East Palo Alto current, former mayor compete for seat on San Mateo Co. Board of Supes
Two candidates will go head-to-head on Tuesday to secure the only open seat up for grabs on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio Lopez and East Palo Alto City Councilmember Lisa Gauthier are competing to represent District 4 on the Board of Supervisors. District 4 encompasses East Palo Alto, Redwood City, the unincorporated community of North Fair Oaks and portions of Menlo Park.
Warren Slocum has served as supervisor of District 4 for more than 10 years. However, his term is expiring, leaving an empty seat that Lopez and Gauthier are seeking to fill.
The race began earlier this year with Lopez and Gauthier defeating three other contenders in the March primary to grab the two spots in the November runoff. Gauthier took the lead with 46% of the vote while Lopez walked away with 25%, according to the San Mateo County Registration and Elections Division.
Lopez was first elected to the East Palo Alto City Council in 2020. He was appointed mayor by his colleagues beginning in December 2023, becoming the youngest mayor in the city's history.
He grew up in East Palo Alto and became the first member in his family to attend college, going to Duke University, Rutgers University and the University of Oxford. He is currently working on a doctorate degree at Stanford University while serving as East Palo Alto's mayor.
His entrance into politics was sparked after seeing the impacts left by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
"I got elected during a pandemic, when everyone, the whole world, was in chaos," he said in an interview. "There were folks being furloughed and laid off from their job, including my father. I got in there and learned the 'ABC's' of government. Setting policy as a freshman council member is no small task ... I worked arduously and ardently to bring vaccinations to the residents of East Palo Alto through cooperating with our churches and local clinics."
His biggest priorities include addressing homelessness, the high cost of living, public safety, ensuring access to affordable childcare and housing, and improving infrastructure.
"My north star is making sure that everybody in Silicon Valley is able to not just live but thrive," Lopez said. "So far by every metric, that's not the case. I'm running to make sure that we fill in those gaps and make sure that working families have a fighting chance to stay here."
In August, Lopez announced a plan to reduce homelessness by offering shelter and mental health services first before sweeps and emphasizing regional collaboration.
"I'm not interested in criminalizing homelessness. I don't think that's the right solution," he said in an interview in August. "I think what we ought to do is provide a humane response ... It's a balloon problem. If you push the problem on one side of the balloon, it'll go somewhere else. This needs to be a collective, regional response."
Lopez is proud of his work raising awareness on sex trafficking, a problem that he says is rampant in East Palo Alto but hides in the shadows. He helped establish the East Palo Alto Coalition Against Human Trafficking to tackle the issue.
"I want to make sure that we continue our advocacy at the county level," he said. "Unfortunately, two shelter beds that the county was offering for sex trafficking victims were removed. As supervisor, I want to bring those beds back."
In June, a man was arrested in San Jose for allegedly sex trafficking a girl from East Palo Alto who was found in the truck of a car one month after being reported missing, according to the San Jose Police Department.
"We need to equip our victims with the proper resources like medicine and rehabilitation, just like the homeless issue. It's a high needs community. They live in the shadows. They don't get enough advocacy," he said.
Lopez has received endorsements by two of the five members on the county Board of Supervisors.
He is up against a colleague with more time in politics under her belt.
Gauthier has served on the East Palo Alto City Council for nearly 12 years. She has been mayor and vice mayor three times each, positions that are appointed by her fellow city councilmembers.
She says experience is what gives her an edge over her opponent.
"It comes down to experience," she said. "I was the mayor the majority of 2023 when we achieved zero homicides in the city. During the COVID-19 pandemic I worked collaboratively to ensure that individuals were protected and we were able to get vaccines out into the community."
East Palo Alto had the highest murder rate per capita in the nation in 1992 when it reached a peak of 42 homicides that year within its 2.5 square miles. 2023 was the first year the city recorded zero homicides, according to the East Palo Alto Police Department.
Gauthier is an East Palo Alto native who comes from a family with strong ties to the city.
"I was raised by a single mother here in East Palo Alto," she said. "My family has been here a very long time. I'm a product of this community."
Her top priorities are alleviating homelessness, public safety, the high cost of living and providing affordable child care and housing.
"When I walk and meet with voters, public safety is top of mind," she said in an interview. "People want to feel safe in their county. I want to make sure that the homelessness issue is going to be taken care of. And many people are also looking for affordable housing at the end of the day ... Parents are paying so much for child care that it doesn't even make sense for them to work. There's not enough spots for them to even put their children into child care that's reliable."
She emphasized that her ability to foster connections and work collaboratively with community leaders will be paramount if elected supervisor.
"It becomes about working with your colleagues when you're trying to get something accomplished," she said. "That's what's going to be important, building relationships with those in the county and those who are currently sitting in those seats to get things done. I have relationships with the elected officials from different counties like the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and a few of the supervisors sitting on the San Mateo County board."
Her daytime job is being the senior vice president of inclusion and belonging at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a business association of Bay Area companies that works with government to advocate for public policies that promote economic growth and innovation in the region. She says this position has allowed her to build relationships with government officials who she can work with to make decisions that have a positive impact on San Mateo County.
"I work with companies that impact the innovation economy. I work with counties. I work with elected officials on the state level, sometimes on the federal level, to really look at policies that impact our companies. So those relationships translate into the county level," she said.
Gauthier has received endorsements from four out of the five county supervisors, including Slocum, the one she is seeking to replace. District 5 Supervisor David Canepa endorsed both Gauthier and Lopez in the March primary.
"Being a supervisor requires a strong character and energy coupled with a vision for the future," Slocum said. "Communication skills are important as is empathy. I have endorsed Lisa because she has those qualities."
With similar visions and priorities between the two candidates, District 4 voters may have to use other metrics to determine their preference. They will have to make a final choice by Tuesday.