Santa Clara voters appear to have overwhelmingly rejected a pair of measures that would have changed their police chief and city clerk positions from elected to appointed roles, leaving it as the only city in California to elect its top law enforcement leader.
The outcome ends a nearly year-long contentious debate that started last summer with councilmembers and residents heavily divided on the issue.
While the city clerk position was one of two measures on the ballot, most of the discussion in the Mission City over the last several months has centered around Measure B and whether voters would opt to get rid of the state’s last elected police chief. Santa Clara’s city clerk position is largely a part-time role, with most of the typical clerk duties falling to the appointed assistant city clerk. Both jobs would have been appointed by the city manager had the measure passed.
Proponents of Measure B argued that electing a police chief severely limited the potential pool of applicants, as candidates must live in the city. Councilmember Karen Hardy last year said there were less than ten officers in the Police Department who live in Santa Clara. Opponents, on the other hand, said the measure would take away residents’ right to vote and criticized the process, which included a community survey that was likely hit by bots, skewing the results.
The measure also faced a legal challenge late last year as a group of residents sued the city, arguing the question was misleading as it left out crucial information that the city’s top cop is already an elected role. The lawsuit ultimately failed and no changes were made to the ballot language.
Opponents of Measure B listed in the official arguments included Mayor Lisa Gillmor, Councilmember Kathy Watanabe, Police Chief Pat Nikolai and Santa Clara Police Officers’ Association President Jeremy Schmidt.
In an email, Gillmor said that Santa Clara residents are “increasingly concerned” about the council majority, who she referred to as the “49er Five” — a reference alluding to the NFL team spending millions helping some of councilmembers get elected. The San Francisco 49ers and owner Jed York did not spend any money this election cycle, campaign finance filings shows.
“The voters are sending a strong message that the interests of our residents should come first,” she said.
The Santa Clara Police Association Political Action Committee was the only group spending money to oppose Measure B and shelled out nearly $42,000 up to Feb. 17. Gillmor and Watanabe gave $250 each to the PAC earlier this year.
Meanwhile, a committee set up to support appointing the police chief spent less than $3,000. Councilmember Raj Chahal donated $500 to the committee, and Councilmember Suds Jain loaned it $2,000 late last year, accounting for most of the Yes on Measure B contributions.
Jain, Chahal and Hardy were all listed as supporters of the measure.
Jain believes the measures failed because “Santa Clarans don’t like change.” The councilmember pointed to Measure A, the initiative dealing with the city clerk’s job, as an example. It had no organized opposition or money spent trying to defeat it, yet voters still shot it down.
Jain doesn’t plan to raise the issue again, but worries about the current system. Santa Clara is set to host FIFA World Cup matches and a Super Bowl in 2026, and Jain said that Nikolai has been largely absent from public safety discussions around the large-scale events.
“We may be stuck with paying a figurehead over half a million dollars because the voters think they have some say in how the Police Department operates, when it’s the city manger who ultimately does the hiring and firing of all officers in the department,” Jain said.
Chahal believes they weren’t able to educate the voters enough, and that low voter turnout combined with the POA’s spending contributed to the results. He also thinks the current system poses problems that could lead to a police chief without ample management experience.
“Our main motive was to make the best use of the taxpayers dollars so we have the best candidates,” Chahal said. “There’s a reason ours is the last city to elect the chief of police.”
