Neysa Fligor: Santa Clara County Assessor, Historic First, and What She Plans to Do

Neysa Fligor is the Santa Clara County Assessor, elected in a December 2025 special election runoff and sworn into office on January 26, 2026. She is an attorney, a California State Board of Equalization Certified Property Tax Appraiser, and a former member of the Los Altos City Council. Her election made her the first woman ever elected Santa Clara County Assessor — and the first Black/African-American woman to hold a county assessor position anywhere in California.

If you’ve seen her name on a property tax notice, a news headline, or a county press release and wondered who she is — this is the complete picture.

Who Is Neysa Fligor? The Short Answer

Neysa Fligor refers to the 23rd Santa Clara County Assessor, a Georgetown Law-trained attorney and certified property tax appraiser who led the Los Altos City Council for nearly eight years before winning a historic 2025 special election to lead one of the nation’s most complex county assessment offices, overseeing a property roll valued at approximately $700 billion.

She didn’t arrive at this role by chance. She built toward it — first in law, then in local government, then from inside the assessor’s office itself.

According to the Santa Clara County official press release (January 2026), Fligor served as a member of the Assessor’s Executive Management Team since 2024 and managed the acquisition process for the office’s new technology system. She stepped into the top job already knowing how it runs.

From Florida to Georgetown to Silicon Valley: Her Background

Fligor grew up with public service in her blood. She has described her family as one that was “always looking for ways to help our neighbors.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science — with a minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies — from Florida International University. She then attended Georgetown University Law Center, earning her juris doctorate. At Georgetown, she said she was actively looking for ways to give back to the communities around her.

After law school, her career split in two directions that would eventually converge.

From 2015 to 2022, she worked as an in-house corporate attorney at Hewlett Packard — a role that gave her deep familiarity with complex organizational and financial structures. Before and after HP, she served as Santa Clara County Deputy Counsel. She also served on the El Camino Healthcare District Board, which oversees El Camino Hospital.

Or maybe I should say it this way: she wasn’t just dabbling in public life around a day job. The public service was the throughline. The private-sector work added tools to it.

The Los Altos City Council Years: 2018–2025

Fligor moved to Los Altos in 2010. Before she ever ran for office, she served on the Los Altos Parks and Recreation Commission and the Grant Writing Commission.

She first ran for city council in 2016. She lost — by six votes. Six. She has said that if she’d just walked one more block during canvassing, the result might have been different. She ran again in 2018 and won, receiving the highest vote total of any candidate and winning every single precinct in the city.

That result mattered beyond the margin. She became the first Black Los Altos City Council member in the city’s history.

She was re-elected in 2022, again receiving the most votes of any candidate — a rare back-to-back top-vote finish. She served as Mayor in 2020, leading Los Altos through the early months of COVID-19. By 2025, she was serving as Vice Mayor when the assessor race opened.

Her council colleagues described her the same way across multiple interviews: prepared, detail-oriented, community-first. Councilmember Jonathan Weinberg told the Los Altos Town Crier: “I deeply respect her careful preparation, attention to detail and thoughtful analysis on every issue.”

She left the council in January 2026 to assume the assessor role.

The 2025 Special Election: How She Won

The race opened unexpectedly. Larry Stone, who had served as Santa Clara County Assessor for 30 years, resigned abruptly in July 2025. His departure triggered a special election to fill the remainder of his term, followed by a full-term election in 2026.

Four candidates entered: Fligor (Los Altos Vice Mayor and then-assistant assessor), Rishi Kumar (former Saratoga City Councilmember and tech entrepreneur), Yan Zhao (Saratoga City Councilmember), and Bryan Do (then-president of the Eastside Union High School District).

On November 4, 2025, Fligor led the field with 37.7% of votes — roughly 175,577 votes. That was far ahead of the pack but not the 50% required to avoid a runoff. She and second-place finisher Kumar advanced to December 30.

The December result wasn’t close. Fligor won with approximately 65% of counted votes, a margin of over 65,000 votes. She drew endorsements from San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, Supervisor Joe Simitian, her predecessor Larry Stone, and former Los Altos mayors.

Her campaign raised $420,000 — a significant sum for a county assessor race.

Quick note: Fligor is also running for a full four-year term in 2026 and, as of this writing, is unopposed in the June primary.

Why Her Election Is Historic

Look, if you’re trying to understand why this matters beyond a single election result, here’s what actually works as context.

Black residents make up less than 3% of Santa Clara County’s population, according to San José Spotlight reporting from February 2026. Silicon Valley has a well-documented pattern of marginalizing Black residents economically and politically. Against that backdrop, Fligor’s election carries weight that extends past the job title.

She is the first woman elected Santa Clara County Assessor. She’s also the first Black/African-American woman to be elected county assessor anywhere in the state of California. These weren’t statistical near-misses — no woman had held this position in Santa Clara County in its history.

She had already made a version of this history once before, as the first Black Los Altos City Council member in 2018.

Fligor told San José Spotlight that her identity was never the campaign’s focus: “My focus was on my actual experience.” That’s consistent with how her supporters described her candidacy — qualified first, historic second.

Most people assume historic elections in California’s tech corridor go to tech-sector figures. Fligor’s win came from 25+ years of legal, governmental, and insider institutional experience — not from a startup pedigree.

What She’s Actually Doing in Office

This is what most articles about Fligor don’t cover: what she’s doing now that she’s assessor, not just what she said she would do.

Assessor Fligor’s stated priorities, per the Santa Clara County official profile:

• Ensuring property assessments are conducted fairly, legally, and accurately
• Protecting county revenues
• Improving processes to better serve taxpayers and residents
• Increasing community engagement across Santa Clara County
• Overseeing the implementation of a modern technology property assessment solution

That fifth point is where the operational rubber meets the road.

The assessor’s office — which manages roughly 250 employees and is responsible for determining assessed values across one of the nation’s highest-value property markets — has been running on outdated technology. Fligor has been overseeing its replacement since she managed the acquisition process in 2024. She’s now leading implementation.

The technology overhaul includes an online property change submission tool, a digital assessment review portal, and a modernized appeal tracking system, according to a Q&A published by the Saratoga Falcon (April 2026). In Fligor’s own words, from the county’s official release: “This solution will result in faster service, higher data quality, improved access, enhanced security and ultimately improved service delivery to the public.”

She’s also introduced all-staff meetings for the 250-person office — a practice that apparently didn’t happen under her predecessor. Her stated goal is to meet every employee individually by the end of 2026.

What most guides skip is this: the assessor’s role isn’t just a bureaucratic title. Assessed property values directly fund public schools, hospitals, and essential county services. Getting those numbers right — and administering appeals fairly — affects every resident’s taxes and every school’s budget.

Quick Comparison: Fligor vs. Her 2025 Runoff Opponent

Fligor vs. Kumar: Fligor’s background in the assessor’s office gave her an institutional knowledge edge. Kumar’s tech entrepreneur profile drew attention but lacked direct property assessment credentials. The final margin — over 65,000 votes — reflected that voter distinction.

Frequently Asked Questions About Neysa Fligor

What does Neysa Fligor do as Santa Clara County Assessor?

She oversees the determination of taxable property values across Santa Clara County, managing roughly 250 employees and an assessment roll valued at approximately $700 billion. Those valuations fund schools, hospitals, and county services.

When did Neysa Fligor take office?

Fligor was sworn in on January 26, 2026, after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors certified her December 30, 2025, runoff election victory that same day.

Why is Neysa Fligor’s election historic?

She is the first woman ever elected Santa Clara County Assessor and the first Black/African-American woman to hold a county assessor position anywhere in California.

What is Neysa Fligor’s educational background?

She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science from Florida International University and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

How can I contact the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office?

Visit sccassessor.org for online property search tools, assessment lookups, and contact information. The office is located at 130 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, CA 95134.