After more than a decade representing Santa Clara County’s District 2 seat, Cindy Chavez has reached her term limits, and five political hopefuls are vying for her place on the Board of Supervisors on March 5.
District 2 is one of the most densely populated district’s in the county and encompasses parts of downtown and east San Jose. The county is facing a $250 million deficit in the coming fiscal year and its $950 million affordable housing bond that has helped fund more than 5,000 new homes is close to dried up.
As of Jan. 1, 2024, the five candidates have raised more than half a million dollars to represent the area.
Here’s who’s running
Betty Duong
Duong, 42, has served as Chavez’s chief of staff for the last two years. But her work for the county stretches back a decade as she’s served in the office of labor standards enforcement, the Vietnamese American Service Center and as the lead public information officer during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She also managed the 2016 Yes on Measure A campaign — the successful affordable housing bond.
Duong was born and raised in San Jose after her family moved to California through the county’s refugee resettlement program when the Vietnam War ended.
“Having been someone who relied on county services, having been a client of the county, I see my family in every family that we serve,” she said. “That’s the type of dedication that I bring to this job, and that’s how personal this is to me.”
Duong’s top priorities include tackling the homelessness crisis and public safety. She wants to build on the work the county is already doing around homelessness and look more closely at prevention to ensure residents don’t slip into homelessness in the first place.
Duong also wants to take a restorative justice approach to public safety by investing in rehabilitation programs and assisting formerly incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth.
Duong is the top fundraiser in the District 2 race, with about $250,000 raised over the course of the campaign. She has spent $145,000 so far and had about $105,000 in cash as of Jan. 20.
Madison Nguyen
Nguyen, 49, and her family fled Vietnam to the Central Valley when she was four-years-old. In 2002, she was elected to the Franklin-McKinley School District Board of Education, and three years later, in 2005, she became the first Vietnamese American to be elected to the San Jose City Council. In 2011, she was appointed vice mayor and continued to serve on the council until she termed out in 2014.
Since then, she’s worked as the executive director for Hunger at Home and the executive vice president for the now-defunct Silicon Valley Organization. She is currently the executive vice president of AsianNet Media.
Nguyen said she’s running because she believes in “accountability, transparency and common sense.”
“The county lacks a sense of urgency and accountability,” she said. “To me, accountability comes with consequences. If we don’t hold people accountable, whether it’s county elected officials or employees, then we won’t be able to deliver the results for residents.”
Nguyen’s top priorities include homelessness, affordable housing and public safety. She agrees with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s approach to building more interim housing for homeless residents and wants to ensure the county is providing on-site treatment and services for those experiencing mental health or substance use issues. Nguyen also wants to help the county better collaborate with law enforcement agencies and offices, such as the public defender’s office and the district attorney’s office, to get drug dealers off the streets.
Nguyen has raised almost as much as her opponent, Duong, raking in roughly $243,000. She’s spent $132,000, with $110,000 in campaign cash as of Jan. 20.
Corina Herrera-Loera
Herrera-Loera, 44, has worked as a juvenile deputy probation officer for the county for the last 17 years. In 2019, she was appointed to an open seat on the Alum Rock Union School District Board of Education, and was re-elected the following year. Her parents emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, and she’s worked to stay connected with her Wixarika indigenous roots.
Herrera-Loera — who spent most of her career working for the county — said she jumped into the race because she sees room for improvement.
“I’ve been able to not just work with the most vulnerable and assisting them at the front lines, but I’ve been able to work with many systems in place,” she said. “Although we’re doing a lot of great things in the county, there’s a lot of area for growth.”
One of her top priorities is ensuring the well-being of families and children in the county. Herrera-Loera wants to increase access to early childhood education programs and provide more mental health services for young people.
She’s also focused on the homeless crisis and wants to expand short-term temporary housing solutions as the county continues to work to build up its affordable housing stock.
Herrera-Loera has raised roughly $56,000 and spent $47,000 in the District 2 race. As of Jan. 20, she had less than $12,500 in campaign cash.
Jennifer Celaya
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Celaya, 42, is making her second bid for county supervisor after unsuccessfully challenging Chavez for the seat in 2020. She was born and raised in San Jose and said she’s a “product of the dysfunction” in the county — one of the many reasons she decided to run for the seat again.
“I grew up in foster care, I was raised in a broken home and I feel like the system failed me as a very small child going through the juvenile justice system,” she said. “I felt the services were very one size fits all, and I didn’t really get connected with services that were going to produce results for me.”
Celaya has been an organizer since she was a teenager, and in 2019, she founded New Beginnings Family Services, which aids families going through the county’s systems. The nonprofit has a food pantry and provides services like case management and legal assistance.
With Santa Clara County looming deficit, one of Celaya’s first priorities is looking at the budget to ensure money isn’t being mismanaged. She said a large part of that is examining how the county is spending its money on solving and preventing homelessness.
Celaya’s also concerned about the fentanyl crisis, which rocked the county after a 3-month old died of a fentanyl overdose last year. Her goal is to create 24/7 walk-in facilities throughout the county where people struggling with substance use issues can get services on demand.
Celaya’s campaign is 100 percent self-funded, having donated $6,000 to herself. She’s spent $1,080 as of Jan. 20.
Nelson McElmurry
McElmurry, 48, was born and raised in San Jose and has spent the last 19 years working as a criminal defense attorney. He decided to jump into the race because of his love of politics, his knowledge of the county system and because he doesn’t like the direction things are going in.
“This is a city and county that I’ve grown up in and loved and I don’t like what I see happening around me,” he said.
With his background in in the criminal justice system, McElmurry said public safety is one of his top priorities. He favors a restorative justice approach to the issue and wants to focus on community policing and diversion and rehabilitation programs.
McElmurry has raised roughly $110,000 — though $100,000 of that came from a personal loan. He’s spent $28,000 and had $82,000 in campaign cash as of Jan. 20.
