Matt Mahan missed more than a third of San Jose council meetings while running for governor

SAN JOSE, Calif. - As San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has campaigned for governor the last 3½ months on a platform of results and accountability, the mayor has missed more than a third of City Council meetings, a Bay Area News Group analysis of his attendance found.

Mahan, who has struggled to break through in the polls, has missed seven of the 19 council meetings or study sessions held between Jan. 29 - the date he entered the crowded governor's race - and May 12. He arrived late or left early for two of the meetings where he was in attendance. Mahan's presence at City Hall since he decided to run for the state's highest office draws a sharp contrast to the prior five months when he attended every council meeting, though he left early or arrived late for two separate meetings.

The mayor's absence on the dais comes amid San Jose's efforts to close a $50 million budget deficit, which includes proposals to delay the construction of a new fire station and reduce encampment sweeps. Over the last several months, he's missed at least one consequential council vote that ended in a deadlock, and skipped every committee meeting overseeing the nearly $13 billion San Jose BART extension, which has contributed to the committee's quorum problems, delaying critical decisions.

The mayor's office maintains Mahan has continued to fulfill his duties, delivering the State of the City address in February, advocating for state funding in Sacramento for homelessness and public safety and participating in weekly meetings with other city leaders on issues like the abatement of the last large encampment in San Jose.

The Bay Area News Group reviewed meeting minutes, the mayor's public calendar, news articles, press releases, campaign finance reports and social media posts to get a picture of Mahan's whereabouts since late January.

"Running for higher office while you're currently holding office poses a few different challenges," San Jose State University lecturer Donna Crane said. "One challenge is the simple logistics of how to be in two or three or five places at once. Another challenge is how not to convey the impression that you're neglecting your current job. If you are seen as doing that, that could play into an opinion that the public already has about office holders, which is that they're only in it for their own ambitions."

Of the seven council meetings or study sessions Mahan missed, two were for city business when he attended the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative at Harvard. Three of his council absences corresponded with debate nights in San Francisco or Los Angeles. Mahan also skipped an April 20 council study session on permitting to announce his plan to protect Hollywood jobs at Sunset Las Palmas Studios in Los Angeles.

The mayor was excused by the council for the two absences for city business. Council members can be fined for having unexcused absences, but the mayor is exempt from the policy.

Seamus Gann, the mayor's spokesperson, previously told the Bay Area News Group that Mahan missed the March 24 council meeting "due to travel for a debate." The debate was supposed to be hosted by the University of Southern California that evening, but was cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.

Among the votes that Mahan missed was the March 24 meeting where the council deadlocked 4-4 over a proposal to restrict new investments in Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft because of their contracts with federal immigration authorities. Vice Mayor Pam Foley, who has presided over the council meetings in the mayor's absence, also had to recuse herself because she holds Amazon and Microsoft stock. The council chose Councilmember David Cohen to fill in pro tempore.

Foley said in a statement that "as vice mayor, stepping in to represent the mayor at community events and regional meetings has always been part of the role, and it has been a privilege to do so." Foley added that it has "required additional effort" from her staff, which is significantly smaller than the mayor's staff, but they remain "committed to ensuring residents continue to receive strong representation and responsive service."

The Bay Area News Group's analysis also included a review of regional boards and commissions that Mahan sits on and found the pattern extended beyond City Hall.

Between Jan. 29 and May 12, Mahan missed every Metropolitan Transportation Commission meeting and only attended one Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors meeting, which he left after the first hour. He was also absent from every VTA BART Silicon Valley Phase II Oversight committee meeting - a body which he serves as the chair.

The mayor's office declined to answer a list of questions about Mahan's absences over the last three-and-a-half months, including an inquiry about why he missed more than 20 meetings for the council or other boards he sits on. Instead, Gann said the office has continued to maintain "regular resident communications" through its newsletter, organized neighborhood cleanups and authored seven policy memos to advance city priorities.

In a statement Mahan said he's "in this race to fight for the same results I'm fighting to deliver here in San Jose: less homelessness, less crime, more affordable housing, better schools."

"Achieving the outcomes our residents demand requires not just the city, but the state and the county to also be more accountable to the people of California," he said. "My focus has not changed one iota - I'm on a mission to make our city safer, cleaner, more affordable and more full of opportunity for all of my neighbors."

Santa Clara Councilmember Suds Jain, who also sits on the oversight committee, recently raised the issue of the mayor's attendance at an April 9 meeting. In an interview, Jain said the mayor not showing up to meetings has created issues with quorum - having enough members present to vote on items - for a committee that's supposed to oversee the nearly $13 billion extension of BART from north San Jose, through downtown and to Santa Clara.

Gann said in an email that his staff attends these types of meetings in his absence and remain engaged with Mahan on "agenda items, policy direction and follow-through between meetings." Staff members, however, cannot serve as a substitute for Mahan.

At a BART oversight meeting earlier this month, Mahan was one of five members absent, leading to the committee failing to have a quorum and delaying the ability for them to take action on several items. Jain said when this happens VTA usually adds the items onto the consent calendar for the full board at a later date - meaning they're approved in one motion and don't get discussed. The Santa Clara councilmember said that's "not in the public's interest."

"They tell us every month we delay the project, it's $30 million," Jain said of the added cost. "If we don't have quorum and we can't make a decision we've just made it $30 million more expensive."

Jain said he appreciated Mahan's "probing questions" on the project in the past. While he understands the mayor's need to campaign across the state, he believes Mahan should have given up these types of responsibilities.

Unlike most big cities in the United States, San Jose operates under a council-manager or "weak" mayor system, where a city manager appointed by the whole city council oversees city departments. The mayor is one of eleven votes on the council, and the only one elected citywide, but doesn't have the ability to veto legislation and lacks the authority to fire or hire department heads, who answer to the council-appointed city manager.

Whether San Jose should shift to a "strong" mayor system has been a topic of debate for decades, though any potential change has failed to gain momentum. A ballot initiative in the 1980s, however, gave the mayor slightly more influence as they gained the power to issue a budget message in March and oversee the Public Information Office.

Garry South, a veteran Democratic strategist who has run several gubernatorial campaigns and isn't working for any of the candidates, said in an interview that the mayor's absences show he isn't exercising the powers he does have.

"If you are a resident of San Jose and you understand that it's a ‘weak' form and then the mayor doesn't even take part in the aspect of the city government in which he does have a role, leading the council meetings and being a vote on the council, I wouldn't be very happy," he said.

Mahan isn't the first politician to come under fire over absences from his official duties while campaigning for another public office.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is widely expected to make a run for president in 2028, has spent nearly one out of every five days in his second term traveling outside of California - more than twice as many days as he did during his first term, a recent Bay Area News Group analysis found.

Ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, who exited the governor's race in April after sexual misconduct allegations, faced criticisms over missing votes in Congress. According to the nonpartisan website GovTrack, Swalwell missed 8.7% of roll call votes during his 13-year tenure, higher than the median of 2.1% among current House members.

Mahan's time on the campaign trail could soon be coming to an end, though, as the June 2 primary is just weeks away. The top two vote-getters, regardless of political party, will move on to the November runoff. The mayor has never been among the top four candidates in independent polls despite having the backing of wealthy tech leaders.

Crane, the San Jose State lecturer, called Mahan missing meetings a "good trade-off" for him professionally as the San Jose mayor's job has historically been a "dead end politically." Mahan can run for another term, but no mayor of San Jose has ever gone on to be the governor or a senator. Norman Mineta, who served as mayor from 1971 to 1975, would eventually serve as the U.S. secretary of transportation and Mahan's predecessor, Sam Liccardo, is currently in Congress.

"I think he's looking down the road and he understands that he needs to make a move every time there's an opportunity open," she said. "Otherwise he'll get stuck in this job and it seems clear to me he wants to do more than this job."

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 11:56 AM.