Voters head to the polls for San Jose special election

SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose voters headed to the polls on Monday to cast their ballot for one of the five candidates hoping to win a special election to represent the city's third district.

The candidates are running for a seat vacated by disgraced former representative Omar Torres who resigned in November. Torres was arrested that same day and was charged with sexual assault on a child. He is currently awaiting trial.

Torres' departed halfway through his term, leaving a vacancy that each of the candidates is hoping to fill. In order to win the election, however, a candidate has to receive more than 50% of the vote.

The candidates are:

• Irene Smith, a financial analyst and lawyer who ran against Torres in the 2022 election.
• Matthew Quevedo, the deputy chief of staff to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
• Adam Duran, a retired sheriff's lieutenant.
• Gabby Chavez-Lopez, the executive director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley.
• Anthony Tordillos, the former chair of the city's Planning Commission.

Experts have said the vacancy left by Torres' resignation has created an influx of outside money to sway voters.

"We're probably going to have a runoff (election), we're not actually going to have the person who's chosen by the people in there for several more months," Melissa Michelson, the dean of the Menlo College Political Science Department said. "This is a great way to get feedback to the mayor's office on how much support there is for the direction he's been going."

A word from the candidates

What they're saying:

Each candidate is running on their own set of policies, but all have said that if they're elected they'll focus on homelessness and public safety.

"I've led through the pandemic, and I've created coalitions and (brought) resources to this district. I'm really running for city council to continue that work and to continue to fight for our residents," Chavez-Lopez said.

"Law enforcement and public safety is my DNA, so I want to bring all of that experience to District 3 to help clean it up," Duron said.

"This race should be about (District 3), not about special interests, not about a voting bloc," Smith said. "(It should be about) District 3, and only District 3, and who is going to represent the people of District 3."

"They want to see city hall get back to the basics, and that's the message we've been putting out. Folks want a government that's focused on ending street homelessness and rebuilding our police department," Quevedo said.

"We've been campaigning this whole time with the understanding that we'll be building a coalition to carry us through to the runoff in June. I'm really focused on issues that can actually deliver results on housing affordability, homelessness and economic development here in downtown," Tordillos said.