Samuel Theodore Liccardo (born April 16, 1970) is an American attorney and politician currently serving as the U.S. representative from California's 16th congressional district. Previously, he served as the 65th mayor of San Jose from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Liccardo was elected mayor in November 2014. He was reelected in 2018 with 75.8% of the vote. As the leader of the California Big City Mayors Coalition, Liccardo advocated on statewide issues including homelessness and COVID-19 response.
Early life and education Sam Liccardo was one of five children of Salvador and Laura (née Aceves) Liccardo. He was named for his paternal grandfather, who owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store in downtown San Jose, the Notre Dame Market. Liccardo is of Sicilian and Irish descent, and also of Mexican Californio ancestry, tracing his ancestors to the early Californio inhabitants of the Bay Area and to more recent Mexican immigrants who worked in the Almaden mines. Liccardo grew up in Saratoga, California, and graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in 1987. Liccardo received a bachelor's degree in government from Georgetown University, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He later earned his Juris Doctor and Master of Public Policy at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to his election to public office in 2006 he served as a criminal prosecutor in the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office.
San Jose City Councilman In 2006, Liccardo ran for San Jose's District 3 Council seat. After placing first in an eight-candidate June primary with 43% percent of the vote, Liccardo went on to place first in the November runoff election, this time with 61.3%. In June 2010, he won his reelection to the City Council with 80.16% of the primary vote. As councilman, Liccardo pushed for more affordable housing, championing an inclusionary zoning ordinance in 2008 that required developers to either build 15% of their units in any project to be affordable and rent-restricted, or to pay fees to finance affordable housing construction elsewhere. The statewide homebuilding industry vocally opposed the measure, and sued after its passage; subsequent litigation prevented its implementation until the California Supreme Court eventually sided with the City of San Jose in 2015. Liccardo also advocated for more high-rise housing in San José's downtown, including the construction of the $135 million, 23-story high rise at One South Market.
Mayor of San Jose
2014 election In 2014, Liccardo ran for Mayor of San Jose to succeed termed-out Mayor Chuck Reed. He placed second to County Supervisor Dave Cortese in a five-candidate June primary with 25.7% of the vote, but placed first in the November runoff with 50.8% of the vote. The contentious run-off election focused on the City's chronic budgetary challenges, as well as Liccardo's support for pension reforms led by Mayor Reed that had City employee unions and their allies heavily supporting Cortese. Liccardo's financial support emanated primarily from the tech business community, but he also had support of several environmental organizations.
Pension reform In the decade prior to his election as mayor, San Jose saw retiree pension and health care contributions nearly quadruple as a result of retroactive benefit increases, poor market returns, and rapidly rising unfunded liabilities. In order to offset rising retirement contributions, the city council enacted steep budget cuts, cutting the payroll by more than one thousand employees. As a consequence, San Jose became the major U.S. city with the most thinly-staffed city hall and ranked 49th out of the largest 50 U.S. cities in police staffing as of 2020. In his first year in office, he helped guide negotiations on an agreement with all 11 of city's employee unions that closed the retiree healthcare plan to new employees, predicted to save the city $3 billion in employee retirement costs over the course of three decades. In the 2016 elections, voters approved the agreement by passing Measure F with more than 61% of the vote. This measure supplanted a more contentious pension reform plan, which has faced a series of legal challenges since its 2012 passage. By 2022, San Jose's budget director reported that pension and retiree healthcare obligations had begun declining, enabling projections for balanced budgets for the following five years.
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