Santosh Sahoo brings “wild card” energy to Milpitas Mayor race

Santosh Sahoo isn’t your typical mayoral candidate. 

When it came time to gather 30 signatures from Milpitas voters to complete the nomination process, Sahoo decided to do things a little differently. 

Many candidates start the process by collecting signatures from people they already know. But Sahoo decided to go onto a random street in his neighborhood and knock on about 50 doors.  

“I wanted to do something unconventional,” Sahoo told The Beat in an interview. “That was an experiment I did just to test the waters. I’m not a polished politician yet. I wanted to see how it went with other people.” 

In the course of his experiment, Sahoo got an opportunity to discuss local matters with a variety of people, and to start getting his name and face out there. 

This is Sahoo’s first time running for office, and despite the learning curve, he feels a sense of excitement about the possibilities. 

He has spent over a couple decades working in leadership and corporate positions at companies like Microsoft and IBM. Currently, he works as a tech entrepreneur and runs a small software company. 

“I also have an MBA in finance management. And that is what the city needs; somebody with that experience, with that education, to come and fix the budget issues in the city,” said Sahoo.  

When he decided to jump into the race, he said that one of the first things he did was analyze the current budget, line by line. 

“I found issues left and right,” said Sahoo. “So there is a lack of transparency and issues that can be addressed.”  

Sahoo also spoke of wanting to bring leadership stability to City Hall. He mentioned the scathing letter that the Milpitas Police Officers’ Association president sent to the Council earlier in the summer and the fact that many city department heads have ended up leaving Milpitas as proof of that. 

“Some elected officials have been there for a long time and they’ve had an opportunity to fix it. But they’ve become part of the problem. The city needs a change,” said Sahoo.  

Sahoo currently has a 12-point plan detailing his vision for Milpitas, which includes protecting core city services, controlling personnel costs, and creating a capital improvement priority list. 

He wants to publicly challenge his fellow candidates to publish their visions and plans for the city as well. 

Incumbent Mayor Carmen Montano, Councilmember Hon Lien, and retired geologist Voltaire Montemayor are all facing off against Sahoo in the mayoral race. 

“Everybody, except for me, has run for office multiple times,” said Sahoo. “And the problems have gotten worse over time. So the city needs someone new.”  

As a first-time candidate, Sahoo has made some missteps along the way. For one thing, when he printed his lawn signs, he put the City of Milpitas’ logo on it. He was soon notified that he wasn’t allowed to include it, so he immediately retrieved all of his signs to fix the issue. 

“It was a campaign oversight,” said Sahoo. 

He has also seen the ugly side of politics: Over the last few weeks, he has found many of his campaign signs torn down and ripped apart. 

Asked about how he feels about being targeted, he told The Beat, “It means I’m getting noticed. I’m taking everything that comes my way positively.” 

Sahoo hopes that voters will see him as someone who can shake things up; someone who won’t just follow the conventional way of leadership at City Hall. 

“Milpitas is awesome. We are in the corner of Silicon Valley. We have a lot of opportunities,” said Sahoo. “The city is beautiful, but the city needs some special attention at this time. The problems we have should be fixed now.” 

To learn more about Sahoo, go to his website here.