The first round of election results Tuesday night show Ray Mueller and Laura Parmer-Lohan pulling ahead in the race for District 3 of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. If the results hold, both will face off in an election this November.
Virginia Chang Kiraly and Steven Booker are coming in third and fourth, respectively.
Mueller received 4,759 votes, or 35.72% of the vote, in this first round of results released shortly after 8 p.m., followed closely by Parmer-Lohan at 4,236 (31.79%). Chang Kiraly trails at 2,343 votes (17.59%), followed by Booker at 1,985 votes (14.9%).
The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has five seats and oversees the operations and budget of San Mateo County. District 3 covers the coastline from Pacifica to Santa Cruz County and inland to Menlo Park. The district encompasses seven cities and 20 unincorporated areas, serving over 150,000 residents.
Mueller is a council member in Menlo Park who served a term as mayor. He also served as chief of staff for Santa Clara County District 5 Supervisor Joe Simitian. One of Mueller's priorities is on coastside infrastructure, hoping to create a Supervisor's office on the coast so residents can bring their problems locally.
Mueller said he also hopes to develop housing for farmworkers on the coast to sustain the communities amid labor shortages. His other priorities include COVID-19 response and environmental protections.
Parmer-Lohan has served on San Carlos' City Council and single-family housing advisory community, also serving a term as mayor. She has made environmental protection policy the cornerstone of her campaign, creating plans to encourage residents to utilize recycled water in irrigation, farming and landscaping. She also convinced developers to use recycled water for commercial development. Her campaign has also had a focus on affordable housing as a climate issue, making it another cornerstone.
Chang-Kiraly served as a board member of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District and has a background in finance, having served seven years on the California Commission for Economic Development. Her campaign focused heavily on public safety, including fire and coastal safety, as she served as the San Mateo County Harbor District's board president.
Booker is a worker's rights advocate who has served as political director and community affairs liaison for a local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) labor union. If elected, he said he hopes to create infrastructure on the coast and help fill a gap he sees in digital access in District 3. He also hopes to bridge a division he sees between residents and law enforcement.
Related coverage:
Meet the four candidates vying for the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors District 3 seat
