Sam Liccardo

ON THE ISSUES 

• Supports investments to clean energy
• Will advocate to protect and preserve California’s open spaces 
• Will continue to advocate to expand clean public transportation 

WHY THIS RACE MATTERS 

• Former mayor of San José
• Open seat previously held by Rep Anna Eshoo
• Keeping this seat under pro-environment leadership will help win a pro-environmental majority in the House, making it easier to pass climate legislation at the federal level

CANDIDATE BACKGROUND 

Sam Liccardo is running to represent California’s 16th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. As Mayor of San José, the Bay Area’s largest city, Liccardo’s innovative efforts to confront homelessness include pioneering the conversion of motels to housing in 2016, four years prior to California adopting it as a statewide model. 

As Mayor, he also launched the San José Clean Energy for the city’s one million residents which now procures 95% of its electricity from renewable and GHG-free sources. Liccardo also led a series of successful ballot measures to preserve open space and hillsides, rebuild city streets and other infrastructure.. Liccardo led efforts to expand BART and was part of the regional coalition that supported the successful efforts to electrify Caltrain.

Prior to his service in elected office, Liccardo prosecuted felony crimes of sexual assault and child exploitation in the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, and also served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of California. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Georgetown University. His published works have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other national publications. He and his wife, Jessica García-Kohl, live in San José.