Get the Facts

Evan Low’s Assembly campaigns have taken over $170,000 from oil and gas interests. In 2020, the Sierra Club gave him an F- grade. In this campaign, he’s accepted thousands of dollars from oil and gas lobbyists and has six-figure support from energy-funded super PACs. Here’s why they support him:

In August 2022, Evan skipped a vote to create a 3,200-foot health and safety setback between homes, schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, hospitals, nursing homes, and other sensitive places - and oil and gas wells. The next month, California Independent Petroleum Association PAC gave his campaign a $1,500 donation.

Evan voted against a bill to strengthen oil and gas well testing requirements (AB3146, 2018), against requiring carbon emission disclosures from large companies (SB253, 2023), and against setting ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals (SB32, 2015). 

Sam Liccardo has the sole endorsement of every single environmental organization that has endorsed in this race. They’re supporting Sam because he:

• Is the only candidate to have signed the no fossil fuel money pledge.

• Reduced San Jose’s greenhouse gas emissions by 36%.

• Led three ballot measures to permanently preserve hillsides and open space against development in San Jose, and led ballot measures to fund public transit and bike lanes.

• Launched the San Jose Resilience Corps, employing hundreds of young adults from low-income neighborhoods in jobs improving climate resilience.

• Made San José the largest city in the U.S. to prohibit the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure to new residential and office construction. 

Wrote a detailed action plan as part of his book, “Let’s Get it Done,” to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels, protect open space, strengthen our grid, prepare communities for climate impacts, and fund the American Climate Corps.

PG&E spent $325,000 on a super PAC supporting Evan Low in the primary, and his campaign accepted more than $100,000 from utilities during his time in the Assembly. Here’s why they support him:

On July 9, 2019, PG&E gave Evan’s campaign a $1,500 campaign contribution. Two days later he voted for a bill, written by PG&E attorneys, to give PG&E a $21 billion bailout. PG&E was facing bankruptcy after they started the deadly Camp fire in 2018, which killed 85 Californians. PG&E pled guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

In 2016, Evan refused to vote on a bill that would have forced gas utilities to fix their leaky pipes, and stop them from increasing rates for their own poor maintenance.

Sam Liccardo has taken on big utilities’ rate hikes and has a three-step plan to rein in utility bills. 

As Mayor of San Jose, Sam didn’t sit by as utility rates soared. He launched San Jose Clean Energy to provide 95% green power to 1 million residents, who now pay rates that are 8% cheaper than PG&E’s.

He also testified before the PUC against rising charges on residents, and very publicly  advocated against rising PCIA charges on customers. After leaving office, Liccardo launched a coalition, FAIR California, with small businesses, unions, the AARP, and environmental advocates to challenge rate increases and demand greater transparency of spending of ratepayer spending by PG&E and other utilities. 

Sam’s plan will empower ratepayers to reduce utility bills by going green and providing federally-backed financing to help homeowners and small businesses invest in everything from rooftop solar to battery storage to heat pumps and energy efficient appliances. It will also help us rebuild and expand our electric grid.

Evan Low’s Assembly campaigns have received thousands of dollars from David Duong, the CEO of California Waste Solutions, currently under investigation from the FBI for corruption. Low also accepted a $6,600 contribution to his Congressional campaign from David Duong in this campaign. California Waste Solutions gave $10,000 to a super PAC supporting Low in the primary campaign of this congressional election. 

You may have seen some confusing news headlines, but Sam Liccardo never took a dime from David Duong, California Waste Solutions, nor any group affiliated with them in this congressional campaign. All contributions must be publicly reported, and FPPC filings confirm this fact. The contribution that Low’s accusations focus upon relate to an affordable housing ballot measure that Liccardo led in 2018, six years before the accusations about CWS surfaced. 

Evan Low’s Assembly campaigns have taken over $215,000 from big pharma. Here’s why they support him:

When he was chair of the Business and Professions committee in the Assembly, Evan Low fought to make it easier for doctors on probation from crimes, including sexual misconduct, to hide their records from patients.

In 2020, Evan introduced legislation to benefit the dental industry that he admitted “will disproportionately hurt communities of color.” Even Draymond Green said, “He’s telling you what he cares about, and Black people aren’t one of them.”

Sam is endorsed by the Committee to Protect Health Care, funded Planned Parenthood Mar Monte at the highest level of funding in San Jose’s history, and has a plan to lower healthcare costs:

• Increase transparency in drug pricing.

• Streamline administrative processes.

• Expand access to primary care.

Read more of Sam’s plan here.

Evan Low’s Assembly campaigns took over $40,000 from the California Apartment Association, a landlords lobbyist organization that opposes renter protections, during his time in the Assembly. The same group contributed $250,000 to a super PAC supporting him in this campaign. Here’s why they support him:

At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Evan Low skipped a vote protecting homeowners and renters from being forced out of their homes. He also skipped a vote that would force landlords to present just cause before an eviction.

Evan does not list any specific accomplishments on his website regarding housing or the cost of living.

While homelessness rose across the country, Sam Liccardo’s innovative solutions lowered street homelessness by 11% his final year in office. He led a ballot measure to generate between $60 million and $100 million per year for affordable housing in San Jose, and he reduced fees and accelerated processes to build more housing Downtown. He negotiated a path to break through the opposition of the City and County of Santa Clara to city plans to build more than 10,000 homes in North San Jose.  He also led the effort to launch a citywide “inclusionary housing” requirement as a city councilmember. 

Sam has a plan to get Congress moving and construct quick build homeless housing, expand housing vouchers, and improve access to addiction and mental health treatment. 

Sam knows that the rent is too damn high, and will push for practical policies to bring costs down. He’ll also push to expand access to home ownership, and empower homeowners to build accessory dwelling units.

Evan Low illegally spent nearly $600,000 of his $1.6 million state assembly account to boost his congressional bid. The funds come from Big Oil, PG&E, private prisons, and other donors that cannot legally contribute to a congressional race. The good-government group Defend the Vote filed an FEC complaint against Evan for breaking federal and state campaign finance laws. The Mercury News Editorial Board said Low's actions "called into question whether Low has the ethical backbone needed for the job."

Low called the recounting of legally-cast votes “a page out of Trump’s political playbook,” and had his lawyers try to stop the count. He later publicly admitted he only opposed the recount because, “I was delighted with the privilege to be able to serve and not knowing the results of a recount I could easily have been also similarly knocked out.” The Mercury News Editorial Board called Evan’s opposition to the recount, “shameful, politically opportunistic, anti-democratic demonizing.” 

Evan is currently under investigation from the Fair Political Practices Commission for skirting campaign finance law and allowing big corporation lobbyists to buy influence with lawmakers. Evan’s novel rule-breaking prompted the FPPC to re-evaluate its rules to prevent similar schemes in the future.

Obama’s Federal Elections Commission Chair filed an FEC complaint against Evan for failing to disclose use of a nonprofit’s email server, which put the nonprofit’s tax-deductible status at risk. Evan Low has received super PAC support from the Duong family, who are currently under federal investigation for illegal campaign ethics violations.

Sam Liccardo follows the law. He believes every legally cast vote should count, and has never faced a campaign ethics investigation.

Sam is endorsed by Defend the Vote for his commitment to safeguarding our elections and defending democracy. In Congress, Sam will:

• Prohibit election sabotage and intimidation of election workers.

• Restore voting rights, and create baseline standards for voter access like online registration.

• Constrain partisan gerrymandering.

• Override Citizens United, and mandate immediate disclosure of super PAC contributions.

Read more of Sam’s plan here.

In the primary campaign, not a single one of Evan’s colleagues endorsed him. Now, only two out of eighty current assembly members have endorsed him. He was stripped of the only committee chair he’s ever had, and does not currently hold a single leadership role.

He is one of the most absentee members of the State Legislature, missing nearly 1,000 votes including key votes, and is ineffective in addressing our biggest problems like homelessness, housing affordability, the economy, and crime.

Evan cast a key vote on a controversial gambling bill in the State Legislature, and was rewarded with $60,000 in radio ads supporting his congressional bid.

Sam Liccardo is endorsed by the leaders of Evan’s party in the Assembly, as well as his current and former colleagues.

• Anthony Rendon, Assemblymember and Assembly Speaker Emeritus 

• Marc Berman, Assemblymember and Business and Professions Committee Chair

• Buffy Wicks, Assemblymember and Appropriations Committee Chair 

• Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Assemblymember, Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee Chair, Select Committee on Reproductive Health Chair

• Damon Connolly, Assemblymember and Select Committee on Wildfire Prevention Chair

• David Chiu, former Assemblymember, California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus Chair, Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee Chair, and Assistant Speaker pro Tempore

• Kansen Chu, former Assemblymember and Chair of the Human Services Committee

• Bill Quirk, former Assemblymember 

These leaders have worked with Evan. They’re endorsing Sam Liccardo.

Evan Low has taken over $280,000 from police organizations and private prisons. Here’s why they support him:

In 2022, Evan refused to vote on a bill that would allow former felons who served their time and have been rehabilitated to have their records expunged. 

In 2019, Evan voted against a bill that would make it easier to obtain records of police officers’ sexual assaults, unlawful use of force, dishonesty, and other misconduct.

Under Sam Liccardo’s leadership in San Jose, the police department expanded by more than 200 police officers, due to his efforts to lead three ballot measures to resolve pension reform battles and boost resources for pay and hiring. He also expanded teams of non sworn community service officers to respond to less urgent calls, and launched a jobs program to employ more than 6,000 at-risk youth and prevent gang violence. 

When protests following the murder of George Floyd brought calls for defunding the police, even when protestors spray-painted expletives across his house, Sam refused. Instead of defunding, Sam successfully pushed to expand and strengthen the authority of the independent police auditor’s office to review police misconduct. 

Sam’s leadership left San Jose with the lowest homicide rate of America’s 50 largest cities. He has the endorsement of law enforcement leaders like Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, former San Jose Police Chiefs Anthony Mata and Larry Esquivel, and San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus.

While owning up to $200,000 in telecom stock, and accepting nearly $150,000 in telecom contributions, Evan Low consistently advocated for telecom industry interests.

Evan sponsored an AT&T-backed bill to end maintenance on landlines in California, which would endanger thousands of residents who live in rural hillsides or coastsides, especially in the case of natural disaster. 

In 2015, Evan introduced a bill which would legalize secret recordings of consumer cell phone calls.

Sam Liccardo worked with community partners to build wireless infrastructure to provide more than 200,000 low-income students and residents with free broadband internet. Liccardo also vocally opposed the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine cities’ efforts to charge big Telecom fees to pay for digital inclusion initiatives, ultimately resigning his position from a prominent FCC committee in Washington, DC.

Sam brought together regional leaders, including former Congresswoman Jackie Speier, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, and Pacifica Mayor Sue Vaterlaus to fight back against efforts to take away landlines from vulnerable coastside residents.