Assistant Santa Clara County Assessor Neysa Fligor early today declared victory in her bid to be elected county assessor. Fligor’s victory announcement shortly after midnight coincided with a concession statement by her runoff election rival, former Saratoga Councilmember Rishi Kumar.
Fligor led Kumar by nearly 53,000 votes — a nearly two-to-one margin — in unofficial returns reported in the last ballot totals on Election Night.
“Thank you so much to everyone who voted and who helped with this campaign,” Fligor said in a social media post to her supporters. “Your support means so much to me and my team. I look forward to being your next Santa Clara County Assessor!”
“We lost,” said Kumar on social media shortly before Fligor’s post. “The people of Santa Clara County have spoken, and I respect the outcome. I have conveyed my congratulations to Neysa on a solid victory.”
Fligor’s initial margin proved insurmountable, likely exceeding the total number of votes that remain to be counted in the low-turnout race.
The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters reported Fligor with 108,556 votes – 65.7% – and Kumar with 56,617 votes – 34.3%, at 9:22pm in the Dec. 30 runoff election.
As the top two vote-getters among four candidates in the Nov. 4 general election, Fligor and Kumar were the only names in the runoff election for assessor. Most county voters chose to pass on the chance to cast a vote for a post that hasn’t been up for grabs in three decades.
Fligor will fill the seat vacated by the June announcement by Assessor Larry Stone that he would retire after more than 30 years and leave before his term expired.
Fligor is a native Jamaican who earned a law degree from Georgetown University who had stressed her expertise and experience in the assessor’s office. She is a member of the Los Altos City Council and serves as the city’s vice mayor.
In conceding, Kumar said today he will continue his efforts to press for a ballot initiative to give all property owners age 60 and older a 100% property tax exemption. He ran three unsuccessful campaigns for Congress.
“The mission to advance the 60+ Property Tax Exemption ballot measure will continue to move forward,” he said in a social media post. “Addressing the affordability crisis facing seniors and families in Santa Clara County—and across California—remains urgent, and we will continue this work with determination.”
Voter participation in the unusual holiday voting was expected to be low — and it was.
At the close of ballot counting on Election Day, 165,939 – 15.5% of the county’s 1,071,024 registered voters – had cast ballots for assessor, according to the Registrar of Voters. An undetermined number of ballots remained to be counted.
The anticipated low turnout in the darkness of the year’s final days had heightened the anxiety and uncertainty of the final weeks of the abbreviated campaign.
Most voters cast ballots by mail, but thousands showed up at the 38 vote centers scattered across the county, or dropped their mail ballots in 109 ballot drop boxes. Polls closed at 8pm.
Because the mail ballots were tallied as they came in, the first results announced reflected those totals. Election workers on Tuesday began counting the in-person ballots precinct by precinct as well as late arriving mail ballots, with counting expected to continue in the New Year.
In the final November vote, Fligor led Kumar by more than 63,000 votes.
After Election Day, updated results will be posted at 5pm daily. These subsequent updates will include all eligible mail ballots received on Election Day as well as mail ballots that were postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Jan. 6.
“This election was unique in many respects, not least of which was the challenge of conducting an election during the holiday season. This was the first time in our county’s history that voting locations were open for voting on Christmas Day,” said Matt Moreles, Registrar of Voters.
“The timing of this election was also challenging because it followed so closely after the November statewide special election,” he said in a statement. “This left us with less than a week after certifying the final November results before we had to mail ballots to voters for the December runoff. Thankfully, our dedicated team was able to deliver another secure, accurate, and inclusive election for the county’s voters.”
