District 8 San Jose Councilmember Domingo Candelas hasn’t moved far from his Evergreen childhood home.

Growing up in the Brigadoon neighborhood in southeast San Jose, the freshman councilmember attended Evergreen Valley High School and San Jose State University, where he secured his first internship in City Hall with then-Councilmember Sam Liccardo. Now he represents the district he’s all too familiar with—which he said makes him the perfect advocate on the dais for residents in his backyard.

“My district has this dichotomy of really affluent areas like the country club and also working family areas like Welch Park,” Candelas told San José Spotlight. “When you don’t know the area, then the squeaky wheel will get the grease. But if you are born and raised here like me, then you know which communities don’t have the loudest voices, but still need help.”

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