Matt Mahan has served as the 66th Mayor of San José, California since January 2023, bringing a background in tech entrepreneurship, civic activism, and public service to the helm of the largest city in Northern California.
Born in 1982 and raised in Watsonville, California, Mahan attended Bellarmine College Preparatory on a low-income scholarship before going on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2005 with a degree in social studies, where he also served as president of the Harvard Undergraduate Council. After graduation, he spent a year in Bolivia on a Rockefeller Fellowship, helping family farmers build irrigation systems, before returning to the Bay Area to teach middle school English and History in San José's Alum Rock neighborhood through the Teach for America program.
He later moved into the tech world, joining the startup Causes — an early Facebook application connecting people to nonprofits — and eventually rising to CEO. The platform grew to 190 million users and helped raise over $50 million for charitable causes. He went on to co-found Brigade Media, a civic engagement tech company focused on voter accountability.
Mahan entered electoral politics in 2020, winning a seat on the San José City Council representing District 10 with nearly 60% of the vote. On the council, he championed performance-based budgeting, pushed for government transparency, and opposed broad upzoning proposals like the citywide four-plex plan, advocating instead for transit-oriented "smart growth." He was then elected mayor in November 2022 in a notable upset over Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, and was resoundingly reelected in 2024 with 86.6% of the vote.
As mayor, Mahan has made homelessness, public safety, and fiscal accountability his central priorities. He has been a particularly zealous adopter of tiny homes as an alternative to traditional shelter, arguing they can be built faster and more cheaply, and has pushed for tougher enforcement — the city council passed his plan to arrest people who refuse multiple shelter offers. He was also a vocal supporter of Proposition 36 in 2024, the ballot measure to increase penalties for certain drug and theft offenses that passed overwhelmingly despite opposition from Governor Newsom and most of the Democratic Party establishment.
On fiscal matters, Mahan has resisted union agreements he viewed as fiscally irresponsible and has consistently linked city spending to measurable outcomes. He has also advocated for expanded use of law enforcement technology, including license plate readers and speed cameras.
In January 2026, Mahan announced his candidacy for the 2026 California gubernatorial election, positioning himself as a pragmatic, results-oriented Democrat focused on getting government "back to basics" on homelessness, housing, public safety, and education. His campaign has drawn notable support from Silicon Valley figures and his mayoral predecessor Sam Liccardo.
Mahan lives in San José's Almaden Valley with his wife, Silvia, and their two children.
