SANTA CLARA COUNTY’S hottest congressional race may come down to which of two establishment Democrats can expand their base and capture more young progressive voters.
While former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo hasn’t exactly branded himself a progressive, his opponent in the race for Congressional District 16, state Assemblymember Evan Low, has made some issues — such as LGBTQ+ rights — core to his image.
But policing, housing, wealth inequality and calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war are also top of mind for young voters in one of the nation’s most consequential election cycles. San José Spotlight is taking a closer look at both candidates’ track records to measure how progressive they are — and who can pull more support from this voting flank.
Housing and rent control
The state’s most powerful landlord group has drawn a key battle line in the Congressional District 16 race.
While the California Apartment Association supported Liccardo for mayor in 2014, he finds himself at odds with the group this year. The group’s lobbyists played a key role in handing Low the powerful endorsement of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party over Liccardo in May.
While in office, Liccardo became the first mayor in the U.S. to announce an eviction moratorium in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. He also dropped his endorsement of county supervisor candidate Margaret Abe-Koga at the urging of pro-rent control activists. But in 2019, Liccardo faced criticism for voting to scale back the city’s rent control requirements for redeveloped housing.
Low also has a complicated record on rent control. He was initially a “No” on California’s landmark rent control law, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, when it came to an Assembly vote in May that year. But after the California Apartment Association secured key pro-landlord concessions, Low voted “Yes” the following September.
The California Apartment Association has poured $250,000 into a super PAC known as the Golden State Leadership Fund, which has in turn spent $400,000 to support Low’s congressional campaign.
Policing and criminal justice
Toward the end of his term in office, Liccardo in 2022 went against the wishes of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association and pushed to add an investigative branch to the Independent Police Auditor’s Office, to help establish an investigative team to probe police misconduct complaints independently of the San Jose Police Department. The City Council unanimously accepted his proposal that year.
He also pushed to permanently ban the use of rubber bullets for crowd control, but the city council did not agree. Local lawmakers ultimately voted to allow rubber bullets if an individual posed a threat to officers.
In 2012, Liccardo as a councilmember backed Measure B, an initiative championed by his predecessor Mayor Chuck Reed that slashed police officer pensions. It led to costly lawsuits and an exodus of cops. Liccardo has written extensively on his skepticism of “defund the police” movements, after protesters vandalized his home in response to calling for enhanced police staffing.
Liccardo in 2016 made a public push to uphold the termination of a San Jose police officer who successfully appealed his firing for tweeting violent messages against the Black Lives Matter movement. Liccardo called for reforms to ensure crooked officers don’t get their jobs back through appeals.
Low’s past Assembly campaigns have enjoyed heavy police union support. His brother is a San Jose police officer. He’s been endorsed by the largest law enforcement organization in California, the Peace Officers Research Association.
Initiate Justice Action, a 501(c)(4) organization run by formerly incarcerated people to push progressive criminal justice policies in California, gives Low a D rating on its scorecard for not taking a vote on a set of decriminalization bills in Sacramento. The group does not have a scorecard for Liccardo.
However, Low has voted in favor of several reform bills, including the decertification of police officers who commit misconduct, as well as the Racial Justice Act of 2020, which was authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra and calls for the reversal of convictions or reduction in charges in cases where defendants face racism.
Ceasefire
The Low campaign did not respond to requests for his stance on a ceasefire.
“Our campaign believes we must bring the war in Gaza to a rapid conclusion through an agreement that releases the hostages, surges aid to Palestinian civilians, and provides a new government for Gaza. It’s critical we do so now, before an even more devastating war consumes the region and draws in US troops,” Gil Rubinstein, a Liccardo campaign spokesperson, told San José Spotlight.
Minimum wage and wealth
Liccardo in 2015 helped launch a regional, multi-city push to raise the local minimum wage. But he went back and forth on the idea in following years. In 2017, Liccardo suggested exempting certain “hard-to-employ” people from a higher minimum wage, such as parolees, homeless people and foster youth — but those carve outs weren’t ultimately approved.
When councilmembers drafted a law to support grocery employees working through COVID-19 in 2021, Liccardo opposed hazard pay, claiming potential unintended consequences, such as increased food prices for consumers. Ultimately, councilmembers opted to give workers $3 extra per hour instead of $5.
Low in 2022 voted in favor of the Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, which sought to increase the fast-food worker minimum wages to $22 per hour, with annual increases thereafter. The law was heavily challenged, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a law repealing the FAST Act and bringing the minimum wage down to $20 per hour, which Low also voted for.
But in June 2016, Low initially voted against overtime pay for California farmworkers until activists pressured him to vote in favor. The bill was signed into law in September that year.
Environment
The Sierra Club, the most influential environmental organization in the U.S., has endorsed Liccardo over Low in the race. The club said Liccardo — who spearheaded San Jose’s community choice energy utility and proposed making PG&E a customer-owned utility — is the only candidate who has pledged to turn down fossil fuel money. Though campaign finance filings show his campaign received $13,200 from John and Laura Arnold, a Texas philanthropist couple who made their names in the oil business.
The Sierra Club has been less approving of Low. In 2020, the organization gave Low a 44% scorecard rating for his Assembly voting record, though his score went up to 70% in 2023. Petroleum companies Chevron and Phillips 66 donated thousands of dollars to Low’s past Assembly campaigns. PG&E donated $325,000 to the Golden State Leadership PAC that is supporting Low’s congressional run.
“I supported historic legislation to make California require 100% of its electrical energy from renewable sources by 2045,” Low told San José Spotlight.
LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights
Low is a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. When he became Campbell mayor in 2010, he was the youngest openly LGBTQ+ mayor in the country at age 26. Following his election to the Assembly in 2014, Low co-authored legislation protecting marriage equality in the state constitution.
As San Jose mayor, Liccardo worked with the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center to bring the city’s first rainbow crosswalk to The Alameda in February 2016.
Both candidates are pro-choice and appear to be in good standing with Planned Parenthood.
Liccardo, as mayor, pushed for a $250,000 grant to expand services at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Low co-authored Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment to protect access to contraceptive care. Voters approved the measure in 2022.
Who will prevail?
Rubinstein said Liccardo’s track record has been consistent.
“Voters of all ideological stripes, appreciate Sam’s record standing up to special interests on issues like environmental protection, housing affordability and battling against utility rate increases,” Rubinstein told San José Spotlight. “That is why Sam has earned the support of the Sierra Club, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Nor Cal Carpenters Union, Everytown for Gun Safety, California High School Democrats and other organizations that fight for progressive causes.”
Low insists he’ll appeal to progressives.
“My progressive track record speaks for itself, which is why the Congressional Progressive Caucus chose to endorse me in this race,” Low told San José Spotlight. “But I’m building a coalition that includes Democrats of all stripes, and this broad coalition speaks to voters’ desire for a representative who can work with anyone to get things done for this community.”
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.