# Matt Mahan

Matthew William Mahan (born November 18, 1982) is an American politician and tech entrepreneur who has served as the mayor of San Jose since 2023. He previously served as the District 10 Councilmember representing the Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley, and Vista Park neighborhoods. Mahan also served as the co-founder and CEO of Brigade Media, a tech company focused on civic engagement.

## Early life and education

Mahan was raised in Watsonville, California. Reared as a Catholic, he attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, where his uncle, California real estate developer Ed Thrift, had previously attended, on a low-income scholarship. While in high school, Mahan worked with former State Senator Jim Beall and former Santa Clara Counsel Ann Ravel.
Mahan graduated from Harvard University in 2005. In college, Mahan served as President of the Harvard Undergraduate Council.

## Private sector career

After Harvard, Mahan spent a year building irrigation systems in Bolivia. He then joined Teach for America where he was matched to Alum Rock Middle School.
In 2008, Mahan joined a tech startup led by Sean Parker and Joe Green. Together, they formed Causes, an early Facebook application focused on grassroots and public engagement that helped raise money for nonprofit organizations. Mahan became CEO and president of Causes in 2013.
In 2014, Mahan launched Brigade with investments from Parker, Ron Conway, Marc Benioff, and others. Brigade was created as a social medium for civic engagement. In 2019, Brigade was acqui-hired by Pinterest and its technology was purchased by Countable.

## Electoral career

In early 2020, Mahan entered the San Jose City Council District 10 race. He won with 58% of the vote, and in January 2021, was sworn in as the District 10 Council member for the city of San Jose.
In September 2021, Mahan became a candidate for Mayor of San Jose, focusing on a platform of accountability in government. He proposed an accountability dashboard which would track progress on issues like crime and homelessness. He also pledged to end the current system of automatic raises for politicians and city department heads unless progress is shown.
In November 2022, he was elected mayor of San Jose, defeating Santa Clara County supervisor Cindy Chavez. The term is two years and he will be up for re-election in 2024.
He opposed an August 2023 deal with San Jose's municipal unions that raised employee wages and increased paid parental leave, arguing that the increased cost would lead to a budget deficit and force the city to cut services. The deal did not require his approval to go into effect.

## Campaign and election
### Endorsements

Individuals who endorsed Mahan for the city council included the Santa Clara County Assessor (Larry Stone), the San Jose Mayor (Sam Liccardo), the Vice Mayor (Chappie Jones), and city council members (Lan Diep and Pam Foley). But when Mahan ran for mayor, he received no endorsements from the city council members. Mahan did not receive endorsements from his fellow city council members, but he did receive endorsements from three former mayors. One of these mayors was the most recent mayor of San Jose, who reached his term limit, Sam Liccardo. And now, as Sam Liccardo runs for California's 16th Congressional District, Mayor Mahan endorses him. Liccardo explained his endorsement by stating that he liked Mahan's commonsense and realistic solutions and disliked Chavez's campaign of fear politics. Mahan was proud of his grassroots campaign based on common sense.
Mahan received endorsements from the Business San Jose Chamber Political Action Committee, based in Silicon Valley, when he ran for city council in 2020. They claimed that they supported Mahan's plan to spend tax dollars appropriately and reduce tax burdens to encourage business growth in the city and wanted a transparent government. The Silicon Valley Business PAC endorsed Mahan in the mayoral election as well, but this time, they highlighted his business background and policy preferences aligning with their mission statement. This is one of the largest organizations in the area, which focuses on business interests and growing the local economy.

### Election

San Jose mayoral elections and city council elections have historically been between labor union-backed progressive candidates and business community-backed moderate candidates. Local businesses and business-aligned moderates tended to support Mahan. There is a divide in who is supported by what group of businesses, building alliances and getting votes on the city council is important to get things done.
In 2022, there was a ballot measure passed, moving the San Jose mayoral elections to be held in the same years as the presidential elections, such as 2028. This could result in higher voter turnout.

## Policy
### Police and crime

In his first formal address as mayor, Mahan held firm on his campaign promises regarding crime. In this address, he cited his collaboration with the city's district attorney office to update the city's booking process. Mahan also noted in the speech that he is committed to ensuring San Jose becomes “the safest big city” in the United States. The article notes that San Jose is experiencing a lack of staffing within its police department. Mahan's proposed the implementation of various law enforcement technologies such as speed cameras and license plate readers.
Reiterating his stance on crime in June 2023, Mahan held an unscheduled press conference outside of a convenience store in downtown San Jose regarding open air drug and homeless encampments. In the press conference he noted “if you're coming to San Jose to deal drugs, you will be arrested.” In the press conference he also noted that there would be efforts made to get drug users into treatment.
On a local San Francisco news website Mahan wrote an op-ed about his support for California Proposition 36. This expression comes in contrast to other Democratic politicians in the state who showed opposition to it. Mahan stated that “well-intentioned efforts to ease prison overcrowding” have led to heightened rates of drug overdose, petty theft, and homelessness. Mahan also shared a personal story related to the proposition. He described “an epidemic of suffering” that he claims is affecting the streets of California. Mahan notes that California has seen a 60% raise in homelessness according to congressional data. He also notes that Prop. 36 allows judges to mandate treatment for people convicted with an untreated addiction.
Recently, the San Jose city council has faced controversy upon the allegations that (now former) councilman Omar Torres was under investigation for child sexual misconduct, and other accusations followed. Mayor Mahan, along with the other city council members issued a statement calling for Torres to step down. After weeks of investigation and pressure from the public, and other members of the local government, Torres stepped down and was subsequently arrested.

### Homelessness and business investments

Mahan has offered many plans to address the homelessness crisis in San Jose. The plans include temporary housing solutions, and building tiny homes and modular units on public land. Mahan's plan is to place homes in Santa Clara County to help with the homelessness crisis. The goal for these projects is to have housing for 20,000 individuals by the year of 2025.
Within Mahan's plan, he established five transition committees to overcome the city's challenges. Within these committees are community members, council members, and city staff, who want to zoom in on homelessness, community safety, clean neighborhoods, downtown vibrancy, and planning/permitting. The committees were set in place to implement new approaches to addressing these issues and provide recommendations to Mahan's budget proposals. Mahan is also set on nearly doubling the annual hiring to law enforcement agents from 15 to 30 officers.
Mahan faces major economic challenges such as Google's reassessment of the Downtown West Project. Mahan and council member David Cohen proposed a “hub” for artificial intelligence. Using a memo proposing incentives to attract AI companies, aiming to help grow AI companies and push innovators to aid civic challenges like traffic safety and transportation.

### Affordable housing

On March 3, 2020, voters approved Measure E property transfer tax to fund permanent affordable housing. The Measure E allocation plan stated that 90% of the transfer tax would be spent on affordable housing. On April 12, 2022, Mahan had the Measure E allocation of funds for affordable housing modified down to 75% to make shelter construction a priority. Mahan increased investment in housing now solutions like the development of quick-build communities and interim housing. Mayor Mahan, Councilmember Arjun Batra, and Dignity Moves initiated a project to build new interim housing that would house 150 homeless individuals. The annual Point-in-Time count for 2023 revealed a 10.7% decline in unsheltered homelessness and 4.7% in overall homelessness.
In May 2024, the San Jose City Council announced Mahan's proposed draft budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year that would reallocate Measure E housing funds to temporary homeless housing. Mahan's decision to divert the Measure E funds was a response to the high pollutant levels along the creeks and rivers that the immense homeless population currently inhabits. In June 2024, Mahan's updated budget proposal left $11 million of the total $50 million 2024-25 Measure E funding for affordable housing, waitlisting the development of 13 affordable housing projects due to underfunding. In August 2024, Mahan met with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to construct a plan for housing the unhoused population in San Jose. Mahan used the city of San Diego as a template to create a proposal to solve the problem of homelessness. The proposal was the development of sanctioned encampments to shelter the homeless.

## Personal life

Mahan married Silvia-Wedad Scandar in 2012. The couple met at Harvard in their freshman year at school. They have two children and live in San Jose's Almaden Valley neighborhood.
At Harvard, he lived in the same dorm as Mark Zuckerberg. He has also spoken about Zuckerburg's company, Meta.