The race to replace San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is about to get more crowded this week when another candidate and well-known South Bay public figure officially throws her hat into the ring. Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez Chavez will hold a private event Thursday where she will officially announce her run for San Jose Mayor. Speculation that she would run was confirmed last week when she officially filed her papers with the state elections office last week.

In November, Chavez was able to win another term as a supervisor. She also was a member of the San Jose City Council from 1999 to 2007. Chavez has already taken part in a mayoral forum where she discussed issues with one of her main challengers, Councilmember Raul Peralez. Peralez and Chavez agree that homelessness is one of San Jose’s biggest problems.

“Even in addressing homelessness, for every individual we’re pulling off the street, three more are entering homelessness. We really need to be conscious about the solutions we bring forward to make sure we’re not leaving out specific demographics, especially women,” Peralez said in an article posted by San Jose Spotlight.

“We can absolutely expand our rapid response that keeps people from becoming homeless. We need to take a look at what areas we can speed up building our housing product countywide,” Chavez said at the forum. 

Another candidate, City Councilmember Matt Mahan, announced his candidacy for mayor last week and says his strategy to make San Jose better will be noticeably different from Chavez’s. “She has represented business as usual in politics for 20 years and our campaign is about fundamentally challenging the status quo. This will be an important election to decide between foundational change and more of the same,” Mahan told San Jose Spotlight.

Mahan, Chavez, and Peralez are also joined by San Jose Councilmember Dev Davis who announced her campaign in early August. Chavez appears to be the most popular in early polls.

The Mercury News obtained results of a poll by research firm New Bridge Strategy that showed Chavez with a favorable rating of 33%. Peralez was next in line at 18%. The poll was commissioned by the San Jose Police Officers’ Association. There’s still a long way to go with the primary for the mayor’s race scheduled for June of next year.