Election Day Scorecard – Labor Rises to Top

One indicator of the political strength of an organization is the success of the candidates it endorses, particularly in races for open seats.  In this Primary Election, Labor advanced their candidates in all but one race, while the Silicon Valley Organization (Chamber of Commerce) lost all but one race and the *Silicon Valley Leadership Group made minimal gains at best.

Below is a scorecard for the contested seats in both the County Board of Supervisors and the San Jose City Council races:

“W” signifies that their candidate is advancing to the November runoff or won reelection in the Primary.

“L” indicates that their candidate is NOT advancing to the November runoff.

The hotly contested race for the open seat in the 4th Supervisorial District pitted Don Rocha, endorsed by labor, against Susan Ellenberg and Chamber of Commerce endorsed and Silicon Valley Leadership Group backed Pierluigi Oliverio. Ellenberg and Rocha will advance to the November Election, leaving Oliveiro out of the running.

In the District 4 race, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group took an “anyone but Don” strategy, sending out virtually identical mail for both Susan Ellenberg and Pierluigi Oliverio. The Leadership Group used the same tactic in the San Jose District 9 race, sending mailers for both Pam Foley and Kalen Gallagher.

*The Silicon Valley Leadership Group does not have a PAC, so it cannot directly support candidates. However, its CEO Carl Guardino established the Innovation for Everyone committee, which allows Guardino to monetarily back candidates without using the Silicon Valley Leadership Group name.

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