Margaret Abe-Koga
Supervisor • District 5
Term expires: 2029-01-08
Margaret Abe-Koga is one of Silicon Valley's most seasoned and multifaceted public servants — a daughter of Japanese immigrants, former small business owner, breast cancer survivor, and 16-year city council veteran who has broken historic barriers upon joining the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. She assumed office on January 6, 2025, representing District 5, with her current term ending on January 8, 2029. Her election made her the first Japanese American woman to serve on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors — and helped usher in a women majority on the five-member board.
Margaret was born at Stanford Hospital and raised in San Mateo by immigrant parents from Japan. As her parents were limited in English, Margaret became their translator as soon as she learned English. It was through this experience that she saw struggle, discrimination, and injustice when one does not have a voice in society, and it compelled her to pursue a path where she could serve the community and work to ensure that all people regardless of background have a voice.
She attended public schools K-12 and went on to Harvard University where she earned her bachelor's degree in government in 1992. After graduation, Margaret joined Congresswoman Anna Eshoo's district office staff. She later served as Associate Director of the Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute at De Anza College, and also owned and operated a small business — an indoor cycling fitness facility — before stepping away to raise her children, giving her direct, personal experience with the challenges facing working families and small business owners in Silicon Valley.
She began her elected service as Trustee for Area 1 on the Santa Clara County Board of Education and served as Board Vice-President in 2004. She was then elected to the Mountain View City Council in 2006. She served as Vice-Mayor in 2008 and 2019, and as Mayor for the first time in 2009, making her the first Asian American female to serve in those capacities in Mountain View's history. She served a second term as Mayor in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was re-elected in 2020, serving a total of four terms.
Her regional service record is equally impressive. She served on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Board — which she chaired twice — the Valley Transportation Authority, and the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission. She also chaired the VTA Board of Directors in 2011, where she led the agency to financial solvency through the economic downturn and maintained progress on capital projects like the BART extension and light rail improvements. On sustainability, she played a pivotal role in funding the feasibility study that led to the creation of Silicon Valley Clean Energy, helped form the Mountain View Citizen Sustainability Task Force, and championed all-electric reach codes for new construction.
She defeated Sally Lieber in the November 2024 general election to win the open District 5 seat, succeeding terming-out Supervisor Joe Simitian. District 5 spans the North County and West Valley, including Mountain View, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Saratoga, and surrounding communities.
In her first year in office, Abe-Koga has had to grapple immediately with a massive county budget deficit, exacerbated by approximately $1 billion in lost revenue from federal spending cuts under the Trump administration — targeting programs including health care, affordable housing, food assistance, and child care. She has made fiscal discipline and budget transparency her top priority, advocating for keeping critical services intact while finding more streamlined and cost-efficient solutions, and noting that "we can't really depend or lean on the federal government — or even the state government at times." Her personal experiences as a daughter of working-class immigrants, a mother, a breast cancer survivor, and a former small business owner continue to inform every policy decision she makes on behalf of the more than 400,000 residents she serves.
District staff
Appointments
Vice Chair
Health and Hospital Committee
Chair
Housing, Land Use, Environment and Transportation Committee
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