By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara City Councilmember Suds Jain started Election Night with a 227-vote lead. After the polls closed, Jain won 54 percent of the first round of votes over his challenger David Kertes.
Since then, Jain has lost ground. Kertes won the later votes by a total of 450-442, closing the gap to 219 votes.
This race is too close to call now and may take days to be decided.
According to a source who’s monitoring the Registrar of Voters information, there are an estimated 3,600 to 4,000 votes that need to be counted in District Five.
That means if Kertes wins 53 percent of the later votes, he can overtake Jain.
Santa Clara Police Officers Association (POA) President Jeremy Schmidt thinks that’s possible.
“I believe that the best is yet to come for David Kertes,” said Schmidt.
“Our support was focused on the later portion of the election cycle and we look forward to seeing those results. I remain confident that the voters in District 5 want to replace Mr. Jain.”
The POA, Santa Clara Firefighters, and The Related Company helped Kertes with independent expenditures.
Jain, a member of the 49er Five, received independent expenditure help from the 49ers of about $600,000, an extraordinary amount for a council campaign.
Jain received $1 million in help from the 49ers in 2020 to win his first Council race after multiple unsuccessful previous tries.
This year, the team spent a lot of money early. They started TV advertising in September for Jain and others. This may be reflected in Jain’s early vote lead.
The 2024 final expenditure reports are not in. But the preliminary numbers suggest the team helped Jain by outspending the combined independent expenditures for Kertes by a 10-to-1 margin. Wow.
Win or lose, Jain’s cost per vote is going to be super high.
great comment by buchser alum on SVV about the Becker trial so far. Wish we knew before the election. Then again nothing is a coincidence these days:
No surprise but very nice to see factual confirmation that this publication was making money from the Forty Niners and so had a financial interest in having a good relationship with the team.
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Miles Barber meekly requesting Rahul Chandhok help get payments to the Silicon Valley Voice because it was “against the wall” says it all.
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The Forty Niners spend millions of dollars to support the political careers of Anthony Becker and Karen Hardy and Suds Jain and Raj Chahal and Kevin Park. They always vote in ways that the Forty Niners would want them to vote.
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The Forty Niners direct some of those millions of dollars to the Silicon Valley Voice. The Silicon Valley Voice always publishes articles and editorials that support the Forty Niners positions on the stadium and always supports the city council majority that always votes the Forty Niners way.
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What coincidences.
News Flash
RAHUL CHANDHOK TESTIMONY
Becker and Chandhok began plotting in 2016.
Just anecdotally, 2 drop off ballots from our household for David Kertes have not been counted yet when I last scanned my ballots QR code. Hopefully he will come back and win.
I would love to see the 49ers defeated again despite the spending. That happened with the mayoral race, and we loved it. To see the niners out spend 10:1 and still loose, is in my mind justice.
And think what you want, but Harris’s team spent $997.2 million to Trump’s $338 million and still lost. (according to Forbes)
This tells us that money can’t buy you love. (Not always, right?) Even if the niners do pull it out, there is no way it should be this close with the extraordinary spending gap.
In 2020, I ran a grassroots campaign against an opponent backed by a Jed York PAC. Almost $900k! All I had was $7300. And I beat the PAC and my opponent. And I won the same night that my grandfather, Michael Francis Reynolds, who fought in the Irish War of Independence, won a great battle against the British 100 years to the day (in the town of Ballinalee) that I won my re-election. I’d say the luck of the Irish was on my side in that election along with trust knowing that I represented the residents and not special interests.
If Jain is defeated, Mr Haugh can take a bow. Mr Hsugh is not my friend. But I will credit him for exposing Jain as a vain, arrogant fool. Kertes is an extraordinary person. He was so kind to my niece. I have questions.
How did Park get connected with a national consultant?
Is Gonzalez really as naive as he reports?
Becker is gone.
But as someone with no great love for Mr Haugh, but Haugh does not deserve to be summoned as a witness. Do people understand me at all?
If I believe someone is being treated unfairly, I aill speak out. I have serious issues with Mr Haugh, but he needs to be treated with fairness.
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Mr Vartan, another foe, is a local hero. Vartan has the key to making things right. I will admit tge truth. Vartan is right. An ethics commission must be created. Do I have agreement?
Santa Clarans. Get your city back. Support LG.
I will agree or disagree with Lg but I will support her to lead the city.
A moment of gratitude must be dobe for Burt Field.
Burt Field is a champion for what is right.