As Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo settled intense battles over pension reform with 11 unions, saving taxpayers $3 billion over three decades, and enabling the restoration of San Jose’s police force.  He led the most successful period of economic growth in the City’s history, announcing major expansions from such employers as Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Broadcom, Google, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and Microsoft, and securing three dozen new routes at the nation’s fastest-growing international airport, San Jose Mineta.  He implemented innovative approaches to reduce homelessness—such as rehabilitating deteriorating motels, expanding work-first programs, and building “tiny home” villages—while working with community partners to house more than 1,000 homeless veterans. Sam led a regional coalition to raise the minimum wage in Silicon Valley, partnered with employers to provide jobs to more than 2,000 teens living in gang-impacted neighborhoods, teamed with community colleges to eliminate tuition and fees for 1,600 low-income college students, and launched after-school learning programs in sixteen of San Jose’s least affluent neighborhoods.   San Jose has become the largest city in the nation to rapidly decarbonize through a community choice energy program, and Sam co-led the passage of measures to bring BART and other transit improvements to San Jose, and protect our hillsides and open spaces from sprawling development.

A native of the Santa Clara Valley and former criminal prosecutor, Sam is a graduate of Bellarmine, Georgetown University, Harvard University, and Harvard Law School.   In 2018, San Jose residents overwhelmingly re-elected Sam, with 76% of the vote.