Former U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier appears to win San Mateo County supervisor seat
Jackie Speier appears to have won a seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in Tuesday's election, giving the former longtime congresswoman a chance to serve again where she first began her career as an elected official in 1980.
Based on the initial results after polls closed at 8 p.m., Speier was beating Millbrae City Councilmember Ann Schneider in the race to represent District 1, which includes Burlingame, Hillsborough, Millbrae, parts of San Bruno and South San Francisco and other areas, including San Francisco International Airport. The district's current representative, Supervisor Dave Pine, is being termed out of office.
Speier had nearly 70% of the vote, according to unofficial election results as of 9 p.m. Tuesday, more than doubling the vote total of Schneider.
In her first stint on the Board of Supervisors, Speier served for six years on the board before serving in both houses of the state Legislature and being elected to Congress in 2008. She announced in 2022 that she would not run for re-election for Congress, expressing a desire to spend more time with her family.
Schneider, who vocally opposed the Board of Supervisors' plans approved last year to convert a La Quinta Inn and Suites in Millbrae into permanent supportive housing, in her campaign for supervisor also emphasized a desire to get more funding for cities in District 1 that are impacted by airport operations at SFO.
One other contested Board of Supervisors race on ballots in Tuesday's election was to represent District 4, which covers Redwood City, East Palo Alto, parts of Menlo Park and unincorporated North Fair Oaks. Current board president Warren Slocum currently represents District 4 and, like Pine, cannot run again due to term limits.
Five candidates were on the ballot to replace Slocum -- East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez, East Palo Alto City Councilmember Lisa Gauthier, Stanford University project manager Celeste Brevard, nonprofit co-founder and criminal justice advocate Paul Bocanegra, and nonprofit director Maggie Cornejo, who formerly served as a legislative aide for Slocum.
Gauthier had about 49.7% of the vote as of 9 p.m., while Lopez was in second place at 22.4% and Cornejo was third with nearly 14%. If Gauthier does not end up getting above 50% of all votes counted, she and Lopez as the second-place finisher would move on to a runoff election in November, according to the unofficial results.
District 5 Supervisor David Canepa ran unopposed to stay in his seat on the board.