The runoff was won by Janet Gray Hayes, who became the first female mayor of the city, making San Jose the first United States city of more than 500,000 residents to elect a female mayor.

[3][4][5] While incumbent mayor Norman Mineta had been eligible to seek reelection to a second term, he instead opted to run for the United States House of Representatives.

[6] Advanced to runoff Eliminated in first-round San Jose was considered to be the fastest growing city in California at the time the election took place.

When he was accused of racism for this, Collins denied it, giving the excuse that he only did not one to do so because he believed questions that would be "prejudiced " against him might be asked by such a panelist, since claimed that he had once arrested a community leader of one of those two ethnic groups.

Developers also were unhappy with the position that Hayes had staked out in favor of controlled growth in the city.