In less than two weeks, candidates will begin lining up for two kinds of replacements for the now-vacant District 3 seat on the San Jose City Council.

The council today formally approved the dates for both appointing and electing a replacement for the disgraced former first-term council member, Omar Torres, who is in the county jail facing charges of felony sexual misconduct. Torres resigned the day he was arrested one month ago, and his council seat became vacant on Nov. 27.

Under the plan supported by Mayor Matt Mahan, the timeline approved today sets the same filing period for both appointment and the election of a new council member beginning Dec. 16 and ending Jan. 10.

The council also set April 8 as the day for a special election to fill the District 3 seat, with a potential runoff on June 24 if no candidate gains a majority of the votes. The winner of the special election will serve until the winners of the November 2026 council elections are sworn in.

Because the council action also states that candidates for the April election cannot be given the interim appointment – and vice versa – two lists of names will emerge.

Those seeking to be the interim appointee may serve only a little over two months – or five months if there is a runoff vote. This ensures that an appointee is given no brief incumbent advantage in the April vote; it also adds precious additional time to campaign for the coveted downtown council seat.

City officials have pegged the cost of a special election as from $2 million to $3.2 million.

Under the rules agreed upon Tuesday, candidates selected for the interim appointment will answer questions in a public round-robin interview, with the order of who answers first changing. The appointment interviews are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 28.

This process is very different from nearly two years ago, when the District 10 seat was vacated by the election of Mahan and the District 8 seat was left vacant by the election of Councilmember Sylvia Arenas as county supervisor. At the time, over the objections of the new mayor, the  council chose to appoint two new council members to serve nearly two year.

The interview process in January 2023 was chaotic, when candidates accused now-Councilmember Domingo Candelas of breaking the rules, which Candelas vehemently denied, by using his phone and a laptop as he waited to be called for his interview.

Last month, Candelas was elected to the seat. The District 10 appointee, Arjun Batra, was defeated this fall by George Casey, who had sought the position in 2023.