After more than three decades in Santa Clara County politics, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez will almost certainly be leaving San Jose this fall for New Mexico, where Bernalillo County’s Board of Commissioners is set to vote next week to make Chavez its new county manager.
“San Jose has been my home for 40 years, and I — like many many people in this community — have invested my heart and my energy and my soul into making this a wonderful place to live, so that makes it hard to leave,” Chavez said in an interview from Chicago, where she is attending the Democratic National Convention.
The commissioners voted in late June to offer the job to Chavez, who wrapped up contact negotiations last week. The commissioners will vote on her contract, which includes a $230,000 annual salary at their Aug. 27 meeting. If approved, Chavez would start her new job on Nov. 13, and she said it was very important to her to remain on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors until voters select her successor in the Nov. 5 election.
Chavez, 60, has been a major player in Santa Clara County politics for more than three decades including two terms on the San Jose City Council and 11 years on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. She ran unsuccessfully for San Jose mayor twice, losing to fellow councilmember Chuck Reed in 2006 and then to current Mayor Matt Mahan in 2022.
Looking back on her time in Santa Clara County, Chavez said she was proud of being part of moving the region forward, highlighting the Children’s Health Initiative, the $950 million Measure A affordable housing bond in 2016, the effort to close Reid-Hillview airport, expanding VTA light rail to East San Jose and, most recently, working with Mahan and other leaders to bring $5.1 billion in federal money for the Silicon Valley BART extension.
“I do not take this decision lightly,” she said. “As I was looking around for what I was going to do next I thought of the advice my father gave me before he died. He always told me you’re making a choice like this, go where you can do the most good.”
In her new role, she’ll be the chief executive of Bernalillo County, which has a population of more than 676,000 people — most of whom live in Albuqeuerque — and employs 2,800 people.
Barbara Baca, chair of Bernalillo County’s Board of Commissioners, said Chavez’s extensive experience and proven leadership abilities made her “an ideal fit” for the position.
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“Cindy has hands-on experience addressing important issues such as transportation, housing and public health in the diverse city of San Jose,” she said in a statement. “This expertise will serve Bernalillo County well as we work to tackle those same issues to enhance the quality of life for our community.”
Chavez had been a top candidate for a similar job in San Diego, but that position became ensnared in a messy political battle and was given to a longtime San Diego County employee this past spring.
While Chavez has been closely connected with Santa Clara County her entire adult life, she was born in New Mexico and still has family living in different parts of the state.
“It excites me to serve the region and the state that gave so much to my parents,” Chavez said. “I learned so much from them about servant leadership and community engagement and about family. This gives me an opportunity to go back to the place where I was born, a place that meant so much to them, and help move that community forward.”
