The race for Liz Kniss’ soon-to-be vacant seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors just lost Kathleen King, a candidate many considered to be Joe Simitian’s main challenger after Margaret Abe-Koga bowed out in early January.
In a letter to supporters Tuesday, King, a former mayor of Saratoga, cited personal issues as the reason for bowing out.
“Throughout my adult life, I have been able to balance these two passions in my life—my family and public service,” King wrote. “And when I embarked on my run for County Supervisor last year, I checked first with my family before beginning this most recent journey. Today, due to some increasing healthcare needs of some members of my family, I am announcing that I will be withdrawing from the Supervisor race. Their needs come first.”
Without King in the race, Simitian, who is serving out his last term in the state Senate, will now be vying to get his old supervisor job against two Cupertino councilmembers: Barry Chang and Kris Wang.
Chang and Wang have a difficult task to beat out the well-funded Simitian, who was reportedly outspending King by a two-to-one margin in December. The winner of the race will take over District 5 from Kniss, who is running for a Palo Alto City Council seat—a job she held in the past.
Simitian is beatable, because while in Sacramento he failed to focus on the state’s financial problems, preferring instead to play with $$$ trains and nanny bills.
But he is not beatable if there are multiple challengers. I hope that Chang and Wang will flip a coin, with the loser to drop out. (Each needs to know that they cannot offer the other any money, to drop out.)
Hi Henry,
Thanks for your suggestion. People cares about their health and safety. I am the only candidate working so hard to bring Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant to comply with the laws. Therefore, I am the best qualified candidate. I will stay in the race.
Barry