Mayor Matt Mahan - His Vision as Democratic Candidate for Governor of California - The Daily Show

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“We’ve got to ask our government to do better before we ask people to give more.” Mayor Matt Mahan of San José sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss his candidacy for governor of California. They talk about building constituents' trust by reducing homelessness, crime, and delivering on housing promises, regulating AI to help the industry boom in a way that protects people's livelihoods and privacy, and what his background in public school teaching and tech start-ups taught him about examining data to create pragmatic solutions in government.

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1. Conservative heads San Jose mayor's governor campaign

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has bristled at being labeled right-leaning while stressing he’s a lifelong Democrat. His hiring of a self-described conservative to run his California governor campaign could fuel fresh skepticism.
Mahan’s 23-year-old campaign manager, Adrian Rafizadeh, registered as a Republican in 2020, voter records show. Rafizadeh previously worked on Mahan’s mayoral campaign from 2021 to 2022, and as a policy analyst under Mahan as councilmember in 2021. Rafizadeh was also CEO of Back to Basics, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group Mahan launched to tackle homelessness and development policy statewide, in 2024. That role is now filled by Mahan’s former Chief of Staff Jim Reed, who took over the organization in December.
Rafizadeh acknowledged the Republican registration and said he later switched to Democrat before he knew Mahan was considering running for governor. He didn’t answer questions about when exactly he switched parties — or why.

In prior years, Mahan’s candidacy for local office has been supported by conservative groups such as the Silicon Valley Association of Republican Women. He was a special guest during his mayoral campaign at a Bay Area GOP fundraising dinner focused on “taking back San Jose” in 2022. After the publication of this story, Mahan told this news outlet he was listed as an attendee without his permission and did not attend.
Mahan not only aligned with California Republicans on Proposition 36 — a voter approved initiative to create harsher penalties for petty theft — but helped lead the charge for it. He appeared for TV news interviews across the state to cast doubt on his would-be predecessor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, over attempts to strategize California’s resistance to President Donald Trump.


https://sanjosespotlight.com/conservative-heads-san-jose-mayors-governor-campaign/