49ers’ cash can’t defeat mayor in Santa Clara
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, whose strong criticism of the San Francisco 49ers prompted the team to spend more than $2.5 million trying to knock her out of office, won reelection Wednesday after her opponent, Anthony Becker, conceded the election.
Becker, a City Council member, conceded in a late-afternoon text message to the mayor, Gillmor said. “Congrats on your victory, was a good race,” the text read in part, according to the mayor.
Becker did not immediately respond to email and voicemail messages left by The Chronicle. He and Gillmor both participated in a City Council meeting
Wednesday evening.
Gillmor defeated Becker despite being outspent nearly 8to-1 by the 49ers. In earning another four-year term, the mayor overcame a barrage of harshly negative campaign ads funded by the team. Gillmor has said it felt like she was outspent “a bazillion to one.”
She officially led by 687 votes as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, with 14,376 to 13,689 for Becker (or 51.2% to 48.8%). The Santa Clara county registrar of voters expected to provide another update by 5 p.m. Thursday; currently, about 91% of the expected votes have been counted.
Becker’s concession prompted Gillmor to release a statement which read, in part, “I thank Santa Clarans who gave me their vote and sent a message that our city is not for sale. I am proud of our residents and hopeful about our future.
“But we can’t expect that by turning back a multi-million dollar negative campaign, everything will suddenly be positive … or the public interest will magically be served. We must remain steadfast if we want a City Council free from corruption and a city hall that operates transparently and ethically.”
Gillmor, in a phone interview earlier Wednesday, acknowledged she was surprised she overcame the 49ers’ heavy spending. She said the team’s onslaught of negative ads bashing her may have backfired.
“I do think it got to the point where they oversaturated the community,” Gillmor told The Chronicle. “It seemed like as the election got closer, the intensity of the negative campaign was building.”
Gillmor also said she considered her re-election important because it sends a larger message about companies making massive contributions to local political races.
“This just shows it’s possible to beat that kind of money and survive an election,” she said. “I’m hoping it sends (the 49ers) a message that you’re not going to so easily buy our city. Our residents are going to stand up to you. We’re on to you.
“I don’t know what will happen exactly, but I’m going to try and stop this kind of money in our city. There has to be something you can do, otherwise people will not be willing to serve. … At least this is a glimmer of hope: They’re not winning at all costs.”
Becker is one of three City Council members the team helped elect in November 2020, with $2.9 million in contributions from CEO Jed York. Becker, Sudhanshu “Suds” Jain and Kevin Park joined Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy to give the 49ers a council majority that has consistently sided with them on issues related to the operation of Levi’s Stadium.
By contrast, Gillmor has vigorously pushed back against the team in its lingering feud with the city, mostly over stadium finances.
The 49ers poured nearly $4.6 million into this year’s city elections, including more than $1 million each to support Chahal and Hardy. They both won reelection, with Chahal handily defeating Larry McColloch in District 2 and Hardy coasting to victory over Christian Pellecchia in District 3. The team outspent McColloch by about 43-to-1 and Pellecchia by 38-to-1.
Also on Wednesday, county supervisor Cindy Chavez, the 49ers-backed candidate for mayor of San Jose, acknowledged she lost to Matt Mahan, a City Council member. The 49ers donated $763,000 to boost Chavez’s campaign.
While the 49ers spent more than $2.5 million to unseat Gillmor, her supporters donated less than $321,000. The team ultimately spent more than $150 for each vote cast for Becker.
Gillmor’s victory shows “money isn’t everything, and David does beat Goliath,” said Kathy Watanabe, a City Council member and Gillmor ally.
Watanabe said a turning point in the campaign came Oct. 10, when the civil grand jury issued a report alleging Becker and other pro-49ers council members regularly “put the 49ers’ interests ahead of the city’s interests.”
With the report, “the voters could see what was happening behind the scenes that they normally wouldn’t have known about,” Watanabe said. She said the grand jury report enabled Gillmor to rebut “the character assassination that the 49ers had done against her” in their political advertising.
Thomas Shanks, former director of Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said he was surprised and pleased Gillmor won despite what he called the “tsunami of money” the 49ers threw against her. Shanks had criticized the 49ers for allegedly trying to buy the election.
“I am so proud of the people of Santa Clara for looking at this and seeing it for what it was,” Shanks said. “Enough people were paying attention to the amount of money the 49ers were putting in, and what the consequences were likely to be if she did not prevail.”
Shanks also said, “Hopefully, the 49ers are going to learn the city is not the pushover they thought it was.”
A rival NFL owner who spent $250,000 to re-elect Gillmor declined comment on the results. Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross also is chairman of Related Companies, developers of a sprawling residential and commercial project near Levi’s Stadium. The company bought television ads praising Gillmor for her leadership during the pandemic.