Neysa Fligor is the Santa Clara County Assessor, sworn into office on January 26, 2026, after winning a special election runoff on December 30, 2025. She is the first woman elected to the position and the first Black/African-American female county assessor in California’s history. She holds a law degree from Georgetown University.
Neysa Fligor is a California public official who made history in early 2026 as Santa Clara County’s first elected female Assessor and the first Black/African-American woman to hold an assessor post anywhere in California. This profile covers her educational background, legal and public service career, election victory, and the priorities she’s set for the office.
Not many local government offices attract wide attention. The county assessor’s role — determining the taxable value of property — is vital to public finances yet rarely makes headlines. That changed in late 2025, when Neysa Fligor stepped into the spotlight and made history.
Her election didn’t just fill a vacancy. It closed a chapter that had lasted more than three decades and opened a new one defined by insider expertise, a commitment to modernization, and a milestone that no one in California had ever reached before.
Neysa Fligor: Background and Education
Fligor earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and political science from Florida International University, then went on to earn a law degree from Georgetown University. That combination — international perspective, legal precision — would come to define a career that moved fluidly between law, local governance, and public administration.
Her academic foundation gave her credibility in legal and technical settings alike, which proved important in a role where property law, government finance, and community trust all intersect.
A Career Built Inside the System
One of the most striking aspects of Neysa Fligor’s profile is how much she knows the job she now holds. This wasn’t a politician making a lateral move into an unfamiliar office.
Fligor worked as counsel to the assessor in the mid-2000s, then rejoined the office as a special assistant before assuming the role of assistant assessor following the retirement of longtime Assessor Larry Stone.
She is a California State Board of Equalization Certified Property Tax Appraiser and was a member of the Assessor’s Executive Management Team since 2024. That combination of legal training, hands-on appraisal work, and executive-level experience gave her a profile that her opponents in the 2025 race struggled to match.
She wasn’t theorizing about what the office needed. She had been doing the work.
The 2025 Special Election: A Competitive Path to Victory
The race to become Santa Clara County Assessor began when longtime Assessor Larry Stone stepped down, triggering a special off-year election. Four candidates entered the November 4, 2025, special general election.
The field included Los Altos Vice Mayor Neysa Fligor, Saratoga City Council member Yan Zhao, former Saratoga councilmember Rishi Kumar, and Bryan Do, then-president of the Eastside Union High School District.
Fligor led the November 4 vote with 38% — far ahead of the field — but that fell short of the 50% required to avoid a runoff. She and second-place finisher Rishi Kumar advanced to a December 30, 2025, runoff.
In the first batch of ballots counted on December 30, Fligor took a two-to-one lead, with 66.2% of votes to Kumar’s 33.8%. The margin never narrowed. It was a decisive win.
She drew powerful endorsements along the way. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan endorsed Fligor, citing her focus on efficiency and technology-driven government solutions rather than reflexively reaching for tax increases. Other endorsers included Representatives Sam Liccardo and Zoe Lofgren, former U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, and state Sen. Josh Becker. Crucially, she also carried the endorsement of Larry Stone himself — the man she was succeeding after his 30-year tenure.
Making History: A First for California
When the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors certified Fligor’s election results on January 26, 2026, they confirmed not just an electoral victory but a historic milestone: Fligor became the first woman ever elected Santa Clara County Assessor, and the first Black/African-American female assessor in the entire state of California.
That’s not a footnote. In one of the most economically significant counties in the country — home to Silicon Valley, hundreds of billions in taxable property, and some of the most complex real estate markets in the nation — no woman had ever held this position before. Fligor’s election matters beyond the ballot count.
Priorities for the Assessor’s Office
Fligor entered office with a clear agenda. Her stated priorities include ensuring assessments are done fairly and accurately, protecting revenues, improving processes to better serve taxpayers, and increasing community engagement across the county.
Technology is central to her vision. She played a key role in managing a major property assessment solution technology project, helping put a contract in place to replace the office’s four-decades-old property assessment management system.
In Fligor’s own words, the new technology solution “will result in faster service, higher data quality, improved access, enhanced security and ultimately improved service delivery to the public.”
She also brings a clear perspective on the office’s scope. Fligor frames her candidacy around continuity and stability, arguing that budget uncertainty makes it critical to have experienced leadership that won’t put the office at risk.
Beyond the office itself, she oversees a $700 billion assessment roll and serves approximately 500,000 property owners across Santa Clara County. Getting assessments right — and getting them done efficiently — has direct consequences for county revenues and public services.
From City Council to County Office
Before the assessor’s race, Fligor had built a parallel career in elected local government. She was elected to the Los Altos City Council in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, serving as vice mayor.
That experience added a dimension her purely administrative opponents lacked: she understood what it meant to be accountable to voters, to sit through public hearings, to balance competing community interests, and to make decisions in public view. It’s the kind of political fluency that matters in an elected office — even one as technical as county assessor.
What the Assessor Actually Does
It’s worth pausing on a point that even many California voters get wrong. The job of assessor is to identify all taxable property for assessment purposes and send a list of those properties to the tax collector. The assessor does not set tax rates or collect taxes — those are separate functions handled by separate offices.
During the campaign, this distinction tripped up one of Fligor’s opponents, who proposed property tax exemptions for seniors — a promise the assessor’s office has no power to deliver. Fligor’s insider knowledge meant she never made that kind of misstep. She talked specifically and credibly about what the office actually does.
Conclusion
Neysa Fligor’s story is one of preparation meeting opportunity. She spent years inside the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office, earned her law degree from Georgetown, obtained state certification as a property tax appraiser, served on the Los Altos City Council, and built endorsements across the political spectrum. When the moment came, she was ready.
Her election — historic, decisive, and grounded in genuine expertise — reflects what voters often say they want: someone who knows the job and will do it well. For Santa Clara County, that means a $700 billion assessment roll in capable hands, a technology overhaul in progress, and a long-overdue milestone finally reached.
Frequently Asked Questions About Neysa Fligor
Who is Neysa Fligor? 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 and certified property tax appraiser who previously served as assistant assessor and as a member of the Los Altos City Council.
What makes 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.
What are Neysa Fligor’s priorities as assessor? Her key priorities include fair and accurate property assessments, modernizing the office’s technology infrastructure, improving taxpayer services, and increasing community engagement throughout Santa Clara County.
Who did Neysa Fligor defeat in the 2025 assessor race? Fligor defeated Rishi Kumar, a former Saratoga City Council member and multiple-time congressional candidate, in the December 30, 2025, runoff election by a roughly two-to-one margin.
Will Neysa Fligor need to run again? Yes. The special election only covered the remainder of the existing term. Fligor will need to run in the November 2026 general election to retain the position for a full term.
