candidate_id: matt-mahan

candidate_name: Matt Mahan

claim_type: recommendation

event_title: CalMatters Governor Q&A Transcripts

party: Democratic

text: Mahan says reducing housing costs requires capping local fees and setting a 30-day deadline for permit decisions on projects consistent with a city’s general plan.

theme_id: housing

theme_label: Housing


text: Mahan says California should make it harder to file lawsuits that stop housing projects in order to reduce litigation risk and accelerate homebuilding.


event_title: Mahan Back to Basics plan page

text: Avoid raising taxes until government performs better and use reviews, zero-based budgeting, procurement reform, and fraud detection.

theme_id: taxes-budget

theme_label: Taxes Budget


text: Tie top government leaders' pay and evaluations to measurable results, publish dashboards, and use performance management across state agencies.

theme_id: government-accountability

theme_label: Government Accountability


event_title: Mahan campaign site

text: Lower housing costs by cutting fees and regulations, using surplus public land, and lowering construction costs.


event_title: Mahan gas-tax plan

text: Suspend the gas tax immediately, then reform transportation funding so working and rural drivers are not unfairly burdened.

theme_id: gas-prices-energy

theme_label: Gas Prices Energy


text: Mahan calls for a temporary suspension of California’s gas taxes to provide immediate relief to working families during price spikes.

theme_id: taxes

theme_label: Taxes


claim_type: assertion

event_title: Mahan housing policy page

text: Mahan says that as San Jose mayor he cut taxes and fees on new housing and reduced permitting times to get thousands of homes under construction.


text: Mahan says California needs to build about 315,000 homes per year but is currently producing only about one-third of that level.


event_title: Mahan immigration page

text: Protect immigrant residents' access to local services, support emergency aid for immigrant families, and confront ICE actions that disrupt communities.

theme_id: immigration-civil-rights

theme_label: Immigration Civil Rights


claim_type: reframe

event_title: Mahan Proposition 36 treatment plan

text: Mahan argues that genuine compassion means not leaving people with severe mental illness and addiction on the streets without intervention.

theme_id: health-care

theme_label: Health Care


text: Mahan argues Proposition 36 should be used to allow judges to mandate treatment and increase accountability for repeat drug offenders to help break cycles of addiction and crime.

theme_id: public-safety

theme_label: Public Safety


text: Fully implement Proposition 36 by building treatment capacity, integrating safety-net services, unifying court standards, and tying behavioral-health budgets to performance.

theme_id: public-safety-homelessness

theme_label: Public Safety Homelessness


event_title: Mahan spending and anti-fraud plan

text: Create an independent inspector general, publish contract and lobbying transparency data, reform procurement, and recapture waste, fraud, and failure.


text: Mahan argues California spent $37 billion on housing and homelessness over six years yet still has nearly half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless population.

theme_id: homelessness

theme_label: Homelessness


text: Mahan argues that despite a 75% increase in the state budget over six years, California has not achieved comparable improvements and is falling behind on key metrics.

theme_id: governance

theme_label: Governance


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: taxes and greenhouse gas goals

text: Mahan argues that politically popular tax proposals can backfire because wealthy people can move or avoid poorly designed taxes, so he favors closing loopholes instead of broad tax hikes.


text: Mahan says he would accelerate clean energy, transmission, and EV charging projects to support electrification without increasing electricity costs.

theme_id: energy

theme_label: Energy


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: homelessness plans

text: Mahan argues California is failing on homelessness because it has spent billions while still housing nearly half of the nation's unsheltered homeless population.


text: Mahan says he would scale San José’s homelessness approach statewide, emphasizing faster interim housing and expecting people to come indoors when shelter or treatment is available.


event_title: Axios San Diego candidate Q&A: lowering gas and energy bills

text: Mahan says he would suspend the state gas tax during price spikes to provide short-term relief to families.


text: Mahan says California should modernize the grid, speed up clean energy and transmission permitting, and hold utilities and agencies accountable to prevent cost overruns from being passed to ratepayers.


event_title: CBS News California / San Francisco Examiner gubernatorial debate

text: Mahan says his homelessness approach in San Jose should be adopted statewide and that as governor he would hold cities and counties accountable for building prevention, interim housing, and treatment capacity and requiring people to come indoors when those options are available.


event_title: Ezra Klein California Governor Housing Forum

text: Mahan says San Jose shifted multifamily approvals in key growth areas to a ministerial, by-right process that he says dramatically shortened housing timelines.


event_title: NBC4 / Telemundo 52 statewide California gubernatorial debate

text: Mahan says the state should intervene in local zoning decisions when cities fail to produce housing, in order to hold them accountable.


text: Mahan argues California policies broke the property insurance market and says the state should allow insurers to use climate risk data and return to competition while also reducing wildfire risk through vegetation management.

theme_id: climate

theme_label: Climate


event_title: CNN California governor primary debate

text: Mahan says he wants to suspend and reform the gas tax because he argues it disproportionately harms working families and should require EV owners and higher-income earners to pay a fair share.


text: Mahan claims his administration made San Jose the safest big city in the country and reduced homelessness faster than any other city.


event_title: CBS California / Pomona College Governor's Debate

text: Mahan says he would suspend and then reform the state gas tax because he argues it is regressive and disproportionately affects working and rural Californians.


event_title: CBS News California Governor's Race Candidate Guide

text: Mahan says California should pursue clean-energy decarbonization through innovation, infrastructure investment, and targeted subsidies while being realistic about timelines and costs.


event_title: Nexstar / NewsNation / The Hill California gubernatorial primary debate

text: Mahan says he would change road funding by charging a flat fee on all vehicles, including EVs, because he claims gas-powered drivers currently pay much more for road maintenance.

theme_id: transportation

theme_label: Transportation


text: Mahan says he supports suspending and then reforming the state gas tax because he argues it is regressive and places an unfair burden on working families.


event_title: KQED Political Breakdown: Matt Mahan on Tech Influence, Homelessness and the Governor's Race

text: Mahan says San Jose has led California in reducing both crime and homelessness while unblocking thousands of new homes.


event_title: Jewish California Governor 2026 Candidate Forum

text: Mahan says San Jose pursued lawsuits against the Trump administration to protect residents' civil liberties.


event_title: Black Action Alliance / KTVU / KTTV California gubernatorial debate

text: Mahan says San Jose sued the Trump administration and adopted measures to protect civil liberties in response to immigration enforcement practices he describes as creating fear and division.


claim_type: observation

text: Pushed interim shelter placements, encampment alternatives, and San Jose Bridge: The mayor's policy page presents interim placements and work-oriented programs as core homelessness responses.


text: Mayor and council passed budget with major unsheltered-homelessness investments: The mayor's office described the budget as the city's most significant investment in ending unsheltered homelessness.

theme_id: homelessness-city-budget

theme_label: Homelessness City Budget