New Democrat Coalition Endorses Sam Liccardo For Congress in CA-16
Prominent Congressional caucus throws weight behind frontrunner for CA-16
SAN JOSE, CA — Today, the New Democrat Coalition, one of the biggest coalitions in Congress, announced its endorsement of Sam Liccardo for California’s 16th Congressional District.
“We’re proud to endorse Sam Liccardo for Congress,” New Democrat Coalition Action Fund Chair Annie Kuster said. “In a divided Congress, we desperately need leaders who can find common ground. Sam has a real track record of bringing together people who disagree, to fix difficult issues and move forward collaboratively. On the issues of lowering costs, climate change, affordable housing, and many more, Sam has serious policy proposals that make sense. We look forward to working with him in Washington.”
Founded in 1997, the center-left New Democrat Coalition is made up of nearly 100 pragmatic House Democrats who work across the aisle and across the Capitol to advance innovative, inclusive, and forward-looking policies. Representing almost half the Democratic Caucus, New Dems are united behind a mission to build an economy that works for every American.
“I’m honored to be endorsed by the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund,” Liccardo said. “Among the most effective and collaborative groups in Congress, NewDems have consistently risen above labels and found pragmatic ways to get things done. Whether it’s lowering the cost of living, climate change, affordable housing or many other important issues, I look forward to working with and learning from them in Congress.”
Liccardo is endorsed by the 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 than100 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.
###
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.