Santa Clara County elections may bring historic changes to leadership

It’s an election year like none other, including the races for Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

The board is set to have an Asian American majority for the first time, with Betty Duong and Margaret Abe-Koga leading in Districts 2 and 5 respectively, slated to join Supervisor Otto Lee. Duong and Abe-Koga will be the first Vietnamese American and Japanese American women elected to the board, creating a historic super majority of four women out of five supervisors.

Advocates and residents said this unprecedented representation brings needed voices at a time when the country is bracing for a conservative presidency. Nearly 40% of Santa Clara County’s population identifies as Asian American, according to 2020 U.S. Census data — a demographic that has been subjected to a rise in hate crimes.

Abe-Koga was the first Asian American woman elected to the Mountain View City Council — where she now sits with five other women. She said her dad used to tell her it was only in the U.S. that a daughter of immigrants who spoke little English could be elected mayor. She wants to carry on that legacy by representing underserved communities in District 5. The district includes Mountain View, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Palo Alto and a small section of San Jose.

“A lot of why I do what I do is to ensure that everyone has a voice in our community, and so I’m just really honored to be able to hopefully help in making sure that happens,” Abe-Koga told San José Spotlight.

The board of supervisors has had Japanese representation before, but the community has always elected men, according to county records. Former Supervisor Mike Honda served from 1991 to 1996 and George Shirakawa served from 2009 to 2013.

Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto, vice president of the Sunnyvale and Cupertino Fremont Union High School District board of trustees, said Abe-Koga is the “godmother” of the Asian American community of women. Abe-Koga has been a mentor to her. Having Japanese American female representation on the board is significant because people with lived experience better understand the community, she added.

“(I hope she) shows that Asian women are strong and have the qualifications to be a great leader,” Nakano-Matsumoto told San José Spotlight.

Philip Nguyen, executive director of nonprofit Vietnamese American Roundtable, said Duong’s seat is a win for the community. He said having an advocate is critical with the Trump administration’s plans to restructure immigration regulations. Her seat on the board matters in the aftermath of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic.

Duong, who was unavailable for comment, is set to be the first Vietnamese American woman on the board and the first Vietnamese American supervisor. A child of Vietnamese immigrants, she will likely be the next representative for District 2, which includes East San Jose and parts of downtown with a large Vietnamese population.

Nguyen said the board’s decisions have a direct effect on the community. His organization was a recipient of seed money from the county.

“Hopefully, this history continues to be made,” he told San José Spotlight. “(Betty and Margaret) are the first and we’re seeing this for the first time, but (hopefully) we’re not seeing this for the last time.”

The last time women took an unprecedented number of board seats was in 1980, when they outnumbered the men 3-2.
Board President Susan Ellenberg said having this many women will create a stronghold against mandates handed down from the presidential administration. She said it’s vital young girls see this majority because it’s no longer the singular token woman in a leadership role.

“I think you will find that this group of women, as diverse as we are from one another, are going to be very united in protecting and improving the health and well-being of all our residents,” Ellenberg told San José Spotlight. “It will be a beautiful opportunity for our county to see that cultural, racial, religious, ethnic identities can be bridged by common purpose.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.