Overview
- Mahan, the San Jose mayor, has launched a statewide campaign centered on affordability, expanded treatment, and aggressive homelessness interventions including building shelter and requiring its use.
- He told the Wall Street Journal he wants the race focused on government inefficiency, opposing a proposed wealth and asset tax as risky for Silicon Valley and favoring an estate tax that captures unrealized gains at death.
- Positioning himself as a moderate, Mahan said California should follow San Jose’s “law‑abiding city” approach rather than a blanket sanctuary model, with deportation a likely consequence for serious crimes.
- He has openly contrasted his approach with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s, backing Proposition 36 and faulting the state for inconsistent homelessness funding and a lack of detailed implementation on voter‑approved crime and treatment measures.
- Strategists caution his direct criticism of a popular Democratic incumbent could alienate the party base and organized labor, even as he drew short‑term attention with a Polymarket surge to 36% shortly after his announcement.