Political veteran, new blood vie for San Mateo County Supervisors seats

From five candidates who filed to run for San Mateo County District 1 supervisor last year, the race is now down to just two.

Millbrae City Council member Ann Schneider stands as the last woman running against political veteran and former Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who is widely expected to win the seat.

Schneider, a former mayor, acknowledges being the underdog and embraces the role.

“To be honest, Jackie Speier is marvelous, and I am grateful for the assistance and for the years of service that she has had,” Schneider said. “But her service has been at different levels. So I know what’s really happening here [in the community].”

District 1’s current supervisor, Dave Pine, is terming out of office. The district includes some of the wealthiest parts of San Mateo County, including San Mateo Highlands and the Baywood Park neighborhood, Burlingame, Burlingame Hills, Hillsborough, Millbrae, San Bruno, parts of South San Francisco (east of El Camino Real), and the San Francisco Airport (SFO).

Schneider said one of her priorities as supervisor would be to secure more funding for cities impacted by SFO, sourced from revenue generated by the airport.

She knows it’s not going to be easy to beat the nationally recognizable figure who surprised many when she announced her return to local politics last year after spending 14 years in Congress.

But Schneider says she has been on the ground in District 1 for the past eight years, and is more in tune with community concerns that need to be addressed.

“So if I have to be the underdog and point that out, I feel it’s my duty to do that. Because I know the problems in Millbrae, and I know what the problems of other communities with the local government are, things that you only know when you dive into the details,” she said.

But Speier says that while she’s been serving on the national level, she’s never tuned out of local issues and politics.

“When I announced I wasn’t running for re-election, I also said I was coming home to make good with my time,” Speier said. “Members of the Board of Supervisors came to me and said that they would urge that I run, that they looked at the potential of me helping guide the county.”

Speier decided to run for office decades ago after her boss, Congressman Leo Ryan, was killed during a 1978 trip to Jonestown, Guyana, to investigate allegations of human rights violations by Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple’ leader. After an unsuccessful bid for Ryan’s seat, Speier won a spot on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors before working her way up to Congress. 

As a legislator serving in the national government, Speier said, “I was disturbed by what I saw [in local government].”

This included, according to Speier, “a radical lurch to the left, and a dysfunctionality on the board where name-calling and abuse of conduct became commonplace. And that’s not the county that I was raised in, nor the county I think our community wants.”

In November, supervisors argued over policies around leadership roles. According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, this led to a tense verbal exchange between supervisors Ray Mueller and Warren Slocum.

Speier said she would prioritize housing issues, transportation and public safety.

Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, says that while there are clear benefits to having an experienced legislator serve in local government, that advantage comes with a tradeoff.

“She has all the negotiating skills that come from a career in politics,” Michelson said. “The disadvantage is that it means that there’s not a younger, newer person coming in who would use a Board of Supervisors seat as a training ground to maybe then move on to run for Congress or run for higher office.”

Speier is aware of this criticism. In response, she says,  “We already have a younger generation on the Board of Supervisors. So I think there’s a good mix of having youthful, you know, interest and experience.”

Speier plans to bring in young staff.

“In an election, you know, the the community and individual voters have a choice. They can choose youth or they can choose experience. Both have value,” she said.

Voters looking for youth will find it in the southern part of the county, where several younger candidates are vying for the District 4 seat, the only other open seat this election cycle.

There are five candidates for that seat, including Antonio Lopez, the 29-year-old mayor of East Palo Alto; Lisa Gauthier, an East Palo Alto City Councilmember; Celeste Brevard, a project manager at Stanford University; Maggie Cornejo, a nonprofit youth director; and Paul Bocanegra, a nonprofit manager/counselor.

The district’s current supervisor, Slocum, is not running for re-election.

The district includes Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and unincorporated North Fair Oaks.

Community leader and retired nonprofit executive Susan Houston, from Burlingame, said she is excited to watch the diverse candidates in the southern part of the county.

“I think more diversity on the Board of Supervisors is really good — geographic and ethnic diversity,” Houston said.

To secure the seat in the March 5 primary election, a candidate must obtain a simple majority of 51%. If no candidate achieves this, the top two candidates will proceed to a runoff in the November 5 general election.

Michelson says it’s important to scrutinize local candidates as thoroughly as national ones.

“Local county governments play a crucial role in providing public services such as libraries and health care. They are responsible for supporting local transportation and making decisions about land use and zoning,” Michelson said.

Lopez, a Stanford doctoral student, knows firsthand the difference youth participation makes in an election, winning a close race in 2020 for East Palo Alto’s City Council by 69 votes.

“I want young people to understand how much power they have,” Lopez said. “I tell young people never underestimate the power of your voice.”