Election swiftly gets underway

Meanwhile, two city councilmembers — Juslyn Manalo of Daly City and Mark Nagales of South San Francisco — have confirmed they will be running for the District 5 seat.

“Daly City is where I learned the value of public service and how local government can make a real difference in people’s lives,” Manalo said via text message. “Across North County, families are feeling the pressure of rising housing costs and affordability challenges, and I believe we need experienced leadership that can deliver results.”

Nagales, in a phone interview, said, “For about a year and a half, different folks have approached me about the possibility of running and I’ve said no. I came back from vacation and had several conversations about the landscape, social services being cut, and I decided I can’t sit on the sidelines any more. I need to step up.”

Manalo, a senior community engagement specialist in San Francisco’s Office of Economic Workforce Development, is in her 10th year on the Daly City Council. Nagales, a government and community relations representative for BART, is in his eighth year on the South City Council. Both Nagales and Manalo are 46, married, with two children.

If either is elected, they will be the first Filipino American to serve on the board; it also will mean, for the first time, that the board will have a non-white majority, another signal of the county’s changing demographics.

District 5 includes all of Daly City, Brisbane and Colma and portions of South City and San Bruno. The conventional political wisdom is that this geographic breakdown presents a distinct advantage for Manalo — Daly City is more than 60% of the district’s residents; it still elects its council citywide, and she was the top vote-getter in 2024 with 23,477 votes.

Manalo is a protégé of Canepa, who has a formidable network of personal contacts and financial resources. Months ago, Manalo declared her candidacy for this seat in 2028, when Canepa would have been termed-out; he endorsed her at the campaign launch.

Manalo is not as well known outside Daly City, a political environment with distinct rival factions that may undercut her regional advantage.

Canepa’s success reflects his personal flair for retail politics and the political value of a county-level office as a launching pad for ambitions. He may well be effective at helping friends and allies win their own elections, but that has yet to be the case, largely because he has not tried to do so.

Nagales also was the top vote-getter when he ran for reelection 2024; South City elects by district, and he got 3,296 votes.

But he has an extensive countywide political network of his own, built on years working for then-Assemblyman Gene Mullin, the father of Rep. Kevin Mullin, and as a senior aide for then-Rep. Jackie Speier.

Nagales is also likely to benefit from the lingering animus toward Canepa within much of the county’s mainstream political establishment. This was not effective enough to stop Canepa from winning in the June election, but there might be heightened energy on behalf of Nagales.

“There has been a groundswell of support for my candidacy,” Nagales said. “I’m waiting on a few more important conversations, and you will see the support and enthusiasm that my candidacy is going to have.”

The race for supervisor is just one item on a full lineup of local races. Every city council and school board in the county will be holding elections. Early rumblings are that there will be a number of contested council races — certainly in San Mateo and Burlingame, quite possibly in Redwood City and Millbrae.

Several cities and school districts are expected to put tax or other revenue measures on the ballot. There also will be regional sales tax measure on the ballot and 17 possible statewide ballot measures, including some that seek to raise taxes on the wealthy, and some that try to restrict the ability of local governments to pass revenue measures. The latter may be a coincidence, or just pent-up anger from anti-tax groups, who often are pent up.