Cindy Chavez

Cindy Chavez is supervisor for Santa Clara County District 2, representing more than half a million people in the San Jose area. She is a member of the CalTrain board of directors and is chair of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority board of directors. She also represents Santa Clara County on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the California Board of State and Community Corrections, which works with local corrections systems and assists efforts to reduce recidivism. She successfully mobilized the effort to stop selling leaded gas at Reid-Hillview Airport after a lead study revealed the airport was poisoning residents with a goal of decommissioning the airport by 2031. Working with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, she created a working group to begin a fentanyl public awareness campaign and distribute Narcan to all school districts. She is responsible for the majority of affordable housing in Santa Clara County after crafting the $950 million affordable housing bond passed by voters in 2016. The county is ahead of schedule in building the projects, having so far funded more than 4,400 homes throughout the county, many of which are now in operation or nearing completion. Her visionary policies include making COVID vaccines available to all county residents; bringing improved services for physically and sexually abused children to the new Children’s Advocacy Center; more comprehensive help and resources for foster youth, including housing at a new HUB; expansive, structural changes to digital and broadband services for students in disadvantaged areas; and health care for all children. Working with county nonprofits, she is leading an unprecedented movement to get a 400 percent increase in funding for survivors of sexual assault, human trafficking, and gender-based violence. She is a graduate of San Jose State University.