The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a special district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, specific highway improvement projects, and countywide transportation planning for Santa Clara County, California. It serves San Jose, California, and the surrounding Silicon Valley. It is one of the governing parties for the Caltrain commuter rail line that serves the county. In 2023, the VTA's public transportation services had a combined ridership of 26,610,000, or about 91,400 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
Ronald R. Gonzales is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 63rd Mayor of San Jose, California. Gonzales was the first Hispanic to serve as Mayor of San Jose since 1845.
Madison Nguyen is an American politician from California. She served on the San Jose City Council from 2005 to 2014, representing District 7, and she additionally served as Vice-Mayor from 2011 to 2014. She was the first Vietnamese-American elected to the city council.
Charles Rufus Reed is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th mayor of San Jose, California from 2007 to 2015.
Ken Yeager is an American politician. He served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, representing District 4. First elected to the board in 2006, he represented the cities of Campbell and Santa Clara, as well as west San Jose and the Burbank and Cambrian neighborhoods. Previously, Yeager served on the San Jose City Council from 2000 to 2006. Before that, he served two terms on the San Jose/Evergreen Community College Board. He was a candidate for the 23rd district seat in the California State Assembly in 1996, coming in second.
David Dominic Cortese is an elected official from San Jose, California. He is currently serving in the California State Senate, representing District 15, which encompasses a majority of Santa Clara County. Before being elected to the California State Senate, Cortese served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for 12 years, as a Councilmember and Vice Mayor for the City of San Jose for eight years, and for eight years as a trustee for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose. Cortese ran for mayor of San Jose and won the primary, losing the general election to District 3 councilmember Sam Liccardo.
Sally J. Lieber is an American politician from the state of California who has served as a member of the California State Board of Equalization since 2023. She was previously a member of the Mountain View City Council and the California State Assembly. She represented the 22nd Assembly District that includes the cities of Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and portions of Santa Clara and San Jose which are all located in Santa Clara County. In February 2022, Assemblywoman Lieber was endorsed by the California State Democratic Party for Board Member of the California State Board of Equalization, District 2. She won the seat in the California general election held on November 8, 2022.
Otto Oswald Lee is a Hong Kong-born American politician, attorney, and military veteran who was a Sunnyvale, California city council member from 2003 to 2011, before which he was on the Planning Commission, which he chaired from 2000 to 2001. From 2005 to 2006 he was vice mayor, and from 2006 to 2007 he was the 57th mayor of Sunnyvale. He is a patent attorney, and a co-founder and partner of the Intellectual Property Law Group LLP.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is a local law enforcement agency that serves Santa Clara County, California. It provides general-service law enforcement to unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County, as well as incorporated cities within the county that have contracted with the agency for law-enforcement services such as Saratoga, Cupertino, and Los Altos Hills. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority also contracted with the Sheriff's Office for law enforcement service.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is an American social justice advocate and businesswoman.
Evan Low is an American politician currently serving in the California State Assembly. He is a Democrat representing the 26th Assembly District, which encompasses parts of Silicon Valley, including Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and portions of northern and western San Jose. He is a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, and currently serves as Chair of the California Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.
Luis Angel Alejo is an American politician who served in the California State Assembly representing the 30th Assembly District, encompassing the Pajaro and Salinas valleys. He currently serves as a County Supervisor for the County of Monterey.
Rod Diridon Sr. is an American politician known for his leadership in mass transportation. He served as chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority from 2001 to 2003. He currently chairs the advisory board of the United States High Speed Rail Association, and he chairs the National Heritage Area Project for Santa Clara County, California. The New York Times calls Diridon "a tireless advocate of public transport for the Bay Area."
The South Bay Labor Council, AFL–CIO (SBLC), is the labor council of Santa Clara and San Benito counties in California's Bay Area. The SBLC is affiliated with the AFL–CIO, one of the national labor confederations of the United States. The SBLC represents over 100,000 men and women of 101 unions in Silicon Valley.
Johnny Khamis is an American politician from San Jose, California and was a member of the San Jose City Council, representing District 10.
The 2014 San Jose mayoral election was held on June 3, 2014 to elect the Mayor of San Jose, California. Councilmember Sam Liccardo defeated Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese in a runoff on November 4, 2014.
Blanca Alvarado is an American social activist and former politician. She was the first Latina elected to the San Jose City Council and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the first Latina to serve as the board's chairperson.
Matthew William Mahan is an American politician and tech entrepreneur who has served as the mayor of San Jose Since 2023. He previously served as the District 10 Councilmember representing the Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley, and Vista Park neighborhoods. Mahan also served as the co-founder and CEO of Brigade Media, a tech company focused on civic engagement.
The 2022 San Jose mayoral election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the next mayor of San Jose for a two-year term. A top-two primary was held on June 7, 2022, and no candidate received more than 50% in this primary election. Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez and San Jose City Councilmember Matt Mahan advanced to a November 8 runoff election. On November 16, Cindy Chavez conceded the race to Matt Mahan.
The 2024 San Jose mayoral election was held on March 5, 2024, to elect the mayor of San Jose, California, to a four-year term. Incumbent mayor Matt Mahan, who was first elected to a two-year term in 2022, handily won re-election against a minor challenger. This was the first mayoral election in San Jose held during a presidential election cycle following the passage of Measure B in 2022.
