San Jose CA Local News

Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States. Born to a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, he is the first African-American to hold the office. Prior to becoming the president, he served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate and received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he was a successful civil rights attorney before he ventured into politics. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, he began his presidential campaign in 2007. After winning sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination, he went on to defeat Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. He assumed office as the President of the United States in January 2009, a time when the country was reeling under the global economic recession. Expectations were high from the new president and the responsibilities on his shoulders, tremendous. Within the first few months he implemented several reforms in order to stabilize the economy and to boost its growth. He also completely overhauled America's foreign policy. Obama was re-elected to a second term as president in November 2012.

Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who is the 40th governor of California, serving since January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. He was sworn in as Governor of California on January 7, 2019. Newsom attended Redwood High School, and graduated from Santa Clara University. After graduation, he founded the PlumpJack wine store with family friend Gordon Getty as an investor. The PlumpJack Group grew to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels. Newsom began his political career in 1996, when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to serve on the city's Parking and Traffic Commission. Brown appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors the following year, and Newsom was later elected to the Board in 1998, 2000, and 2002. In 2003, Newsom was elected the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, becoming the city's youngest mayor in a century. Newsom was re-elected in 2007 with 72 percent of the vote. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of California in 2010 as the running mate of Jerry Brown, and was re-elected in 2014. In February 2015, Newsom announced his candidacy for Governor of California in the 2018 election. On June 5, 2018, he finished in the top two of the non-partisan blanket primary. Newsom defeated Republican John H. Cox in the general election on November 6. Newsom hosted The Gavin Newsom Show on Current TV and wrote the 2013 book Citizenville.

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is an American politician who is the Democratic presidential candidate for the 2020 election. He served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Before becoming the Vice President, he had represented Delaware as a United States Senator from 1973 to 2009. Born in a middle-class family in Pennsylvania, Joe Biden learned the value of hard word, determination and perseverance from his parents who always encouraged him to stand up for himself and bounce back after failures. As a child he used to stammer but he overcame this problem by memorizing and reciting long passages in front of the mirror. He went on to study law and also developed interest in politics. He joined the Democratic Party and became active in politics alongside managing his legal career. He won the 1972 U.S. Senate election in Delaware when he was just 29 and assumed office the next year. A devastating family tragedy threatened to end his career, but he persevered on bravely. He proved to be a popular senator and set his ambitions higher. He was selected as the running-mate for presidential nominee Barack Obama in 2008 and the Obama-Biden ticket went on to win the election. They won again in 2012. In 2019, Joe Biden announced his bid for the candidacy of the Democratic presidential nominee for 2020 election. In 2020, he was chosen as Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for the presidential election. Joe Biden has picked Kamala Harris as his vice presidential candidate and he is his running against the incumbent, Donald Trump.  

Ted Cruz is an American politician who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election. Currently, he is the United States Senator from Texas. Cruz was born in Canada but soon moved to the U.S. with his parents. He grew up to be an intelligent and ambitious young man who graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy. Blessed with great oratory skills, he won several prestigious debate competitions as a college student and was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year in 1992. He proceeded to attend Harvard Law School and received his Juris Doctor degree. A brilliant student, he became a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review and was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. He soon ventured into a legal career and entered politics as well. He was elected as the 34th U.S. Senator from Texas, in 2012, following which his political career received a big boost. A Republican, he gained much prominence for his powerful speeches, especially his 21-hour speech against President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. The ambitious politician announced his candidacy for the post of the U.S. president, in 2015.

Donald John Trump is the 45th President of the United States, in office since January 20, 2017. In addition to being a politician, he is a successful business magnate and television personality as well. The son of a wealthy real estate developer, Trump attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before taking charge of his family’s business. An astute businessman and charismatic leader, he built and renovated numerous hotels, casinos, and office towers during his business career, accumulating a net worth of billions. He also owned several beauty pageants and ventured into reality television as well. Expanding the horizons of his ambitions, he entered national politics in the early 2000s and set his eyes on the presidential office. As a politician, his career was marred by allegations of sexual misconduct and he also earned much criticism for his extravagant lifestyle and controversial comments on immigrants from Islamic nations. Despite the controversies surrounding him, Trump ran for the 2016 presidential election as a Republican and defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in a surprise victory. Donald Trump is the first person to assume presidency without prior military or government service and at 70, he is also the oldest one to assume the office.