San Jose mayor addresses reports of racist chat between councilmembers

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is addressing reports of racist language being used by two San Jose city councilmembers in a group chat featuring the councilmembers and city staffers. Mayor Mahan is calling for the release of the group chat messages following a report in the San Jose Spotlight indicating the city manager’s office has known about the chat for months.

“These are serious allegations and, to the extent that this language was used in the course of city business or to describe constituents, the people of San Jose have a right to know what their elected representatives are saying,” Mayor Mahan said. “I’m especially concerned by the claim that some in City Hall subsequently tried to shield these messages from public view by claiming they are essential to an ongoing investigation. If the texts fall under the city’s usual standards for public disclosure, they should be made public to maintain trust with our community.”

KRON4 has not obtained investigative documents proving the existence of the group chat. However, the local NAACP chapter, citing law enforcement sources, claims racial slurs were exchanged between city councilmembers Domingo Candelas and Peter Ortiz.

San Jose Spotlight reports that the group chat came to light after the investigation into disgraced councilmember Omar Torres. The news organization reports police seized Torres’ phone and found his communication in the group chat.

Torres was arrested in 2024 and resigned from his council seat. He was convicted in April on child molestation charges.

“This sends a message to our community and children, our future leaders, that this is the behavior of our electeds and that shouldn’t happen… clearly this is a bad example,” San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP Sean Allen said.

Allen is demanding an apology from the councilmembers and for the group chat messages to be made public. The San Jose Police Department told KRON4 News in an email, if the documents exist, it is not public record.

“As far as I’m concerned, they are public documents and should be public record,” Allen said. “My knowledge is the city and county have these documents.”

The San Jose City Manager’s Office did not respond to KRON4’s emails asking about the documents.

Allen says officials in the city and county have known about the group chat messages for months and said the reluctance to come forward with this information sets a bad tone.

“Transparency is what we are demanding and nothing less than that will satisfy us as an organization or for the community,” Allen said.

KRON4 reached out to both Councilmember Candelas and the office of Councilmember Ortiz but have not heard back.

KRON4 will continue to update this story as we learn more.