Big Tech’s favorite candidate Matt Mahan concedes in Calif. governor race

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the favorite governor candidate of the tech elite, conceded the race within just minutes of initial votes being released Tuesday night.

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“While this campaign for governor ends tonight … our mission has only just begun,” Mahan said at his election night party in San Jose. Polls in California officially closed at 8 p.m., and Mahan began his remarks at 8:25 p.m.

Early vote totals Tuesday night showed Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton leading the race. Mahan was not even in the top five, with billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter following Becerra and Hilton in early returns. Only the top two candidates will advance to the November general election.

Mahan was a late entrant into the crowded Democratic field, but he was able to quickly get support from some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest executives, including venture capitalist Michael Moritz, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Mahan focused his campaign on promising to reduce homelessness on California’s streets and build more housing, landing on a tagline of “Building a Better California.”

The sitting mayor hammered that message on Tuesday night even as he backed out of the governor’s race.

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“I am a get sh-t done Democrat,” Mahan said, after telling his young son and daughter standing on stage with him to stop listening.

Mahan’s campaign included an extraordinary pledge to his financial supporters promising that an independent committee would raise at least $35 million by mid-April or it would return any pledged money to donors if he failed to meet that goal. Mahan did not appear to ever reach that goal, and at least $1 million was returned to Hastings, according to previous SFGATE reporting, though Hastings later disavowed the refund.