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Neysa Fligor, who currently serves as the Santa Clara County assistant assessor, held a strong lead Tuesday in a four-way race to succeed Larry Stone as county assessor. She is poised to face off with Rishi Kumar in the December runoff election.
With all precincts reporting, Fligor had commanding lead over a crowded field that also included former Kumar, Saratoga City Council member Yan Zhao and Bryan Do, board member at the East Side Union High School District. With about 95% of the precincts reporting, Fligor received 38% of all votes cast, well ahead of Kumar and Zhao, who received 24% and 21%, respectively. Do trailed with 17% of the votes.
Fligor, who serves as vice mayor of Los Altos, was the favorite in the race to succeed Stone, who served as the county assessor for 30 years. In June, Stone announced his intention to retire, triggering a special election this week for his seat.
Stone was one of many local, county, state and federal officials who endorsed Fligor, a list that also includes U.S. Reps. Sam Liccardo and Zoe Lofgren, former U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, state Sen. Josh Becker and state Assembly member Marc Berman, former state and county legislator Joe Simitian, Mountain View Mayor Ellen Kamei and Palo Alto Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker.
The candidates are vying for a position that is charged with establishing the value of taxable properties throughout the county. Santa Clara County’s assessment roll includes more than 500,000 assessments, which form the basis for levying property taxes, according to the county.
With no candidate getting the majority of the votes, Fligor is set to face off in a runoff election with Kumar, who had a lead of more than 11,000 votes over Zhao, with all precincts reporting.
Kumar, a high-tech executive and former Saratoga City Council member, had previously fallen short in several campaigns for the U.S. Congress. A fiscal hawk, he pledged during his campaign to fight for tax exemptions for residents over 60. He opposed Measure A, a sales tax measure that Santa Clara County voters approved on Tuesday.
Zhao, an appraiser who serves on the Saratoga City Council, also racked up support from politicians across the county, with state Sen. David Cortese, Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga and Palo Alto Mayor Ed Lauing all endorsing her candidacy. Ultimately, she fell short in her bid for the assessor seat, finishing third in the four-candidate race.
In a statement Wednesday, Fligor thanked the voters of Santa Clara County for placing their faith in her and said she looks forward to continuing to share her vision for the assessor’s office as she heads to the runoff.
“I continue to believe that the voters want someone who will be ready on day one to lead the office – protecting local revenue for vital services, saving taxpayers money, improving processes, modernizing the office technology and producing an accurate, fair, and transparent assessment roll,” Fligor said.
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Rishi Kumar seems increasingly desperate for any political office, and it’s been telling to see his name further and further down-ballot (with absolutely no offense to the specialized and skilled role of assessor, which is weird to be an elected office but I digress). It’s clear that his campaigns have no problem borrowing liberally from the MAGA playbook, including bizarre grandiose claims and the requisite extremely thin skin. His campaign for assessor has been preying on the elderly with using text like “protect prop 13” and making promises about no property taxes for 60+ – policies that an assessor, like any citizen, could at-best endorse. Hopefully the high watermark of his political career is Former Saratoga City Councilmember.
Not just playbook, but he supported tariffs, tax cuts, and DOGE: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tariffs-seismic-shift-world-economy-rishi-kumar-z8zpc
His proposal at the end about using AI to tweak the economy is something that would fit in perfectly in a science fiction novel, but with today’s state of the art it’s an absurd idea and it makes it hard to take him seriously on anything else. Of course, the Trump administration’s “reciprocal tariffs” formula was widely derided as nonsense likely dreamed up by ChatGPT so he seems to have plenty of company in that department.
it is concerning to keeping seeing his name on ballots year after year AND his number of voters increasing. he has no experience being a city assessor. he’s desperate to claim onto a political career..