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 popu ...

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 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) ...

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 Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

, until changing his registration to ''no party preference'' in protest of the Trump administration family separation policy. 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 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 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together ...

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 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 Nora Campos (born June 15, 1965) is an American politician from California. Campos formerly served as a California State Assemblymember and was the President pro tempore during her tenure. In 2020, she was unsuccessful in her campaign for the ...

, 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 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)