San Jose: Here’s the shortlist for who will fill the District 8 and 10 seats

San Jose councilmembers have narrowed down their selections on who will fill the District 8 and 10 seats that were left vacant after the November elections. An initial

list of 37 applicants has been whittled down to 11 individuals between the two districts. In East San Jose’s District 8, once held by current Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia

Arenas, a finalist will be chosen on Jan. 24. In Almaden Valley’s District 10, formerly held by Mayor Matt Mahan, a selection will be made on Jan. 26. Combined, the

finalists will represent roughly 200,000 San Jose residents. The decision before councilmembers comes after a contentious battle last month over how the empty council seats

would be filled. Mayor Mahan, along with former Mayor Sam Liccardo, argued that a special election would produce a candidate who is a better reflection of the community — while

opponents of that option said it was too expensive. The council voted to make appointments in a 7-4 decision, the first time since 1994 that a special election wasn’t held to fill

vacant seats — and marked a major rebuke of both Mahan and Liccardo’s leadership. Here’s the list of prospective District 8 and District 10 candidates: District

8 Patricia Andrade: Currently the President of the Board of Trustees of the Evergreen School District, Andrade was also a community relations staffer to former District 8

councilmember Arenas. In her application, Andrade said she would try tackling the lack of affordable housing and homelessness and help support small businesses. She is being

endorsed by Arenas.