Speaker 1: The Mayor of San Jose, Matt Man, and good morning,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology. Mayor, Mayheon and your city,
Speaker 1: San Jose is just so closely and intimately linked to
Speaker 1: the technology industry as well. You come at this, I
Speaker 1: guess from the political perspective, but why do you think
Speaker 1: that the technology industry is an important voice in backing
Speaker 1: your preferred candidate.
Speaker 2: Well, before I was mayor of San Jose, which is
Speaker 2: the capital of Silicon Valley with nearly one million residents,
Speaker 2: really the hometown for tech's workforce and home to many
Speaker 2: leading technology companies like Adobe, Zoom, Cisco, Paipal, and on
Speaker 2: and on.
Speaker 3: I was in the tech sector myself.
Speaker 2: In fact, I first met Kamala Harris about a decade
Speaker 2: ago at Airbnb, which was just down the street from
Speaker 2: a startup that I was involved in founding and leading.
Speaker 3: And I was very impressed with her.
Speaker 2: You know, she came in sharing her work on public safety,
Speaker 2: which continues to be top of mind for all of us,
Speaker 2: and she has great experience there. But she also engaged
Speaker 2: with a number of us who were tech entrepreneurs and
Speaker 2: founders around innovation topics. She understood the importance of having
Speaker 2: a diverse workforce and supporting immigration, intellectual property and the
Speaker 2: kinds of infrastructure investments that we need in common sense
Speaker 2: approach to regulations.
Speaker 3: So you know, really excited that she's the top of
Speaker 3: the ticket.
Speaker 1: Man, Men, local issues. You know, our guests in that
Speaker 1: SoundBite and challenge just now reflect on Kamala Harris being
Speaker 1: from the Bay and outside of technology there are issues
Speaker 1: actually statewide. But the clearing of encampments are encampments sweeps
Speaker 1: for example, following the Scotis Grants past decision. It's an
Speaker 1: interesting case study. How do you feel that that issue
Speaker 1: will be addressed by the Harris campaign and how central
Speaker 1: is an issue do you think it will be in
Speaker 1: a presidential election at large?
Speaker 2: Look, I want a partner in the White House who
Speaker 2: is not going to use Silicon Valley or California more broadly,
Speaker 2: merely as a punching bag. I want a partner who
Speaker 2: is pragmatic, who understands our region, who's going to help
Speaker 2: us deal with the very real challenges we face. You
Speaker 2: mentioned homelessness, which is an area where we are getting
Speaker 2: more pragmatic. San Jose saw fifteen percent reduction last year.
Speaker 2: We need a partner in Washington who's going to help
Speaker 2: fund innovative solutions.
Speaker 3: Same goes for public safety.
Speaker 2: That's an area where I appreciate that Kamala Harris has
Speaker 2: been a pragmatic centrist and I think the right approaches.
Speaker 1: May and man man, I just jump in and ask,
Speaker 1: you know, from the Trump Vance perspective, the messaging of
Speaker 1: that campaign is that Kamala Harris has been responsible for
Speaker 1: what they see as being big issues with Bay Area
Speaker 1: in California cities. Your city is under the microscope to
Speaker 1: that extent. Are you worried about that message resonating from
Speaker 1: the Trump Vans campaign?
Speaker 2: No, I'm not, because I think Kama Harris has a
Speaker 2: record that stands on its own, and she can speak
Speaker 2: to her policy positions, which it's you know, it's kind
Speaker 2: of ironic. She gets attacked from both sides for being
Speaker 2: too tough on crime or being associated with what some
Speaker 2: perceive as California's crime problem. I think she's right down
Speaker 2: the middle, and that's exactly where I am. Somebody who
Speaker 2: understands or has to be consequences for committing crime, but
Speaker 2: we also should invest in rehabilitation and support those with
Speaker 2: addiction and helping them get treatment. So I think She's
Speaker 2: got the right pragmatic approach, and we need that kind
Speaker 2: of partner in Washington as we navigate some very real
Speaker 2: challenges that are state faces.
Speaker 1: In San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahn