Here are the District 3 leaders after the last Election Day vote count:
Gabby Chavez-Lopez 2,087
Matthew Quevedo  1,592
Anthony Tordillos 1,433
Irene Smith 1,186

PACs allow Big Labor, Big Oil, developers and a billionaire to bypass city contribution limits.

Those who miss the deadline can still participate in the San Jose City Council District 3 election, but they must register in-person and vote on the same day at the Registrar of Voters’ Office, 1555 Berger Drive, Building 2, or at any vote center starting March 29.

Seven candidates qualified as candidates for the April special election. The council had decided that no person could seek election to the coveted downtown council seat if they also sought appointment to the interim seat.

If no candidate receives a majority on April 8, the top two candidates will run against each other in a special runoff election on June 24. The winner will serve the remainder of the term through 2026.

The City Council today formally approved the dates for both appointing and electing a replacement for the disgraced former first-term council member, Omar Torres.

The City Council had the option of appointing a replacement for Omar Torres to serve out his full term until the 2026 elections, or to appoint an interim replacement in District 3 pending outcome of a special election in April for the remainder of the term.

San Jose’s City Council decided that District 4 residents will have a special election to fill the seat of Kansen Chu, who is moving on to the State Assembly. They could have simply appointed someone—a far better and less expensive option.

Within of receiving 17 boxes of signed petitions, the San Jose City Clerk’s office determined that enough signatures were collected to temporarily suspend a new medical marijuana ordinance. Citizens Coalition for Patient Care (CCPC) ran the petition drive, and the County Registrar of Voters (ROV) now has between 30 and 60 business days to perform a random signature-verification check.

More than a few eyebrows lifted last week when Councilmember Sam Liccardo proposed raising the city’s sales tax to help fund police and firefighter jobs. With 73 officers expected to lose their jobs on July 1, according to police union VP Jim Unland, Liccardo showed the kind of political savvy that was conspicuously absent this spring, when he voted against approving union concessions because he said they didn’t go far enough