Fmr. Rep Jackie Speier, Sup. Ray Mueller, Mayor Sue Vaterlaus, Fmr. Sen. Jerry Hill Endorse Sam Liccardo for Congress
Liccardo is the Candidate Who Will Fight for San Mateo
SAN JOSE, CA — At a press conference today, former Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, and Pacifica Mayor Sue Vaterlaus announced their endorsements of Sam Liccardo for Congress in CA-16. Former State Senator Jerry Hill (SD-13) also shared a statement endorsing Liccardo. This announcement builds on growing momentum for Liccardo, after a poll shows Liccardo with a 12% lead in the two-candidate race to replace the retiring Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, and a majority of the Half Moon Bay City Council endorsed Liccardo.
“I enthusiastically endorse Sam Liccardo for Congress,” Speier said. “He’s shown by his record of many years as being the mayor of San Jose, he will go the extra mile. He will go take on the powerful interests to protect his citizens.”
“The best choice to represent us here in San Mateo is Sam Liccardo,” Mueller said. “There are powerful corporate interests opposing Sam’s campaign for Congress. He has what it takes to protect residents in this district. Sam is the kind of leader who listens, who does what is right, and I’m proud to endorse him.”
“This is a strong community, but it’s also too often left out of important conversations,” Vaterlaus said. “Sam Liccardo has sought the counsel of leaders in this region, and taken our concerns seriously. He’s met with many of us many times, unlike some other candidates. I’m proud to endorse his campaign.”
Former State Senator Jerry Hill, who was unable to attend, released the following statement:
“Sam Liccardo is the kind of leader our nation, and this district, needs in Congress,” Hill said. “This moment demands a person who will bring people together to focus on solutions. Sam is unique in this campaign, because he is the only candidate who can do this. It is my honor to enthusiastically endorse Sam Liccardo’s campaign for Congress. He is the leader this community deserves.”
“I’m honored to be endorsed by these tremendous leaders,” Liccardo said. “I know each of them will hold me accountable to meet their high standards for representing our district, and to meet the critical needs of our community.”
Liccardo is endorsed by the Sierra Club, 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, Scott Peters, Brad Schneider, Josh Harder, Annie Kuster, former U.S. Representative Gil Cisneros, 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.