Johnny Khamis

Johnny Khamis is an American politician from San Jose, California and a current member of the San Jose City Council, representing District 10. He is an independent candidate for California State Senate District 15. He was a member of the Republican Party, until changing his registration to no party preference in protest of the Trump administration family separation policy.[1] City council positions are officially nonpartisan per California law. With his swearing-in on December 31, 2012,[2] he became the first Arab-American to take office for the city of San Jose.[3]

Khamis in 2019

In the 2012 city council election, Khamis got the highest vote total of the six candidates in the June primary[4] and won the November general election 52.6% to 47.4%.[5]

Khamis is a Christian of Palestinian descent.[6] He grew up in San Jose and attended local public schools, graduating from Oak Grove High School. He is a graduate of San Jose State University in Business Management and Communication.[7] He is the CEO and founder of Western Benefit Solutions, a San Jose-based firm that deals in benefit plan consulting.[8]

He is the former regional director of the California Congress of Republicans,[9] the former chair of the Santa Clara County Human Relations Commission,[10] and the former chair of the San Jose Small Business Development Commission.[10]

In 2020, Khamis ran as an independent against Democrats: then Santa Clara County Supervisor for District 3 Dave Cortese, former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel, and former Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly and former San Jose City Councilwoman Nora Campos along with Republicans: Robert Howell, U.S. Army staff sergeant Ken Del Valle, and fellow independent Tim Gildersleeve for California's 15th State Senate District to replace termed-out State Senator Jim Beall. On March 3rd, 2020, in California's jungle primary concurrent with then presidential Super Tuesday primaries, Khamis lost where he placed 5th place behind Republican Robert Howell, Democrat Nora Campos, and the top two vote getters who would move on to general election in November: Ann Ravel who placed 2nd and Dave Cortese who placed in 1st place.[11] Cortese would go on to win the general election.

That same year after his failed bid for the State Senate, Khamis attracted controversy during a city council meeting when he complained that his Wifi was spotty even through he didn't live in a low-income neighborhood. His remarks were received by laughter from Mayor Sam Liccardo, but with criticism from residents presented at the meeting for being insensitive and "rude" toward lower-income people who were struggling to catch up with work and school via the internet on their computer due to poor Wifi during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Khamis also attracted controversy that year for trying to have the city council remove the word "race" from San Jose's new Office of Racial Equity.[13] The Office of Racial Equity was created in the aftermath of the Killing of George Floyd.[14] He was the only councilman to suggest doing so. In 2019 and 2020, Khamis previously attracted controversy when he called local students and parents who were local environmentalist activists advocating for better public transportation from VTA "special interests".[15] The activists only attended VTA board meeting to provide 2 minutes of public comment at a time.

Later in 2020, Khamis also proposed a new city law that would allow licensed trappers to kill wild boars on private property with bow and arrows or crossbows.[16] This is response to the ongoing rise in the number of cases where wild boars have damaged property and due to the fact shooting guns within the city's limits is illegal in San Jose.[17] The proposal was not passed.[18]