San Jose will soon have Matt Mahan as their new mayor after he won the most votes in the recent election.
However, questions remain as to who will fill his council seat once he leaves, as well as a second seat that will be vacant now that Sylvia Arenas was elected a county supervisor.
The new mayor is in a difficult situation, especially after other council members endorsed his opponent Cindy Chavez during the election.
He hopes to convince that same city council to hold special elections to fill the two crucial city council seats vacated by him and Arenas.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
The council has the power to appoint replacements for the remainder of the two-year term.
"Having just 10 politicians vote to choose leaders in these diverse districts is the opposite of diversity," Mahan said. "It's divisive."
Emphasizing the diversity theme, various community leaders from those districts also called for special elections.
Local
"Yes, this election may cost money but in the long run, the special interest groups will cost us a lot more," said Arun Singh, Sikh community leader.
Still, pro-labor groups such as Working Partnerships USA and the Santa Clara County Democratic Party - which supported Chavez - said special elections are expensive and time consuming. They want the council to appoint replacements.
"There's just too much room for special interests to influence who's on the 'short list," Mahan explained. "They have the relationships with elected officials. They're going to put forward the names of people who they think will be sympathetic to their cause."
Mahan said he would support interim appointments until the elections can be held, especially if that replacement would pledge not to run for that office.
The city council will take up the matter at its Dec. 5 meeting and plan to make a final decision two weeks later.
