California Apartment Association injects $150K into District 5 Board of Supervisors race in support of Abe-Koga

In the largest independent expenditure to the Board of Supervisors race so far, the California Apartment Association threw its weight behind District 5 candidate Margaret Abe-Koga, shelling out more than $150,000 to back her campaign in the weeks preceding Election Day.

The California Apartment Association (CAA) has indirectly supported Abe-Koga for elected office before, notably contributing to a political committee that backed her successful bid to rejoin the Mountain View City Council in 2020.

This recent expenditure, however, is notable not only for its size but also its singularity. The landlord group, through the California Apartment Association Housing Solutions Committee, has not spent big in support of any other candidate in Santa Clara County this year, according to campaign finance disclosure statements.

On Thursday, Feb. 22, the CAA reported itemized expenses on behalf of Abe-Koga totaling $97,155. A filing the next day, Feb. 23, showed that spending had shot up to a cumulative $158,485. The bulk of the money went towards campaign literature, mailings, postage, delivery and message services ($61,330), followed by polling and survey research ($18,950) and campaign consultants ($16,875), according to the Thursday filing.

When asked about the large expenditure, Abe-Koga responded that she was “proud of the strong and broad community coalition” of her campaign.

“I have the support of over 500 endorsers throughout the District from every end of the spectrum which include several parties that are not always aligned, but they have come together around my campaign because they know together we can solve the issues facing our community,” she said.

In addition to the CAA, Abe-Koga said she had the support of the League of Conservation Voters, local elected leadership and the South Bay Labor Council.

The CAA attributed its support for Abe-Koga to her commitment to public service. “Abe-Koga’s 16 years on the Mountain View City Council demonstrate a proven record of fighting for small businesses, leading Mountain View during the pandemic, and pushing to make our community more inclusive. This is exactly the type of dedicated, stable leadership Santa Clara County needs,” said Joshua Howard, CAA’s executive vice president of local public affairs.

“CAA supports candidates for office who work collaboratively to solve problems and champion the development of more housing,” he added.

With the cash infusion, the CAA has an oversized presence in the District 5 race. But it’s not the first time the organization has sought to exert influence in local races – including major independent expenditures targeting Mountain View’s elections.

In 2014, the CAA funneled money into a group called the Neighborhood Empowerment Coalition (NEC) that spent more than $85,000 supporting the campaigns of three Mountain View City Council candidates – Ellen Kamei, Ken Rosenberg and Pat Showalter. All three candidates disavowed association with the NEC, but also had CAA endorsements on their campaign websites at the time.

In 2016, the CAA focused its campaign activities on housing measures and raised $1.2 million to oppose rent control in six Bay Area cities, including Mountain View. When the city passed Measure V, the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act, the CAA sought to challenge it with a lawsuit that ultimately was unsuccessful.

In 2020, the CAA again weighed in on Mountain View’s rent control laws. It supported Measure D, a ballot measure backed by Abe-Koga that proposed, among other things, a revised cap annual rent increases for rent-controlled apartments. It also proposed an easier framework to pass on the costs of capital upgrades to tenants. A majority of Mountain View voters rejected the measure.

That same year, outside spending poured into Mountain View’s local races, with the CAA contributing $50,000 to the Silicon Valley Organization, a coalition of Bay Area business leaders and chambers of commerce. The Silicon Valley Organization spent $29,200 to oppose Sally Lieber’s bid to the Mountain View City Council in 2020. Lieber won a seat on the council and is now a contender in the District 5 Board of Supervisors race.