The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● San Jose, CA Mayor: San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is termed-out next year as leader of America's 10th-most populous city, and the 2022 contest to succeed him could bring about a momentous change in government for the place nicknamed "The Capital Of Silicon Valley." Labor groups are hoping to elect the first labor-aligned mayor in 16 years, while business interests are looking to extend their control over this office. Voters may also have the chance to take part in a referendum that could greatly enhance the chief executive's powers as well as move future mayoral elections to presidential years.
Two members of the City Council, who each announced in April within hours of each other, are currently running in next June's nonpartisan primary: Democrat Raul Peralez and Dev Davis, a former Republican who announced she was becoming an independent in 2018 out of disgust with the Trump administration. However, party affiliation isn't usually the main political faultline in San Jose, which voted for Joe Biden 71-27. Instead, local elections for decades have been skirmishes between labor and business: Last year, for example, the City Council transformed from a 6-5 business majority to a 6-5 union-friendly body following the victory of a candidate who ran as an "ally of labor."
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