“Congress must act faster to address crime, confront homelessness, and lower the cost of living,” says Liccardo
SAN JOSE – Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo officially filed his candidacy papers today in the race for Congress in the 16th Congressional District, the Silicon Valley and San Mateo County seat now held by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who is retiring.
Liccardo said his campaign will focus on innovative solutions to the region’s most pressing problems – starting with crime, homelessness, and the cost of living.
“Congress must act faster to address crime, confront homelessness, and lower the cost of living,” Liccardo said.
Liccardo is a former criminal prosecutor who served as Mayor of San Jose for 8 years. He taught at Stanford about innovative approaches to reduce street homelessness. As mayor he worked to implement more efficient ways to house the homeless, providing them jobs cleaning the city to work their way off the streets.
He worked with all sides to craft voter-approved measures that saved taxpayers $3 billion, balanced budgets, built affordable housing, added police, repaved 1,000 miles of roads, and helped lead efforts to electrify Caltrain. He developed national models for delivering lower-cost clean energy, providing free internet to 200,000 high-need residents, and expanding college access for first-generation students.
He fought PG&E’s massive rate hikes, worked with neighbors and environmentalists to defeat billionaire developers to protect our Valley’s hillsides and open spaces, and battled the gun lobby to enact the nation’s most innovative gun violence prevention measures.