Santa Clara County is getting new representation on the Board of Supervisors, and as of Wednesday evening, Betty Duong — Supervisor Cindy Chavez’s chief of staff — was in a tight race with former San Jose Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen, while Mountain View Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga had a commanding lead over California State Board of Equalization member Sally Lieber.
District 2 — one of the most densely populated districts in the county that runs through downtown and east San Jose — is poised to elect the first Vietnamese American to the Board of Supervisors. The latest results place Duong, a longtime county employee, in the lead by nearly 4 percentage points over Nguyen. Duong’s boss, Chavez, has held the seat since she won a special election in 2013. Chavez, who is termed out, is heading to Bernalillo County in New Mexico next where she will serves as the next county manager.
Duong said that her campaign is “feeling encouraged and grateful for the place we’re in.”
“This journey has been so much more than a campaign — it’s been a true community movement, driven by the passion and commitment of our District 2 neighbors,” she said in a statement. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together.”
Nguyen, in a statement, said that she “remains hopeful until we actually see the final results.”
“I am proud of the community-driven campaign that we ran,” she said. “Volunteers from every diverse neighborhood came together to be an integral part of our team during the 18-month campaign. We were outspent on every level, especially with their attack ads. Yet, our campaign remained positive and we focused on the issues that are important to the residents of County District 2.”
In District 5, a seat currently held by soon-to-be-termed-out Supervisor Joe Simitian since 2012, Abe-Koga had a more than 13 percentage point lead over Lieber as of the latest results. The district covers parts of the West Valley and the northern part of the county, encompassing Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto Saratoga, Stanford and parts of Sunnyvale and San Jose.
Lieber said she is “very eager to work with the new board of supervisors” in her current role on the Board of Equalization where she has served since 2022.
“I’m just very honored to get the votes that I received and this is what it’s all about being in public service you’re able to prevail and sometimes you’re not,” she said. “The objective is to do as many good things as you can for people and stay in the game so you can make a difference.”
Abe-Koga could not immediately be reached for comment.
Santa Clara County is currently estimating a 44.66% voter turnout. As of Thursday morning, roughly 284,000 ballots had yet to be counted countywide.