It is now official, former Mayor Chuck Reed and his hand-picked successor, current Mayor Sam Liccardo, have chosen Manh Nguyen to be the next councilmember for D4.
In a press conference held yesterday in front of the Petite Trianon, Nguyen was elated to accept the endorsement and complete support of Reed and Liccardo. Notice the former Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen was not even invited to the press conference and that Manh Nguyen did not even consider her.
The special election will be in June to determine who will fill the seat that was held by State Assemblyman Kansen Chu.
It will be another proxy fight between South Baly Labor Council and Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. Tim Orozco is a long time resident of D4 and is well known for his activities within the community and its neighborhood associations. Manh Nguyen, similar to another previous candidate for D4, Tam Truong, is a candidate that was recruited to ensure that Sam Liccardo has the majority in City Council. He can count on about 3,000 Vietnamese-American votes in the primary to be his. There were 10,191 ballots cast in the primary.
In a city where 10% of the population is Viet-American, another Viet-American city councilmember would elevate the the political power of the community to a next level. There are three districts in San Jose which will always be under the influence of the Viet-American voting bloc - D4, D7 and D8. LSI predicts that it will be a close race and the difference might be within a percentage point or less.
