EARLY RESULTS show Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor leading by a large margin in Tuesday’s runoff election to decide Santa Clara County’s next chief property taxer.
As of Tuesday night, Fligor had 65.7% of the vote with 108,556 votes, while former Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar had 34.2% with 56,617 votes. Voter turnout in the special election — amid the holidays — is roughly 15.4%.
Whoever wins will helm the office responsible for assessing the property values that make up the county’s more than $700 billion real estate rolls. Such assessments — which determine property taxes — have profound implications for residents as well as the county’s schools and social safety net programs that rely on property tax revenue.
Fligor, an assistant county assessor, said she’s excited but will reserve full judgment until further results updates.
“Right now we’re excited and very pleased to see these first results,” she told San José Spotlight. “It appears our message has again resonated with voters and they recognize that I am ready to lead on day one. I’m looking forward to serving as assessor if this result trend continues.”
Kumar said he congratulated Fligor in a phone call.
“The people of Santa Clara County have spoken, and I respect the outcome,” Kumar told San José Spotlight. “I am deeply grateful for the trust and support of county residents during this campaign, and especially to the volunteers who believed in this effort — together, we gave it everything.”
He said he’ll continue to campaign for a ballot initiative to exempt seniors from property taxes.
“Our commitment does not waver,” Kumar said. “We will remain a fearless voice for truth, accountability and good governance.”
Winner to succeed retired assessor Stone
The election was kicked off by the July resignation of county’s former 30-year Assessor Larry Stone, whose term concludes at the end of 2026. This year’s victor will then need to run again in 2026 to secure a full four-year term.
Fligor’s campaign has fundraised $420,000, according to campaign finance filings. Kumar has raised $50,000, with nearly $20,000 raised after the Nov. 4 special election, according to his campaign’s latest Dec. 28 fundraising disclosures.
The race has centered on questions of how to modernize operations at the assessor’s office, and reduce the amount of time it takes to carry out assessments and resolve appeals.
Several voters showed up at the polls on Election Day. San Jose resident Maria Lucero, 75, said she came to the Registrar of Voters because she didn’t want to miss the deadline. She couldn’t make it before the holidays.
“I voted because I’m a citizen,” she told San José Spotlight.
Sunnyvale resident Rosemarie, 72, who only gave her first name to protect her privacy, said she comes to the registrar for every election. She said who is elected as county assessor matters.
“If it wasn’t important to us, we wouldn’t spend time driving here,” she told San José Spotlight.
The total cost of this year’s special election is projected to hit $26 million, with $13 million spent on the November race and another $13 million to conduct the runoff, according to official estimates.
Turnout lagged during holidays
Michael Borja, a spokesperson with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, said 174,562 ballots had been received by noon Tuesday, about 16% of voters. The elections office anticipates a 20% turnout, he said.
“This (is a) very important local election that will affect the community,” he told San José Spotlight.
The valley’s property values are seeing their lowest growth in more than a decade due to economic uncertainty and stalled development.
Several significant projects have stalled due to high interest rates, surging construction cost and sinking demand for office space. This includes Google’s Downtown West project in San Jose, which was slated to begin in 2023 but remains in limbo. Meanwhile, surging vacancies, dropping rental rates, a shortage of big leasing deals and the continuation of hybrid and remote work have kept the office vacancy rate in Silicon Valley at roughly 20% for the past two years, according to the assessor’s office.
San Jose resident Bob Christiansen, 85, was surprised not many people showed up to vote while he was out.
“Voting is really critical now,” he told San José Spotlight. “It’s more important than ever. We have to get our voices heard. We have to vote for every single thing we can vote on. Everything is important.”
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X. Contact Lorraine Gabbert at lorrainegabbertsjspotlight@gmail.com.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.