The field appears to be set for several Santa Clara elections. According to the unofficial list released by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters on Aug. 12, Santa Clara voters have a lot of decisions to make on Nov. 5.
The deadline to submit papers for all of the races was Aug. 9, which means the following should be the list of people that will appear on the ballot.
Three Candidates Vie for District 1
Since Council Member Kathy Watanabe has reached her term limit for serving on the Santa Clara City Council, the seat is open to someone new. Three people have submitted papers to run for the seat.
Harbir K. Bhatia opposed Watanabe in the 2020 race. Bhatia lost with 46.48% to Watanabe’s 53.52%.
Satish “Sunny” Chandra is also running. He was appointed by Watanabe to the 2023 Charter Review Committee. He has already received her endorsement.
Albert Gonzalez spent several years representing the area on the Santa Clara Unified School District’s Board of Trustees. He looks to join Santa Clara’s City Council this year.
District 4 Race Offers Déjà Vu
In District 4, it’s a repeat of the 2020 bout that saw then incumbent Teresa O’Neill face off against Kevin Park. This time, the roles are reversed and it’s Park who currently holds the seat.
Park beat O’Neill 57.24% to 42.76% in the 2020 race.
O’Neill was previously elected to the council when the city was under an at-large voting system in which the whole city voted for the representatives on the council.
District 5 a Two-Way Race
In District 5, it went from a three-way race to a two-way race.
Deborah M. Cordova had filed papers to run for the District 5 seat. She is currently listed on the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ list, but the City of Santa Clara’s website says Cordova withdrew from the race on Aug. 9.
That means incumbent Suds Jain will face a challenge from David Kertes.
District 6’s Three Candidates
In District 6, two people appear to challenge incumbent Anthony Becker for his seat on the council. Becker is currently on trial for perjury and accused of lying to the civil grand jury about leaking the draft of a civil grand jury report centered around the council.
George Guerra is one of the two people challenging Becker for his seat. Guerra is a former member of the Santa Clara Parks and Recreation Commission.
Kelly G. Cox is also running for District 6’s City Council seat. She is an assistant dean at Santa Clara University.
Four Vie to Fill City Clerk Role
With incumbent City Clerk Hosam Haggag choosing not to run for re-election, there is a handful of people looking to take over the City Clerk post.
Bob O’Keefe, who ran against Suds Jain in the District 5 election in 2020, is one of the candidates.
Steve Kelly is a former member of the Santa Clara Planning Commission and owner of Silicon Valley Properties.
Poornima Gopi, a local engineer, has also tossed her hat into the ring, so to speak.
Paul Tacci, the owner of a local telecommunications company and the Global Technology Director of the Global AI Council, which promotes AI in education and community empowerment, is the fourth candidate.
Two Candidates for Santa Clara Police Chief
There are two people running to be chief of police in Santa Clara.
Cory B. Morgan is a lieutenant with the Santa Clara Police Department.
Mario Brasil is a lieutenant with the San Jose Police Department.
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Yes, the Civil Grand Jury is correct that the 49ers caused a major disruption into the make-up of our current City’s Council. But what the Grand Jury failed to investigate was the basic explanation behind why this was happening and what were the stupid and idiotic dramas which led up for all these events to occur?
The primary motivation the 49ers took for their actions was when they decided the necessity to put a stop to all the frivolous lawsuits our City (mainly initiated by our Mayor and former City Manager/City Attorney) was filing against them. These lawsuits were costing both our City and the 49ers unnecessary millions and millions of dollars in lawyers and legal fees. The 49ers decided it would be wiser, cheaper, and more expedient to invest their dollars instead into supporting Council Members who would put an end to these lawsuits. Personally, I feel what the 49ers did was a major blessing and improvement for our City and for our City Council. Now that all the lawsuits have been settled, I sincerely doubt if the 49ers will have any future interest in our current City Council or City affairs.
Lessons learnt: When you start throwing punches, be aware that your opponent and their supporters shall soon begin punching back.
Many organizations provide financial and personnel support to areas of community need. AMD's focus areas are Digital Impact, Environmental Sustainability, Supply Chain Responsibility, and Diversity, Belonging, and Inclusion. Some of Nvidia's many areas of giving are Disease Cure, Education, and Disaster Relief. Applied Materials gives to Generation Girl, Fight Against Hunger, and EarthWorks. Intel supports various areas of economic impact, education and workforce development, resource sustainability, and many other volunteer service endeavors.
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The NFL and many of its franchises participate in "Inspire Change" efforts which includes deploying policy and government affairs resources at the national, state and local levels. https://www.nfl.com/causes/inspire-change/
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We have to remember that the City of Santa Clara's past ways of city-wide voting was confirmed multiple times by Superior and Appeals Courts to have been in violation of the California Voters Rights Act. The City's "old guard" of all Caucasian council members fought tooth and nail to keep diversity and change out of City Hall. In addition to practice and policy, the old guard was also heavily funded by employee unions, namely the SCPOA. The old guard continues to press into digital airwaves an invalid narrative that the 49ers bought council members for commercial favoritism. The other, more optimistic perspective is that a professional entertainment organization headquartered in the City of Santa Clara (just like AMD, Applied Materials, Intel, and Nvidia) donated resources in supprot of diversity and inclusion in local government representation - just as their mission describes.
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Residents in Santa Clara are better off with a council that is more reflective of its constituents. Appropriate gratitude should be shown to the entities who financially supported educating the public about the change and especially to those who voted for it.
Very well written and elucidated. I agree 100%.
I’m so overjoyed to be a member of this group
I’m overjoyed to be a member