Johnny Khamis is an American politician from

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

and was a member of the

San Jose City Council The San Jose City Council, officially San José City Council, is the legislature of the government of the City of San Jose, California. As the Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo casts the 11th vote on matters before the council and acts as chair ...

, representing District 10. Khamis is a Christian of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

descent. 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 San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

in Business Management and Communication. He is the former CEO and founder of Western Benefit Solutions, a San Jose-based firm that deals in insurance benefit plan consulting. 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 The United States family separation policy under the Trump administration was presented to the public as a "zero tolerance" approach intended to deter illegal immigration and to encourage tougher legislation. In some cases, families followi ...

. City council positions are officially nonpartisan per California law. With his swearing-in on December 31, 2012, he became the first

Arab-American Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. According to the Arab American Inst ...

to take office for the city of San Jose. He is the former regional director of the

California Congress of Republicans The California Congress of Republicans ("CCR") is a "grass roots" coalition of Republicans in the state of California and is officially charted by the California Republican Party. It was founded by former officials of the California Republican Asse ...

, the former chair of the

Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring Sa ...

Human Relations Commission, and the former chair of the San Jose Small Business Development Commission during his time as a councilmember.

Elections

In 2022, Khamis was a candidate in the

2022 Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors election 2022 Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors election was held on November 8, 2022. Two of the five seats on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors were up for election. District 1 was an open seat due to the terming out of Supervisor Mike Was ...

for the District 1 seat. He came in second in the primary election and he lost in the general election to Sylvia Arenas. On March 3, 2020, in the primary election, Khamis lost when he placed 5th place in his race for

California's 15th State Senate district California's 15th State Senate district is one of 40 California State Senate districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Dave Cortese of San Jose. District profile The district encompasses most of Silicon Valley, centered on the cit ...

behind Republican Robert Howell, Democrat Nora Campos, and the top two vote getters who would move on to general election in November:

Ann Ravel Ann Miller Ravel (born April 6, 1949) is an American attorney who was a Democratic Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent regulatory agency created by Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance law. Ravel ...

who placed 2nd and

Dave Cortese David Dominic Cortese (born June 3, 1956) is an elected official from San Jose, California. He is currently serving in the California State Senate, representing District 15, which encompasses a majority of Santa Clara County. Before being elected ...

who placed in 1st place. Cortese would go on to win the general election. In the 2012 San Jose city council election, Khamis got the highest vote total of the six candidates in the June primary and won the November general election 52.6% to 47.4%. In his re-election bid in 2016, he received 76% of the vote in the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

election, winning outright forgoing a November general election.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193249/http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?nid=1244 {{DEFAULTSORT:Khamis, Johnny California Republicans Living people San Jose City Council members San Jose State University alumni American politicians of Palestinian descent Year of birth missing (living people)