Campbell Councilmembers Support Liccardo for Congress
Majority of Evan Low’s hometown city council support Sam Liccardo
SAN JOSE, CA — Today, a slate of elected Campbell leaders, including a majority of the City Council, announced their endorsement of former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo for Congress in California’s 16th District. This announcement comes after a new poll showing Liccardo with a 12% lead in the two-candidate race to replace the retiring Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
“I’m honored to be supported by an incredible group of leaders in Campbell, whose good work has enabled their city to flourish through some very challenging times,” Liccardo said. “As a former mayor who appreciated their collaborative leadership on such important regional issues as housing and transportation, I look forward to relying on their guidance as I serve the Campbell community and its priorities in Congress.”
“I’ve had the privilege of knowing and working with both candidates in this race,” said Campbell Vice Mayor Sergio Lopez. “Sam Liccardo is the clear choice. Whether it’s tackling the housing crisis, standing up to the scourge of gun violence, or taking on PG&E, Sam has delivered results for our communities and will be a hands-on partner for our cities. In a divided Congress, we need experienced leadership — Sam is that leader.”
“I’m endorsing Sam because I’m confident that he will set aside divisive rhetoric and focus on pragmatic ways to improve the federal government’s support for housing and homelessness here in Campbell,” Campbell Councilmember Elliot Scozzola said.
“I am endorsing Sam because I trust him to get the job done,” Campbell Councilmember Dan Furtado said. “He has a plan to create more affordable housing, and he will work collaboratively to address both national and local challenges facing our country and California cities.”
Campbell, which borders San Jose, is where Evan Low began his political career. He served on the city council for eight years, before winning a seat in the State Assembly. He lived in and represented Campbell in the State Assembly before moving in with his dad to run in a new, neighboring assembly district. Low secured a second place finish in the primary, by a margin of five votes following a lengthy recount.
The full slate includes Vice Mayor Sergio Lopez, Councilmembers Dan Furtado and Elliot Scozzola, and Campbell Union High School District Trustee Aine O’Donovan.
Liccardo is endorsed by the New Democrat Coalition, NorCal Carpenters Union, Laborers’ International Union of North America, Defend the Vote, California State Controller Malia Cohen, U.S. Representatives Nanette Barragan, Tony Cárdenas, Lou Correa, Robert Garcia, Linda Sanchez, and Scott Peters, Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and more than 100 local elected officials and community leaders. In the primary election, he was endorsed by the Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. A full endorsement list can be seen here.
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About Sam Liccardo
Sam Liccardo is running for Congress to focus Washington on the big issues like homelessness, climate change, reproductive rights, and the punishing cost of living. To a Congress that has been called the least productive in decades, Liccardo says “Let’s Get it Done!” on the problems that matter most to the Peninsula, the Coastside, and Silicon Valley.
As Mayor of San José, the Bay Area’s largest city, Liccardo’s innovative efforts to confront homelessness include pioneering the conversion of motels to housing in 2016, four years prior to California adopting it as a statewide model. He piloted the development of quick-build prefabricated housing communities that were constructed at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional apartments, helping thousands come off the streets. Liccardo also launched a successful program that employs unhoused residents cleaning the city in exchange for housing and pay (“San José Bridge”). Though San José long struggled with growing homelessness, it became one of the very few California cities to reduce street homelessness in Liccardo’s final year in office, 2022.
Under Liccardo, San José resolved chronic deficits, reduced city debt, and improved its credit rating, particularly through a 2016 ballot measure that saved taxpayers $3 billion over three decades. He took on the gun lobby and crafted a first-in-the-nation requirement for gun owners to pay annual fees to support violence-prevention programs and to purchase liability insurance. He launched San José Clean Energy for the city’s one million residents which now procures 95% of its electricity from renewable and GHG-free sources. Liccardo also led a series of successful ballot measures to preserve open space and hillsides, rebuild city streets and other infrastructure, and provide hundreds of millions in funding for housing affordable to vital workers such as teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police officers. Liccardo led efforts to expand BART and was part of the regional coalition that supported the successful efforts to electrify Caltrain.
Prior to his service in elected office, Liccardo prosecuted felony crimes of sexual assault and child exploitation in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, and also served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Georgetown University. His published works have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other national publications. He and his wife, Jessica García-Kohl, live in San José.
About California’s 16th Congressional District
California’s 16th is an open Congressional District that covers parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, home to Silicon Valley. The district covers all or part of the cities of Menlo Park, Los Altos, Woodside, Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, Atherton, Pescadero, Portola Valley, Campbell, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Saratoga and Stanford.