The San Jose City Council decided November 19 to have a special election in 2025 to fill its vacant District 3 seat following the resignation of gay disgraced councilmember Omar Torres. An appointment will be made in the interim before the election is called for a date to be determined.
District 3 encompasses San Jose's downtown, including the LGBTQ neighborhood termed the Qmunity District. It had been represented since 2023 by Torres, who resigned and was arrested November 5 on suspicion of three counts of sodomy and oral copulation of a child. Torres' cousin came forward after news reports of Torres admitting in text messages to another man of having sex with a 17-year-old boy.
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge decided last week to hold Torres without bail, as the Bay Area Reporter reported online. His next hearing is scheduled for November 22, at which time his attorney, Nelson McElmurry, can decide if the defense needs more time before proceeding with that and a preliminary hearing. Torres has entered a "procedural" plea of not guilty, his attorney previously said.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was full throated in his support for an appointment followed by an election. He had come out against appointing someone to serve out the remainder of Torres' term through early 2027.
"I think that fundamentally the best way to ensure trust in our institutions and represent democracy is to give people the ability to run in competitive and open races — to give voters the opportunity to ask the tough questions and vet those candidates," he said. "I would prefer the collective wisdom of 10,000 District 3 residents than the collective wisdom of 10 councilmembers."
The next regular election for the District 3 seat is in fall 2026. Mahan said that only a special election can help restore trust lost over Torres' alleged misconduct.
The special election is expected to cost between $2 and $2.3 million. An appointee would have to declare their noncandidacy in the election, or the council may put the filing deadline for the special election first so that the councilmembers would know who is running in the election before making an appointment.
"I don't think you can put a price on the value of trust in our institutions," Mahan said. "We do manage a $6 billion dollar budget a year; overall we have a lot of responsibilities ... and the most important thing we can do is to ensure trust."
Not everyone was in favor of the proposal; District 2's Sergio Jimenez and District 4's David Cohen voted against.
"When we're running for reelection, we're not always present," Jimenez said. "I think we have to be careful, and District 3 residents have to be careful what they ask for. You'll have a group of people perpetually running for office till ... November [2026]. I don't think it's healthy; I don't think it's good."
A number of individuals told the San Jose Spotlight they'd be seeking the seat, either by appointment or election, including Matthew Quevedo, Mahan's deputy chief of staff who led a now-called off recall effort while Torres was still in office; Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley Executive Director Gabriela Chavez-Lopez; Housing policy analyst Aimee Escobar; Carl Salas, an engineer; and Irene Smith, an attorney.
Gay man vies for seat
Another officeseeker is Anthony Tordillos, a 33-year-old gay man who is currently chair of the San Jose Planning Commission.
Tordillos said in a November 18 phone interview that he's running for the District 3 seat "because first and foremost I love our downtown community." He didn't rule out seeking the appointment in addition to running in the special election in a brief interview with the B.A.R. after Tuesday's council meeting.
He said he wants to make San Jose affordable for families.
"That's why my husband and I settled down here — to raise a family," he said. "I want to ensure San Jose is the best place to raise a family."
Tordillos, who is originally from Washington state, and his husband don't have children just yet; they moved to the Bay Area in 2014 and settled in San Jose in 2018. He said he's "been involved in policy at the city level ... working with city staff on issues from housing production to homelessness and economic development" as part of his work on the commission.
Tordillos said he hopes to restore honor to the seat and represent the LGBTQ community in a positive way.
"In the weeks immediately following the reporting on the allegations against Councilmember Torres, I saw a number of folks online pointing to those allegations and abuses to justify the worst things they say about gay people more broadly — that we're predators and can't be trusted in positions of power," he said.
He also said LGBTQ people need to stay resolute in the public square even as resurgent anti-LGBTQ attitudes have grown in recent years.
"Republicans spent over $200 million on anti-trans ads to drum up hatred and fear, and now we're looking down the barrel toward a second Trump administration," he said. "With all of that negativity and hatred, now is not the time for queer people to retreat back into the shadows. Now is the time to step up and lean into the fight ahead."
Tordillos said there are "pros and cons" about having a special election versus an appointment.
"Special elections are expensive and low-turnout, so not always the most representative process, but they are a more democratic process, arguably," he said. "District 3 has already been without representation for over a month now, and so in a special election — with several months to run — we're looking at no representation for businesses and people in District 3 for several more months. ... I trust they'll [the council] come to the right balance."
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