San Mateo County Board of Supervisors president running for U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier’s seat

San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Canepa announced Saturday his bid for the 14th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo/San Francisco), who is not seeking reelection.

In a press release, Canepa said: “I’m running for Congress because San Mateo County’s values can be an example for folks in D.C. We are leading the nation in COVID vaccination rates because we value science and the community hospitals such as Seton which have saved lives and provided care for the elderly and disabled during the pandemic. We see the value of providing free community college for all to help our young people recover and emerge stronger than ever from the pandemic. We value our essential workers by investing in affordable housing. We value our environment with investments to mitigate climate change. We see the value of our diversity, embrace it and celebrate it. If D.C. can start focusing on and investing in our neighborhoods, towns, cities and counties again, so people can see with their own eyes the benefits it brings them, as we do here in San Mateo County, I truly believe we can restore faith in government.”

Canepa also serves on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Air Quality Management District, among other regional and local boards. If elected, Canepa is interested in joining the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and House Education and Labor Committee.

Speier, who has served seven terms, announced earlier this month that she is stepping down to be with her family. She said in an interview with the Sacramento Bee earlier this week that a climate of toxicity in D.C. has soured her, particularly when it advocates violence. Speier was shot in the 1978 People’s Temple mass murder-suicide in Guyana, a traumatic event that led her to devote her life to public service.