Jefferson Peralez

Jefferson Peralez is a Night City councilman running for mayor in 2077. He grew up poor in Heywood and got out thanks to a full Night Corp scholarship to study law at Asukaga-Berkeley University, where he met his wife Elizabeth, a law student on the same program. Back home he worked his way up to district attorney before winning a council seat. The couple have a daughter, Xochi, and have turned their Westbrook penthouse into a campaign office.

Peralez runs as an anti-corporate populist. He was the only council member to vote against a bill that let the city’s biggest corporations dodge taxes through a loophole, and his campaign leans on his street-level roots. His ads show him holding a gun, a style he finds tacky but accepted on his staff’s advice. Some of the unions backing him are close to the 6th Street gang, which has used bribes and threats to win him votes. When Mayor Lucius Rhyne dies suddenly, Deputy Mayor Weldon Holt takes his place on the ballot and becomes Peralez’s main rival.

V gets involved through the side job I Fought the Law. The Peralezes doubt the official verdict that Rhyne died of an implant malfunction, and Elizabeth, after Judy Álvarez turns her down, asks V to investigate. The case brings V together with NCPD detective River Ward and leads into a follow-up job for the couple.