In a sign that the San Francisco 49ers are trying to expand their political influence in Silicon Valley, the team has poured $300,000 into an independent fundraising committee established to support the campaign of San Jose mayoral candidate Cindy Chavez.
Earlier this month, the 49ers and the DeBartolo Corporation, which owns the football team that plays at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, created the Citizens for Cindy Chavez, Mayor 2022 political action committee. 49ers spokesman Rahul Chandok, who confirmed the team’s initial donation to the committee, said in a statement the team and its executives were proud to support Chavez as the “first Latina Mayor of San Jose.”
In addition, he said, “Supervisor Chavez demonstrated exemplary leadership during the pandemic and was instrumental in launching California’s largest vaccination site at Levi’s Stadium last year. As an organization with roots that extend to San Jose and beyond, we’re supporting Supervisor Chavez because we’re confident she will take action on the South Bay’s most pressing issues such as housing affordability and public safety.”
This isn’t the first time the 49ers have engaged in the local political scene. In 2020, the team spent more than $300,000 toward a campaign to defeat a Santa Clara ballot initiative that sought to change the way City Council members are elected. Chandok said then the measure was meant to “disenfranchise minority communities and strip them of equal representation in our local government.”
Later that year, 49ers owner Jed York poured $3 million into a political action committee named Citizens for Efficient Government and Full Voting Rights that backed the campaigns of four political newcomers to the Santa Clara City Council. Three of them were elected, turning the council majority from one that was antagonistic toward the team to one that’s now more aligned.
Critics of the team accused York of trying to buy votes, and Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who has frequently butted heads with the 49ers, called the move “obscene.” The new council majority later went on to fire city manager Deanna Santana, a Gillmor ally who also had crossed the 49ers over management of Levi’s Stadium.
In her bid to succeed Sam Liccardo as San Jose’s next mayor, Chavez faces six other candidates in the June 7 primary election. Three are San Jose City Council members Dev Davis, Matt Mahan and Raul Peralez, and the others are retired San Jose police officer Jim Spence and college students Marshall Woodmansee and Travis Nicholas Hill.
Initial campaign finance reports filed in January revealed that Chavez, a Santa Clara County supervisor and former labor leader, had raised $479,346 in direct campaign contributions.
But even more money has been raised on behalf of Chavez’s mayoral run by a handful of independent expenditure committees — groups that typically are funded by labor unions, business leaders or large corporations. Unlike candidates’ own fundraising efforts, the committees are not restricted to contribution limits. San Jose limits individual contributions to mayoral candidates’ direct campaigns to $1,400.
Mahan, a former tech entrepreneur, was an early fundraising frontrunner, amassing $504,169 in the first month. He is expected to be endorsed and receive substantial fundraising assistance from a political action committee formed by Liccardo called Common Good Silicon Valley.
Even before creating a fundraising committee on Chavez’s behalf, York and 49ers President Al Guido endorsed her for mayor, and a dozen 49ers employees donated a total of $12,050 directly to Chavez’s campaign.
Sam Singer, a San Francisco-based political consultant, called the team’s contribution toward Chavez’s campaign a “very smart investment that will pay them dividends for many years to come.” Singer previously did consulting work for both the 49ers and the city of Santa Clara on stadium-related issues.
“The 49ers made a significant investment by building a stadium in Santa Clara, but it’s really a regional stadium and a regional business,” he said. “Anytime you have a major stadium, which houses a storied NFL franchise and also is home to concerts and special events, there’s the opportunity for major conventions, hotels, taxes, transportation and housing issues.
“The 49ers are making an investment in their future — not just in Santa Clara but in San Jose — in order to have access to smart and capable elected officials who can help them navigate the issues as well as future investments,” he continued.
But the 49ers’ move caught San Jose State University political science professor Terry Christensen by surprise.
“I don’t know why they’d have a $300,000 interest in the outcome of this race,” he said. “You get that they’d like a big-city mayor to be their cheerleader, and you get that the mayor of Santa Clara is not that, but I don’t know why they need Cindy.”
The 49ers’ new fundraising committee is one of at least five special interest groups expected to dole out substantial amounts of money on Chavez’s behalf.
Longtime business leader and Bloom Energy executive Carl Guardino formed a political action committee in February called San Jose Together, supporting Cindy Chavez for Mayor 2022. Service Employees International Union Local 521, a labor union that represents thousands of workers in the Bay Area, has contributed $75,000 to that committee.
Another committee dubbed Neighbors Together Supporting Cindy Chavez for Mayor 2022 was formed earlier this month, though it is unclear how much money it has raised. State Senator David Cortese’s former policy aide is listed as the group’s principal officer.
The San Jose Police Officers Association is also sponsoring a political action committee called A Better Way San Jose to support Chavez. Although the association has not yet disclosed any contributions, union spokesman Tom Saggau said Wednesday that “it’ll be north of the 49ers’ initial $300,000 contribution.”
Chavez has received the sole endorsement of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, the League of Conservation Voters and the South Bay Labor Council, which will also provide considerable funding for Chavez.
Chavez chalks up the support of the 49ers and numerous other elected officials and organizations to her “pragmatic and practical approach” and her “track record of accomplishments.”
“San Jose is the largest city in Northern California, and what that means is that we have an opportunity to play a leadership role in issues around tourism and creating a great business climate,” she said. “Because of that, I think we have to recognize that that’s a core job of the mayor — to create an environment where people want to live, work, play, send their kids to school.”
