Brandon Pho

Brandon Pho (he/him) is a reporter covering politics and government in Santa Clara County for San José Spotlight with a focus on the Vietnamese community.

He has experience reporting on law enforcement, homelessness, quality of life and Vietnamese American communities across California. Previously, he reported for the Voice of OC, where his investigative work prompted a push by city leaders to overhaul their police department manual. Before that, he was a news editor for the Daily Titan, a completely independent student newspaper at his alma mater, Cal State Fullerton.

He aims through his writing to explore what it means to be a Californian, and enjoys taking walks for hours on end through different cities and public parks.

Santa Clara County
The entrance to the fairgrounds in San Jose, California
May 29, 2026May 31, 2026by

Santa Clara County Fairgrounds shifts leadership structure

After two years of uncertainty, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds leaders are gearing up to change their own governing structure, ceding more control to the county over the 165-acre public property’s future. The Fairgrounds Management Corporation board of directors on Wednesday voted unanimously to move forward with the county’s recommendations to go from five volunteer board...

ElectionsTransportation
People boarding a light rail train in downtown San Jose, California
May 26, 2026May 29, 2026by

Will Bay Area transit tax measure qualify for November ballot?

Transit advocates say they’ve surpassed their signature-gathering goal to put a sales tax on the November ballot, which would raise $1 billion annually for public transit service across five Bay Area counties and could save some stations from closure. Representatives for the Connect Bay Area campaign on Tuesday said canvassers gathered nearly 306,000 signatures — roughly 120,000...

Santa Clara CountyState
A man in a suit staring off into the distance
May 25, 2026May 28, 2026by

Santa Clara County faces $200M losses in new state budget

Outrageous. Catastrophic. A massive leadership failure. These are the words Santa Clara County leaders used this week to describe Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decisions in response to his May 14 state budget revision. Instead of helping California’s second largest public hospital system withstand billions of dollars in funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 spending...

More news