Marshall Woodmansee
Marshall Woodmansee (Nonpartisan)
 
7.0
 
1,910

Total votes: 27,238
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 8

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Jose City Council District 8

Incumbent Sylvia Arenas won election outright against Jim Zito in the primary for San Jose City Council District 8 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Sylvia Arenas
Sylvia Arenas (Nonpartisan)
 
60.6
 
13,886
Image of Jim Zito
Jim Zito (Nonpartisan)
 
39.4
 
9,035

Total votes: 22,921
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 10

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
Image of Matt Mahan
Matt Mahan (Nonpartisan)
 
58.5
 
15,387
Helen Wang (Nonpartisan)
 
22.3
 
5,865
Jenny Higgins Bradanini (Nonpartisan)
 
19.1
 
5,031

Total votes: 26,283
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Ballot measures

See also: California 2020 ballot measures

March 3

See also: March 3 local ballot measures

Statewide:

City:

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: California elections, 2020

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About the city

See also: San Jose, California

San Jose is a city in Santa Clara County, California. As of 2020, its population was 1,013,240.

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.[1]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for San Jose, California
San Jose California
Population 1,013,240 39,538,223
Land area (sq mi) 177 155,858
Race and ethnicity**
White 29% 44%
Black/African American 2.9% 5.5%
Asian 38.6% 15.3%
Native American 1% 1.1%
Pacific Islander 1.6% 1.2%
Other (single race) 13.6% 17.4%
Multiple 14.4% 16.3%
Hispanic/Latino 31% 39.8%
Education
High school graduation rate 85.5% 84.6%
College graduation rate 46.5% 36.5%
Income
Median household income $141,565 $96,334
Persons below poverty level 7.8% 12%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2018-2023).
**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.


Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

There are no Pivot Counties in California. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won California with 61.7 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 31.6 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, California voted Republican 53.33 percent of the time and Democratic 43.33 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, California voted Democratic all five times. In 2016, California had 55 electoral votes, which was the most of any state. The 55 electoral votes were 10.2 percent of all 538 available electoral votes and were 20.4 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state Assembly districts in California. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[2][3]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 58 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 38.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 66 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 40.3 points. Clinton won 11 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 22 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 12.2 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 14 out of 80 state Assembly districts in California with an average margin of victory of 13 points.


See also

San Jose, California California Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes