Santa Clara councilmember Anthony Becker has announced his candidacy for Mayor, in a bid to unseat incumbent Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who has held the role since 2016, if she seeks reelection. Becker is currently serving a four-year term ending in 2024. He previously ran unsuccessfully against Gillmor in 2018.
Becker’s platform centers around the need for change, blaming the city’s failed policies on the incumbent leadership. He cites among his key accomplishments his success in settling the city’s California Voting Rights Act lawsuit, which cost the city more than $6 million dollars over four years and ushered in the City’s district voting system. In 2020, Becker joined fellow City Council candidates Harbir Bhatia, Suds Jain, and Kevin Park and civic leaders to demand an end to the alleged “cycle of discrimination” at City Hall, arguing that the Council did not reflect the diversity of its residents. Jain, Park and Becker joined the Council that fall.
Mayor Gillmor has yet to announce her intent to run for reelection in November; the nomination filing deadline is Friday, August 12.
The November Mayoral race also runs in tandem with a proposed annual headcount tax increase measure, which would bring in approximately 10 times the current tax revenue raised annually from Santa Clara’s businesses. Mayor Gillmor opposes the tax, saying it will hurt businesses both large and small and put Santa Clara at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring cities. Becker supports the proposed tiered model as more on par with neighboring cities, but argued the update should have come years sooner.