With the election less than two months away, the slate of candidates is now set for those seeking to represent District 5 on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, a total of five now vying for votes in the North County.

The incumbent, Supervisor Joe Simitian, is termed out of office and is now seeking a Congressional seat, ending his long tenure and leaving a wide open race to replace him in the March 5 primary election. If no single candidate wins a majority of the vote, the top two will move on to a run-off election in November.

Mountain View voters will see some familiar faces on the slate, as two contenders, Margaret Abe-Koga and Sally Lieber, announced their intentions to run last spring. Both Abe-Koga and Lieber have a lengthy record serving the city of Mountain View, as council members and mayors.

They also have served the county in various capacities. Abe-Koga sat on the Santa Clara County Board of Education and numerous regional commissions that have had a focus on transportation and environmental issues. Lieber served on the county’s Social Services Commission and was elected to the state Assembly in 2002, where she authored legislation addressing issues related to housing, the environment and social justice initiatives.

Initially, the race seemed to be a contest between the two seasoned policymakers. But several candidates have since entered the field, offering differing perspectives on the county's most pressing issues and strategies for how to address them.

Peter Fung, a retired neurologist, has identified “healthcare for all” as the center of his campaign, linking it to important policy areas from housing to social welfare to public safety. Fung currently serves on the El Camino Health District Board of Directors.

Sandy Sans, a business owner, is the newest face among the candidates, having not served in an elected public office before. Sans entered the race on the platform that the political system is broken; he wants to offer a fresh take on how to solve challenging problems, from homelessness and affordable housing to transportation.

Barry Chang, a former Cupertino mayor and city council member, is also a contender in the race, according to Santa Clara County’s campaign finance disclosure website. Chang did not did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.

Margaret Abe-Koga

The first candidate to announce her bid for the District 5 seat clear back in March 2023, Margaret Abe-Koga has been busy on the campaign trail in recent months. A longtime Mountain View City Council member entering her 16th year in the public office, she's no stranger to walking precincts, the only difference is that now she's covering a combined total of nine cities and towns across the sprawling district. It's a lot of ground to cover, she said, and a fair amount of travel time to reach those living in the hills on spread-out properties.

So far, Abe-Koga said she's covered about 75% of the district after kicking off the effort in August, and that her sense is voters are now tuned into the election and the earlier state primary date.

"The holidays came and went and now I think people are starting to finally pay attention," she said.

Abe-Koga is currently finishing up her fourth and likely her final term on the City Council in Mountain View, and is leaning on that experience to demonstrate to voters that she has a proven track record of good governance. She points to the city's solid financial stewardship – including a robust bounce-back from the pandemic – as well as its proactive approach to housing growth and managing homelessness through safe parking and interim housing programs. Over time, Abe-Koga has taken a more regional approach to public office, serving on the VTA board, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and, more recently, a leadership role with the Cities Association of Santa Clara County.

She has also been a supporter of clean-energy initiatives, specifically Community Choice Energy programs like Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SCVE), as a means to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions generated by electricity usage. She has been a board member and chair of the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority, giving her a direct role in its implementation.

On the campaign trail, Abe-Koga said residents in the district have been pretty clear about their priorities. While they have talked about the need for housing, she said there are general concerns about affordability that touch on issues like inflation, high taxes and fees. It's expensive to live here, she said, and people are worried about small businesses not surviving in the local economic climate. She said she is also cognizant of the perception that District 5 is more affluent than the others, and that it may take extra work to ensure the county provides equitable social services to those in need.

"There's just these assumptions that we're doing fine," she said. "I've heard from people that residents in Mountain View live in mansions, (but) we have needs like the rest of the county."

Another key priority for Abe-Koga, if elected, is to fix a transit system that she describes as "broken." The region is at a point where its transit agencies are at risk of falling off a fiscal cliff, she said, and that there needs to be a comprehensive plan for how to deal with post-COVID commute patterns and ridership.

"What the pandemic has shown is that we have to be transformative, we can't just be business as usual. We were already kind of limping along," she said.

Abe-Koga has had her sights set on the Board of Supervisors in the past, launching and eventually dropping a bid in 2012. She said it's largely been her goal to serve public office on a countywide level and that, if elected, she would intend to serve for 12 full years and provide the continuity needed to solve some of the region's more pressing issues.

"I'm not interested in running for anything else," she said. "I'm not going to jump around. I want to finish out my terms."

Barry Chang

Barry Chang, a realtor with a degree in civil engineering, is no stranger to running for the county’s Board of Supervisors. In 2012, he campaigned for the District 5 seat and ultimately lost to Simitian.

Chang has a long record of public service in the city of Cupertino. He was elected to the Cupertino Union School District Board of Education in 1995 and reelected in 2003. Chang's campaign website also highlights his lengthy tenure serving on the Cupertino City Council, with terms spanning from 1999 to 2018.

Chang has a history of campaigning on issues related to public health and the environment. On his campaign website, Chang highlighted his efforts to bring the Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant into compliance for clean air and clean water. The website also lists his top priorities as traffic congestion, public safety and public health and better senior services.

Chang has run for other state and county positions unsuccessfully. He was a Democratic candidate for the California State Assembly in 2014 and 2016 and ran for the California State Board of Equalization in 2018. Chang also campaigned for the Santa Clara County Board of Education in 2018 and 2022.

Peter Fung

Not a career politician but not a newcomer to county politics either, retired neurologist Peter Fung has prioritized healthcare as the centerpiece of his campaign.

Fung, who lives in Los Altos Hills, said his professional background makes him both a unique and much-needed choice to sit on the county’s board of supervisors.

“Over 50% of Santa Clara County’s budget is spent on healthcare. Yet not one county supervisor has real healthcare experience. It’s time to change that,” Fung said on his campaign website.

Fung’s public service spans a decade with the El Camino Health District Board of Directors, where he was elected in 2014 and is serving his third term. As a board member, Fung oversaw a $3.1 billion budget, an experience that has honed his financial acumen while providing healthcare to millions of residents, he said.

Making inroads with underserved communities, Fung also co-founded the El Camino Hospital Chinese Health Initiative, a program that is dedicated to addressing health disparities and promoting culturally sensitive care.

Fung credits these experiences as part of his motivation for entering the race. “I might be able to do more at the county level,” he said, adding that he has the knowledge and expertise to address some of the region’s most pressing issues.

Fung identified several areas of concern, noting that they all have underlying health care implications, from mental health reforms to the county’s housing crisis and public safety challenges.

Fung came out in support of SB 43, a senate bill that recently passed into law and updates the state’s conservatorship laws. It expands the criteria for who is considered “gravely disabled” and includes individuals with serious mental illness, substance use disorders and chronic alcoholism. The implementation of the bill will help relieve the county’s homelessness crisis while providing support for individuals most in need, Fung said.

Taking a strong stance on public safety, Fung wants to bring more law enforcement to the streets, stating that a “catch and release” approach to crime was misguided and that it would not work with violent offenders.

But while tough on crime, Fung expressed a commitment to investing in community resources, like mental health and learning programs for youth particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Similarly, he supported affordable housing that included “wraparound” social services to “help people get back on their feet.”

Fung said his perspective was informed by listening to others, and researching and analyzing issues while taking into account what kinds of solutions were being implemented elsewhere. He was not committed to the status quo either, but rather finding ways to improve it, he said.

Sally Lieber

Longtime politician Sally Lieber announced her intention to run for the Board of Supervisors last year, stating that she was committed to advancing the county’s work – from homelessness and affordable housing to health care, social services and the environment.

Lieber has served in public office for decades, as a city council member, mayor, state Assembly member and, most recently, as a member of the California State Board of Equalization, a tax oversight board that she was elected to in 2022.

With these experiences, Lieber said she is well positioned to join the Board of Supervisors, and is already thinking about how to deal with upcoming challenges facing the county, like budget cuts. It is going to be a tough couple of years, Lieber said, adding that she has faced these issues before.

As a Mountain View City Council member, Lieber prioritized building up the city’s reserves to carry it through difficult economic times. Similarly, when she walked into the state Assembly in 2002, a third of the budget had disappeared due to plummeting tax revenue, she said.

“I had to really work to look at where it was possible to make reforms to the budget and where we could cut. And that experience taught me in a very difficult and painful way, how critically important it is to cut early to save money before you have to, to keep those reserves,” she said.

“So, I am a progressive person, and I am liberal. But I'm very much a budget hawk coming from those experiences,” she added.

Increasing accessibility to social services and the quality of these services is another top priority for her campaign, Lieber said. She regularly calls the county’s phone lines to see which services are helpful for people who need housing or have disabilities and mental health challenges.

For these reasons, Lieber emphasized the importance of being strategic with the county budget, noting that as resources go down, needs go up – something that she was familiar with from her time serving on the county’s Social Services Commission.

“I've been doing a lot of thinking and talking with people about how we triage those (budget) cuts, to keep them away from the most vulnerable people and from frontline services,” she said.

Lieber also saw the need for more legislative action when systems were not working. As an Assembly member, Lieber authored bills for a minimum wage increase, supportive housing for low income households and environmental protections, among others.

With her campaign strategy too, Lieber is taking an active stance, walking the precincts to meet people in their neighborhoods. It is a way to get to know constituents better, to hear their concerns and priorities, she said.

Running a corporate-free campaign, Lieber is not accepting donations from special interest groups. As a result, she is not filling voters’ mailboxes with promotional materials, making the door-to-door connections even more important, she said.

But Lieber is not daunted by the task. On the Board of Equalization, she serves 19 counties. “It's a lot of geography. So, the idea of one-fifth of the county doesn't seem overwhelming ... It's just getting out of the expectations that you have and actually meeting people where they live, that's the most important thing,” she said.

Sandy Sans

Sandy Sans, a Los Altos business owner with a background in engineering and real estate, is a newcomer to the county’s political scene but looking to make a big impact with his ideas.

Sans identifies with the Forward/Common Sense Party, two political parties that joined together last year but did not receive ballot recognition. The supervisorial race offers an alternative to what he sees as a one-party state system – California’s Democratic party.

“I want to try to make a difference. On the long shot, I'm the dark horse, but even if I don't make it, I want to put different ideas out there. I want to do education that the status quo is not working,” he said.

Sans agrees with many Democratic positions but disagrees with the execution of the ideas, which too often is dictated by prescriptive policies and procedures, he said. The county should put those closest to the issue in the driver’s seat instead of implementing a top-down approach, he said.

“I think that takes place all over the place, whether it's permits for building houses, or many other things that are done at the county level. I really think that bringing decision-making and more responsibility down lower to the people on the frontlines is something that needs to change,” Sans said.

Another area needing a major overhaul was the county’s approach to addressing the homelessness crisis. It should be differentiated with separate solutions for those experiencing substance abuse, mental illness and economic hardships, Sans said.

Like Fung, Sans supported SB 43 to compel unhoused individuals with substance addictions and mental illnesses into treatment. He also saw a need to create a stronger sense of community for vulnerable people. But Sans was not an advocate of government housing, which he described as ineffective with too much bureaucracy and red tape.

“The government is not a good landlord. It’s hard to be a landlord. I'm actually a landlord, I can appreciate what it takes,” he said.

On the issue of housing, Sans brought up his experiences in real estate, where he has bought and sold houses locally and has been involved in development projects. Supportive of large housing projects, Sans wants to see more housing built, particularly near transit lines and services to minimize commutes.

Sans also saw a need for better coordination and marketing of the region’s transportation system. The capability is here but has yet to be implemented, he said.

Similarly, the county could do more with climate disruption, Sans said. “There's a big disconnect. We're bringing in solar cells, we're bringing in wind. It's the cheapest way to make electricity, yet none of that filters through to us, the users of electricity,” he said, adding that the price of electricity was going up, not down.

The model was wrong, Sans said, an issue that he also raised on his campaign website, with suggestions to look at other kinds of solutions.