The race to replace the termed-out Dave Pine in the District 1 seat of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors saw a dramatic early twist with the recently retired U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier announcing she wants to take her nearly 40 years of elected experience back to the seat where she first served in office.
The two candidates running for the position — Millbrae Councilmember Gina Papan and Burlingame Councilmember Emily Beach — both dropped out and supported Speier.
“Today I am announcing my candidacy for District 1 Supervisor on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. The people of District 1 know me, and I know them. I will use the skills I’ve honed, the relationships I’ve built, and the experiences I’ve earned to fix problems our community confronts. I know from experience that local action can make a huge difference for us all, and I’m concerned that our quality of life in San Mateo County faces big challenges,” Speier said in a press release.
Pine is in his third four-year term. The five members of the Board of Supervisors can only serve three terms. District 1 includes South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, Burlingame and Hillsborough. After the official announcement, both Papan and Beach announced they will be leaving the race and endorsing Speier.
“I’m grateful to my incredible supporters who have been at my side through this race and my previous campaigns,” Beach said in a press release. “Of course I’m disappointed to leave the race and will miss the opportunity to serve the county. I also want to thank supporters who encouraged me to stay in the race during the last few days. Nonetheless, I know this is the right decision. I am honored to endorse former Congresswoman Speier for the position and encourage my supporters to do the same.”
Papan said she is pausing her campaign and will double her efforts in serving the people of San Mateo County, focusing on housing, transit, public safety and climate solutions as a member of the Millbrae City Council, as the representative of all San Mateo County Cities on the regional Metropolitan Transit Commission, and as a representative to the City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County.
“Service is the mainstay of my professional and public life. I look forward to working with Jackie Speier as I continue representing the residents of Millbrae and San Mateo County,” Papan said in a press release. “My passion, experience, and advocacy are the foundation from which I will continue to serve.”
Recommended for you
Another candidate, Jorge Quezada Flores, announced he will be running Tuesday. Flores, 23, is a San Mateo County native with a degree in economics from the University of California, Davis. He has volunteered with the Millbrae Historical Society and coordinated events for the Millbrae Leos Club.
Speier’s career in elected public service includes nearly 15 years in Congress, 18 in the state legislature, and six on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors starting in 1980.
Speier said she wants to use her experience to take on key issues such as income equality, child care affordability, affordable housing, the environment and sea-level rise, domestic violence and hate crimes, guns, sex trafficking, drug use and health care.
“I want to reduce silos between public agencies and to rethink the way we’ve been doing things over past decades. Our high-cost county discourages young people from coming here for the jobs we have and that we will create. This presents an enormous challenge for local government and employers. We need to examine every county job to make sure we aren’t creating artificial barriers to qualified local residents becoming a county employee, and to partner with other local agencies to jointly develop career advancement tools. Park rangers, librarians, firefighters, police officers, nurses, childcare workers — we should be able to develop our talent locally,” she said in a press release.
She also addressed the fact that she recently retired from Congress, where she served since 2008 until last year.
“When I announced that I was not running for re-election to Congress, I made clear that I was not done and not retiring,” she said. “I was simply coming home to be with my family and my constituents. I believe I have found the path where I can make the greatest contribution to those I have represented for so many years.”
The filing deadline for this seat is Nov. 8. The election is March 5, 2024. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the primary, it will go to a runoff in the general election Nov. 5, 2024.
(3) comments
Astoundingly backwards place this is to allow the Public Doler to double dip here at the trough once again as she has done all her life. This area would be behaving like Small and Large Hick towns of the South and good ole boy politics. Do not let the fix be in.
People, pretend that you are not this Stupid to allow this to happen. Find someone with excellent credentials that is not a"Politician" that will not carry on the way this place is run and have lived in other places in the US. Someone who has not drunk the KOOL AID PLEASE!
The new definition of a fresh face? I see nothing but more fees, tax increases and bleeding heart programs at our expense. Can't we get a middle of the road candidate instead of an experienced super liberal?
That election is over and Jackie just won. The other contenders dropped out in minutes, which was the smart move. They could have stayed in and been beaten terribly. I doubt we could have a better person to hold that office. I am glad she made that choice.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.