Mayor of San Jose

Mayor of the City of San Jose
Flag of San Jose, California
Incumbent Sam Liccardo since 2016
Term length	Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder	Josiah Belden
Formation	1850
Website	[1]

The Mayor of San Jose is the head of the government of the city of San Jose, California,the tenth-largest city in the United States. The mayor presides over the San Jose City Council, which is composed of 11 voting members, including the mayor. While the mayor is the head of the city council, he or she has no veto powers over legislation passed by the Council, as the city uses a council-manager form of government. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms.

There are 65 people who have served as San Jose's mayor. The current mayor is Democrat Sam Liccardo, who took office in January 2015 and was elected with 50.76% of the popular vote.

Since 1967, San Jose has elected its mayors by a popular vote. Due to state laws regarding primary elections, political parties cannot nominate candidates for mayor, although candidates often choose to identify with a party. All registered candidates, regardless of party affiliation, compete in an vote held in June of the election year. If no person gets over 50% of the popular vote, the top two candidates automatically move to a runoff election.

All elected mayors of San Jose have been members of the Democratic Party. The first elected mayor was Ron James and the first female mayor was Janet Gray Hayes.

Before 1967, mayors of San Jose were nominated and elected by the San Jose City Council.

Many mayors of San Jose have either served in other public offices or been influential in the private sector following their tenures. Norman Y. Mineta subsequently became a congressman, U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Secretary of Transportation. After his terms, Tom McEnery has served on the Board of Directors of the San Jose Sharks and founded the Irish Innovation Center and Silicon Valley Global, two downtown-based groups that fund and house Silicon Valley startups.