Santa Clara County Races

Results are a combination of data provided by the Associated Press (AP) and county election offices. The AP calls winners by analyzing vote tallies and other election data. Check marks are used to denote a winner only when the AP calls a race.

Board of Supervisors, District 2

Top candidate wins seat.

Betty Duong53.3%
52,584 votes
Madison Nguyen46.6%
45,897 votes
Updated at 7:54 PM PT on Dec 5, 2024
Santa Clara County

Board of Supervisors, District 5

Top candidate wins seat.

Margaret Abe-Koga57.1%
82,490 votes
Sally J. Lieber42.8%
61,937 votes
Updated at 7:54 PM PT on Dec 5, 2024
Santa Clara County

Race to Watch

Board of Supervisors, District 2

Top candidate wins seat.

Betty Duong53.3%
52,584 votes
Madison Nguyen46.6%
45,897 votes
Updated at 7:54 PM PT on Dec 5, 2024
Santa Clara County

Why does this race matter?

District 2 is entirely within San José, making this Board of Supervisors seat critical for representing the city’s downtown and East San José residents. The winner will succeed Supervisor Cindy Chavez, a prominent labor advocate who is termed out.

What does a county supervisor do?

Supervisors govern county programs and departments, and they approve the county budget. Their largest area of spending is traditionally health care and human services. Supervisors are also responsible for local jails and elections, and they make decisions on law enforcement and housing in unincorporated areas of the county. The winner of this election will serve a four-year term.

Candidates

Betty Duong
Betty DuongChief of Staff, Supervisor Cindy Chavez
Madison Nguyen
Madison NguyenFormer City Council Member, San José

Key Supporters

This list represents notable organizations and individuals who have taken a position on the ballot measure or candidate, or who are funding campaigns in support or opposition. This list is not exhaustive, and may be updated.

For Duong

  • Cindy Chavez, supervisor, Santa Clara County 
  • Dave Cortese, state senator 
  • Zoe Lofgren, U.S. representative
  • County Employees Management Association
  • South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council

For Nguyen

  • Matt Mahan, mayor, San José
  • Pam Foley, City Council member, San José
  • Ron Gonzales, former mayor, San José
  • Ann Ravel, former commissioner, Federal Election Commission
  • Chuck Reed, former mayor, San José
 

Positions on Key Issues
Candidate summaries are based on interviews with the candidates, questionnaires, statements made at debates and public events, and past news coverage.

Santa Clara County faced a $250 million budget deficit this year — and county officials are forecasting a “tough year” fiscally next year. How would you balance the budget?

Duong says the budget picture “has been painted as a doom and gloom situation. I want to look at it through a different lens. Yes, we're making cuts, but this is our first budget deficit after a decade of unprecedented growth.” She highlights the county’s significant expansion of health care services and suggests that it’s time to “refine” programs like violence prevention.
Nguyen argues that county leaders “wasted millions of dollars on bad land deals. They mismanaged contracts.” As a supervisor, Nguyen says she will “maximize my relationship with, and partnership with, local delegations that represent [the county] at the state level and at the federal level so that we can … bring home the bacon for our constituents.”

Santa Clara County has announced a tentative deal to purchase Regional Medical Center in East San José, which recently downgraded its trauma center and cut back other critical health care services. Do you agree with the decision?

Duong supports the purchase, which she says “can ensure access to life-saving medical care for our community.” She vows, if elected supervisor, to work with RMC management to restore maternity care and continue to operate the facility’s stroke center. “Having worked on county health issues for more than a decade, I know how to navigate and help lead this transition,” she says.
Nguyen supports the acquisition of Regional Medical Center and its inclusion in the county health care system, which she says will “avoid the necessity of costly service expansions at Valley Medical Center to compensate for the lost services of Regional.” If elected as supervisor, Nguyen says she will make the transition to county ownership of RMC “a major focus of my first year in office, including robust community outreach.”

The state government has recently approved changes to make it easier to compel people with severe mental illness into treatment and housing. Do you support those changes? What will you do as a supervisor to help residents with severe mental illness?

Duong says she supports the state’s move toward “more proactive intervention” for people with behavioral health challenges. But she says the state is creating an unfunded mandate by making it easier to place people in a conservatorship “without providing any additional resources” for the county.
Nguyen is criticizing current supervisors for delaying the expansion of conservatorship in Santa Clara County. “I think that it’s time that Santa Clara County stop making excuses and move forward, finding solutions, because we are talking about people who are most vulnerable and they are in crisis mode.”

Hundreds of people have died from fentanyl overdoses in the county in recent years. What is your plan to fight this epidemic and prevent deaths, especially among the county’s youngest residents?

Duong touts her role as chief of staff for Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who created a fentanyl working group. “We were the first county to make Narcan available in all of our public libraries. We’ve made Narcan available on all the buses and light rail.” She aims to expand fentanyl education to more languages, including Vietnamese.
Nguyen wants to partner with schools to bring drug education into the classroom, “even [among] elementary school students. That is so desperately needed right now,” she says. “It will cost less to go out there and prevent a tragedy from happening rather than having to intervene when something does happen.”

Related Coverage

Race to Watch

Board of Supervisors, District 5

Top candidate wins seat.

Margaret Abe-Koga57.1%
82,490 votes
Sally J. Lieber42.8%
61,937 votes
Updated at 7:54 PM PT on Dec 5, 2024
Santa Clara County

Why does this race matter?

Longtime Supervisor Joe Simitian is termed out, opening up this seat on the board for the first time in 12 years. The winner will represent the suburban communities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Gatos.

What does a county supervisor do?

Supervisors govern county programs and departments, and they approve the county budget. Their largest area of spending is traditionally health care and human services. Supervisors are also responsible for local jails and elections, and they make decisions on law enforcement and housing in unincorporated areas of the county. The winner of this election will serve a four-year term.

Candidates

Margaret Abe-Koga
Margaret Abe-KogaCity Council Member, Mountain View
Sally Lieber
Sally LieberCalifornia State Board of Equalization Member

Key Supporters

This list represents notable organizations and individuals who have taken a position on the ballot measure or candidate, or who are funding campaigns in support or opposition. This list is not exhaustive, and may be updated.

For Abe-Koga

  • Josh Becker, state senator 
  • Anna Eshoo, U.S. representative
  • County Employees Management Association
  • South Bay Labor Council AFL-CIO

For Lieber

  • Mountain View Housing Justice Coalition
  • SEIU 521
  • SEIU-United Healthcare Workers
  • South Bay YIMBY
 

Positions on Key Issues
Candidate summaries are based on interviews with the candidates, questionnaires, statements made at debates and public events, and past news coverage.

Santa Clara County faced a $250 million budget deficit this year — and county officials are forecasting a “tough year” fiscally next year. How would you balance the budget?

Abe-Koga touts her work in balancing Mountain View’s budget as mayor during the Great Recession. She says the county can learn from Mountain View’s practice of leasing land to companies like Google. “That rent and lease money has been really what has helped us stay afloat even during economic downturns.”
Lieber points to her experience in the state Assembly during California’s budget crisis. She says the county budget can be balanced by cutting executive pay, identifying new revenue sources, “and cutting some of the things that in better budget times might be a great thing to do.”

Santa Clara County has committed most of the money from the Measure A affordable housing bond voters approved in 2016. Do you support another bond? What is your plan for making housing more affordable and reducing homelessness?

Abe-Koga supports a regional housing bond for the Bay Area. If that doesn't happen, she says the county should “look at another Measure A-type of initiative.” In Mountain View, she backed the conversion of motels to affordable housing and the creation of a sanctioned parking lot for RV dwellers.
Lieber says she wrote a state law requiring cities to plan for housing for lower-income households making less than 30% of area median income. She also wants more focus on middle-income housing. “There are a large number of people who just need workforce housing, they don't need all of the wraparound supportive services.”

As supervisor you will oversee a large health care budget and network of hospitals and clinics. How would you improve the care residents receive from the Santa Clara County Health System?

Abe-Koga says her fight with breast cancer instilled in her the importance of patient-doctor relationships. She plans to focus on increasing staffing in the county health system in order to help medical professionals avoid burnout and mental health challenges that could affect their interactions with patients.
Lieber emphasizes the need for more attention to chronic health issues within the county health system “so that it doesn't get to a breaking point that's expensive for the person's health and financially expensive.” In the Legislature, Lieber voted to create a single-payer health care system in California.

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