San Jose special election likely headed to June runoff

Gabby Chavez-Lopez continues to maintain her lead in updated results for the San Jose City Council District 3 special election, but it’s not enough of the vote to secure a win outright.As of 4 p.m.

Thursday, Chavez-Lopez, executive director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, still holds on to a solid 29% of the vote. Matthew Quevedo, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, is in second place at 22.18% and Planning Commission Chair Anthony Tordillos is trailing in third at 22.



16%. With one candidate unlikely to get more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will head to a June 24 runoff election.Chavez-Lopez, 37, said she’s ecstatic to maintain her strong first place lead — and just as anxious to see who her opponent will be in June.

She said it’s remarkable to see the results hang by one or two votes just after a historic recount in last year’s Congressional District 16 race.“I was talking to people at their doors about the CD16 recount and how every vote is critical,” Chavez-Lopez told San José Spotlight. “This has been a fast and furious race, but we made it a priority to connect with as many voters possible.

”The first round of election night results Tuesday initially put Quevedo ahead of Tordillos. But updated results Wednesday flipped Tordillos ahead of Quevedo by just one vote — signaling a possible blow to Mayor Matt Mahan, who has thrown his support behind his deputy chief of staff. On Thursday, Quevedo inched back into second place by two votes.

Election results are expected to be updated again Friday by 5 p.m.Quevedo, 37, said it’s just another chapter in a razor’s edge results watch.

“My heart goes out to Anthony, we’re definitely brothers in anxiety. It speaks to every vote counts,” Quevedo told San José Spotlight.The thin margins have been fueling chatter in San Jose political circles about whether a recount will be triggered — or requested by a candidate.

Quevedo said he’d respect the process if there’s a recount.“We must count every vote, and there are still more to count,” Kurt Frewing, Tordillos’ spokesperson, told San José Spotlight. “We’ve crushed the special interests and pundits’ expectations, and we look forward to this process playing out.

”The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters counted 38 unprocessed ballots as of 9 a.m. Thursday.

Spokesperson Steve Goltiao said it’s unclear whether the number is still accurate as they received additional ballots postmarked on Election Day on Thursday.“I’m not sure how many of those were provisional or conditional voter registration ballots,” Goltiao told San José Spotlight. Related Stories April 9, 2025 UPDATE: San Jose special election is a race for second place April 7, 2025 San Jose special election PAC spending tops $800K April 4, 2025 Editorial: Will San Jose’s next District 3 leader fit the bill? Santa Clara County automatically requires a recount for races with a margin of victory less than 0.

25% of ballots cast, or where that margin is less than 25 total votes.Goltiao said if there’s a recount, it won’t impact election officials’ deadline of certifying the special election on April 28.“We will still abide by the timeline we set forth for certification of results — if there is a recount it will run concurrently with our 1% manual tally, which will be the week of April 21,” he said.

The election results could tip the city council’s scales of power, reshaping Mahan’s delicate six-vote majority and painting an early referendum on his controversial agenda to arrest homeless people and prioritize temporary shelter over permanent affordable housing. Total voter turnout so far is at just over 19% — roughly 9,071 of the district’s 47,307 registered voters.The center-right mayor has put his political machine’s resources behind Quevedo.

Meanwhile, the mayor’s critics in Democratic Party circles have either backed Chavez-Lopez or Tordillos, 33.The special election is the result of a child sex abuse investigation into former District 3 Councilmember Omar Torres, which led to his arrest and resignation on Election Day last November. The scandal revealed Torres sent texts asking for sex with minors and admitted to molesting an underage relative in the 1990s.

Torres pleaded “no contest” in court Tuesday.The race has been replete with attack ads and dramatic mailers, either associating Quevedo with Elon Musk or accusing Chavez-Lopez of exploiting the housing crisis. And the campaign dollars are stacking up, with constituents and special interest groups putting thousands of dollars behind their chosen candidates.

Quevedo leads the pool of candidates in fundraising, with recent campaign finance filings showing more than $271,000 raised as of April 7. Tordillos has leaped ahead of Chavez-Lopez raising more than $163,000. Chavez-Lopez is in third in terms of fundraising, having raised nearly $152,000.

Funding from political action committees (PAC) has heated up significantly as the race heads to the finish line. Along with the thousands of dollars spent by candidates, seven PACs have spent more than $800,000 on the race either supporting or opposing Quevedo and Chavez-Lopez.Story updated April 10 at 4:47 p.

m. Original story published April 10 at 4:23 p.m.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.The post San Jose special election likely headed to June runoff appeared first on San José Spotlight.

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