Democrat · California's 16th District · 2026
Sam Liccardo
Liccardo grew up in Saratoga as one of five children and was named for his grandfather, who ran a neighborhood grocery store in San Jose.
Biography
Sam Liccardo grew up in Saratoga as the youngest of five children; his grandparents ran a neighborhood grocery store in San Jose.1 His wife, Jessica García-Kohl, works in the nonprofit sector on children's health, education and leadership development.2
Liccardo graduated from Georgetown and earned law and public policy degrees at Harvard.3 He worked as a federal prosecutor in San Diego and then as a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney, handling sexual assault and child exploitation cases.2 His later teaching included housing and local government policy at Stanford and San Jose State.4
He served on San Jose's council from 2007 to 2015 and as mayor from 2015 to 2023, before entering Congress in January 2025.3 His mayoral agenda included converting motels into housing, homelessness prevention and protecting open space around Coyote Valley.4 He now serves on Financial Services and leads a New Democratic Coalition technology working group.2
Liccardo's current proposals include converting vacant buildings into homes, extending insurance premium assistance and reducing bank payment fees.5 He also supports reproductive rights, voting access and protection of nutrition and healthcare assistance.5 Republican Peter Soulé is his November opponent as Liccardo seeks a second House term.5
Record and controversies
2024 recount complaint
An April 2024 FEC complaint alleged that Liccardo's campaign coordinated with Count the Vote, an outside group funding the congressional primary recount.6 His campaign denied involvement in the recount and said every legal vote should be counted.6 A later FEC finding or public resolution was not verified in this review.
Public records lawsuit
In August 2023, a California court found that Liccardo and San Jose failed to conduct an adequate search for public records in his private email and text accounts.7 The finding concerned his official actions as mayor.7 In that month's reporting, he said the city had made good faith efforts and provided more than 8,900 pages.8 In November 2023, the city approved $500,000 for plaintiffs' legal fees and costs.9
Property disclosure warning
A March 2022 FPPC letter warned Liccardo for failing to disclose a condominium and its sale income on economic interest forms from 2016 and 2018.10 The agency explicitly said the potential conflict of interest had been disproven.10 Liccardo said in 2019 that he had made a mistake and corrected his disclosures.11