One council incumbent leads as another trails
Result could tip balance of power; voters supporting pair of city ballot measures
In two fiercely competitive races for the open seats on the San Jose City Council, incumbent Councilwoman Dev Davis was the strong front-runner in District 6 while longtime Berryessa Union School District board member David Cohen was clinging to a slim lead in the District 4 contest late Tuesday.
With about 45% of ballots counted by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Davis held a six-point lead over biomedical engineer Jake Tonkel for District 6, which includes the neighborhoods of Willow Glen and Rose Garden.
In District 4, Cohen, who is backed by the city’s largest labor groups, maintained a narrow margin over incumbent Councilman Lan Diep.
The results of this election could shift the balance of power of the 11-member City Council whose business- backed council members currently hold a slim six-vote majority to a council where members supported by labor have a slight edge. Both Cohen and Tonkel were supported by labor while incumbents Davis and Diep were backed by business groups, including the nowdissolved Silicon Valley Organization’s PAC.
The new District 4 representative will play an integral role in shaping the transit village and density permitted around the new Berryessa BART station, making key decisions on future development in North San Jose and deciding whether to accept Apple’s pledge of providing $300 million of its land in North San Jose — properties eyed for commercial space that could bring thousands of jobs to the city — for housing.
The winner of the District 6 race will help shape the direction of the Diridon station area, decide on a community benefits package that Google will be required to provide in exchange for approval of its transit village project, and update the city’s general plan to potentially increase housing density in singlefamily neighborhoods.
As for ballot measures, San Jose voters overwhelmingly approved Measure G, which amends three separate areas of the city charter — grants additional power to the Independent Police Auditor, expands the number of members on the city’s planning commission and allows the council to establish timelines for redistricting when census results are late.
The city’s cardroom revenue measure was also supported by a landslide. San Jose’s Measure H, which 75% of voters were approving late Tuesday, will raise taxes on the city’s two card rooms — Bay 101 and Casino Matrix — from 15% to 16.5% and increase the number of table games in the city by 15 per cardroom.