San Jose Mayor @mattmahansj and candidate for California Governor and his family, along with supporters watch as the primary election results come in Tuesday night at his Election Night Party. Government and Politics Reporter Brandon Pho was there. SanJose #PrimaryElection<\/a> #Election2026<\/a> #LocalNews<\/a><\/p>\n \u266c original sound \u2013 San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight \u2013 San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight<\/a> <\/p>\n It spells a decisive defeat<\/a> for the big city mayor whose campaign sought to peel off centrist Californians<\/a> from both political parties, with millions of dollars in fundraising<\/a> from Silicon Valley tech founders and billionaires. Mahan had teased his gubernatorial prospects for more than a year in San Jose, forming a moderate political think tank and sizing up Gov. Gavin Newsom over public safety and anti-Trump politics on TV news stations across the state.<\/p>\n Mahan, his wife Sylvia Scandar and supporters reacted with applause and smiles after results showed him trailing behind other candidates in the race.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us who worked on this campaign have hope cause we saw Mahan-mentum,\u201d Scandar told supporters in a speech after the first round of results. \u201cIf we had more name recognition earlier on, Matt would have been the leading Democratic candidate. We got in late but we did great.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahan and his supporters took to Three Sisters in downtown San Jose\u2019s San Pedro Square to keep track of live election results, where bartenders peeled rubber to keep a thirsty \u2014 and anxious \u2014 crowd in good spirits.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure tonight is not going to go well, but we already knew that going in, so our expectations were low and any surprises tonight to the upside would be a welcome relief,\u201d Daniel Fernandes, a software engineer who lives in the Rosemary Park neighborhood, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI\u2019m interested to see if San Jose solutions can apply to the broader state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahan\u2019s late January entry met great fanfare, with major donors including Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and YCombinator CEO Garry Tan. But internal tension over his failure to gain momentum in polling signaled to many observers he would not make the top two spots advancing to the November general election \u2014 dealing a blow to the tech industry\u2019s efforts to seize control of state politics.<\/p>\n Mahan entered the race<\/a> notably late compared to other candidates, despite his ambitions for higher office being San Jose\u2019s worst-kept political secret<\/a>. He was the second top fundraiser in the race \u2014 at more than $15 million in donations \u2014 behind billionaire Tom Steyer, whose $197 million campaign was almost entirely self funded.<\/p>\n Signs of trouble<\/a> in Mahan\u2019s campaign have been visible since April, after the mayor parted ways with a top strategist, Eric Jaye, who had been in the mayor\u2019s political orbit for years. Around the same time, supporters of Mahan pitched a desperate \u201call or nothing\u201d fundraising effort to raise $35 million in an escrow account by mid-April.<\/p>\n Last month, an outside committee set up to support Mahan\u2019s campaign, Deliver for Mahan, filed papers to shut down<\/a> while another, California Back to Basics, refunded a $1 million donation<\/a> from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who later disavowed the refund and reaffirmed his support for the mayor.<\/p>\n Things aren\u2019t looking entirely sour for Mahan, who was first elected<\/a> to serve a short, two-year term as mayor in 2022 after residents voted to move the mayoral election<\/a> to align with the presidential election to increase voter turnout. He\u2019s in the middle of his first full term ending December 2028 and can run for another four-year term \u2014 serving a potential total of 10 years in the office.<\/p>\n This story will be updated.<\/p>\n Contact Brandon Pho at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>\u00a0or @brandonphooo on X.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/mahaparty2-1024x768.jpg\")
People gathered at an election night watch party in downtown San Jose for Mayor Matt Mahan, who is running for California governor, on June 2, 2026. Photo by Brandon Pho.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_4606-2-1024x768.jpg\")
San Jose Vice Mayor Pam Foley (right) at Mayor Matt Mahan\u2019s election night watch party. Photo by Brandon Pho.<\/p>\n