Margaret Abe-Koga appears to have a significant lead over Sally Lieber for the Santa Clara County Supervisor District 5 race as polls close across the county.
As of 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Mountain View Councilmember Abe-Koga has 56.27% of the vote. Lieber, California State Board of Equalization chair, trails with 43.73% of the vote.
The county’s voter turnout is about 34.6% and 362,872 votes have been cast.
Both candidates are vying for the open District 5 seat with Supervisor Joe Simitian terming out in December. District 5 encompasses Mountain View, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Palo Alto and a small section of San Jose.
Abe-Koga , a daughter of Japanese immigrants, breast cancer survivor and former two-time Mountain View mayor, is slated to be the first Japanese American woman to serve on the board of supervisors, as voters are set to elect a women majority on the board.
Abe-Koga has been on the Mountain View City Council for about 15 years and has worked for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Assemblymember Evan Low. In her time in office, she furthered a rental assistance program during the COVID-19 pandemic that distributed millions to families citywide. Abe-Koga also helped introduce Mountain View’s first guaranteed basic income program around two years ago, which helped 166 families.