SAN JOSE’S NEWEST ELECTED representative took office at the City Council meeting this week — marking a new chapter for District 3 whose prior leader is behind bars.
Councilmember Anthony Tordillos took the oath of office Tuesday — and his seat on the dais alongside his 10 colleagues — following applause from an audience celebrating the former Planning Commission chair and Google engineering manager’s quick ascent. The new downtown leader has said housing will be his first priority.
“Thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point,” Tordillos said in brief remarks from the dais. “Thank you to my family for joining me today. This is an immense honor and responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”
Mayor Matt Mahan congratulated Tordillos after he took his chair.
“We’re really excited to have you on the council and look forward to working together,” Mahan said. “I think you’re going to bring a lot of great energy and creativity to this body and I know we’re all going to be better for it.”
Tordillos’ swearing in follows a hard-fought election in which some underestimated Tordillos in favor of other politically-connected candidates. The region’s labor leaders initially put their bets on Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabby Chavez-Lopez. Meanwhile, the business-friendly mayor got behind his deputy chief of staff, Matthew Quevedo, to help advance his agenda to arrest homeless people and divert affordable housing money to temporary shelter.
But Tordillos emerged as a dark horse in the April primary, drawing Mahan’s endorsement after the mayor’s pick was cut out of the running. Tordillos bested Chavez-Lopez for the seat by 2,389 votes in the June runoff.
The District 3 seat became vacant upon the stunning arrest and resignation of Councilmember Omar Torres on child sex abuse charges in November 2024.
While Tordillos comes into office with Mahan’s backing, he’s been careful to separate himself from some of Mahan’s proposals. Tordillos publicly distanced himself from Mahan’s push to divert city dollars from permanent housing to shelter, and pushed back on Mahan’s proposal to arrest homeless people who refuse shelter multiple times.
“I’m looking forward to serving the people of our city,” Tordillos said.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San José Spotlight.