It seems little has changed in Cupertino politics over the past two years. In 2022, eight Cupertino residents battled for three available seats and the Council majority in a race where the pace and manner of growth, city finances and transparency, and accountability held the focus, as former officials sought a return to leadership while calling for a new direction. Cupertino voters rejected incumbents in favor of new thinking, placing recent mayor Steven Scharf a distant fourth behind Sheila Mohan, J.R. Fruen and supporting Liang Chao’s reelection bid.
This political season, seven candidates are vying for two seats in a similarly hot race in Cupertino. Once again, local faction rhetoric is dominating the conversation with development, affordability, city finances, transparency and civility again at the center of the debate.
Better Cupertino backed candidates Kitty Moore and R. “Ray” Wang are betting on a different outcome than 2022 while making much the same case. The race has also brought two additional former mayors back into the fold as several candidates are relying on endorsements of respected past leaders to pull in additional votes. Incumbent councilmember Hung Wei briefly paused her reelection campaign but as a steadying force and with a solid track record, remains likely to head to another term.
Below is a brief look at the candidates, issues, platforms and supporters in this year’s race. We also encourage readers to explore the individual campaign websites directly via their links and review additional detail about the candidates from the San Jose Mercury News and coverage from a recent candidate forum hosted by the San Jose Spotlight.
Claudio Bono
Current Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commissioner Claudio Bono is taking another shot at a Council seat after coming in fifth with 13.6 percent of votes cast in the 2022 election that seated Sheila Mohan and J.R. Fruen and extended Liang Chao to a second term. He cites among his primary issues the City’s record $15 million budget deficit, millions of dollars in cuts in city services, and an affordable housing crisis that threatens to price out seniors and young families, and criticizes City leadership as incapable and unfit to act.
He seeks to bring back common sense and good governance, restore city services, provide real solutions to housing and homelessness and support small business.
Currently Vice President for the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce as well as a board member of the Rotary Club of Silicon Valley, Bono has the endorsement of Former Cupertino Mayors Richard Lowenthal, Orrin Mahoney, and Sandy James, and in 2022 he carried the support of the South Bay Labor Council and the Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
Barry Chang
Former mayor and longtime Cupertino councilmember Barry Chang is running for a return to city leadership, citing mismanagement of the Councils of 2018-2022 as the cause of the City’s budget deficit and cuts to vital services. He cites his stewardship of the Apple Park development deal and related sales tax incentives and his opposition to Lehigh Cement as key accomplishments of his tenure. The state of California unraveled the tax incentives as a result of a 2021 audit, and Cupertino set aside $77.5 million in potential repayments, some of which will be relieved as part of a settlement this month; the City is also planning various staffing and service cuts to mitigate an expected $15M ongoing deficit relating to the adjustment.
Chang ran unsuccessfully for County Supervisor District 5 this year but lost in the primary, taking 6.4 percent of the primary vote – Margaret Abe-Koga and Sally Lieber will face off for that seat this November. The Mercury News reported that in 2011, former Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith rebuked Chang for what he perceived as threats against county employees at two separate meetings — a characterization that Chang disagreed with. Chang is endorsed by Cupertino residents and nonagenarians Gladys Smith and Doris Ellis, and helpers May, Julie and Mele.
Kitty Moore
Incumbent councilmember Kitty Moore is running for a second term in a joint campaign together with former Planning Commission Chair R. “Ray” Wang. Moore has served on the City Council since 2020 and previously served as a planning commissioner in 2019-2020, in addition to prior service on Cupertino’s environmental review, audit, legislative review and sister cities committees.
Moore was notably stripped of her committee assignments in 2023 along with councilmember Liang Chao in the wake of a December 2022 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report which found that members of the Council inappropriately directed personnel hiring and firing decisions, and created a toxic work environment that led to a “culture of distrust,” “dysfunction,” and a mass exodus of staff from key positions – as high as 60 percent since 2022 as reported by the Mercury News. She was later reinstated. Moore cites the environment, finances, and public safety among her chief priorities, and notes her record of diligent review and scrutiny of city documents as a key asset to Cupertino.
Moore is endorsed by Councilmember Liang Chao, former Cupertino mayors Patrick Kwok, Darcy Paul and Steven Scharf; former councilmember Jon Willey; former planning commissioner and current Council candidate R. “Ray” Wang; and former planning commissioner Vikram Saxena, among others.
Rod Sinks
Former Mayor and longtime City Councilmember Rod Sinks is vying for a return to city leadership, adding to his breadth of service as a board trustee of Fremont Union High School District, founder and former Chair of Silicon Valley Clean Energy, former president of the Cupertino Rotary Club and former Chair of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, among other roles. He seeks to create ‘a real downtown’ for Cupertino, secure housing in the right places, expand housing opportunities for young families, educators and seniors, improve safety and transit opportunities and clean up Lehigh with minimal community impact.
Sinks carries the endorsements of Congressman Ro Khanna, Cupertino Mayor Sheila Mohan, Councilmember and former mayor Hung Wei, Vice Mayor J.R. Fruen and former mayors Savita Vaidhyanathan, Richard Lowenthal and Sandy James, as well as Mountain View councilmember and County Board of Supervisors candidate Margaret Abe-Koga, and Phyllis Vogel, Board President, Cupertino Union School District Board of Trustees, among others.
R “Ray” Wang
Former planning commission chair and entrepreneur R “Ray” Wang is running for a first term on City Council after having twice served on Cupertino’s Planning Commission. He is founder and CEO of global technology consultancy firm Constellation Research, a best-selling author and technology webcast personality and conference speaker.
In 2023 Wang was removed from the Planning Commission over allegations that he harassed City staff and members of the community. Wang is critical of the current council’s ‘wasteful spending, cuts to resident services, and loss of transparency,’ and is campaigning to improve the City’s quality of life through preserving single family neighborhoods, protecting the environment, retaining public lands and community assets, and stopping the loss of retail. Wang is endorsed by Councilmember Liang Chao, former mayors Darcy Paul, Steven Scharf and Patrick Kwok; former councilmember Jon Willey, Planning commissioner Muni Madhdhipatla, and Cupertino resident San R., among others. Wang is the only candidate endorsed by fellow candidate and co-campaigner Councilmember Kitty Moore this cycle.
Gilbert Wong
Former Cupertino mayor Gilbert Wong is again vying for a seat at the city’s leadership table. The president of the Organization of Chinese Americans of Silicon Valley, Wong notably challenged Liang Chao in 2021 over her controversial remarks about the Chinese Exclusion Act shared with over 2,000 Cupertino parents in an unofficial “CUSD Parents” Google group discussion around the suitability of critical race theory in K-12 education. Wong unsuccessfully called for an apology for what the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club also referred to as Chiao’s “gross distortion of history.” Chao contended that her remarks were taken out of context. Wong carries the endorsement of Congressman Mike Honda, State Senator Dave Cortese, State Assembly member and U.S. Congressional Candidate Evan Low, Cupertino Union School Board Trustee Satheesh Madhathil, Cupertino Mayor Sheila Mohan and Santa Clara County Supervisor candidate Betty Duong.
Hung Wei
First elected to City Council in 2020, Hung Wei has served Cupertino for nearly two decades as a longtime Fremont Union High School District Trustee from 2007 to 2018 and as a former president of the Rotary Club of Cupertino. In 2015, she was recognized as a Woman of the Year for California Assembly District 28. Wei’s term as Cupertino mayor in 2023 marked an important shift in the Council’s political makeup, with the majority not aligned with Better Cupertino for the first time since 2018, and Wei describing the forthcoming year as “challenging, progressing, promising and full of opportunities and evolving.”
The subsequent year saw the Council grapple with the results of a grand jury investigation for misconduct, a missed deadline to comply with the state’s requirements to certify a housing element with the department of Housing and Community Development, and Cupertino’s connection with Apple’s sales tax allocation resulting in a potential $20 million reimbursement due the state – to be paid out of the city’s coffers. Wei conveyed confidence in the process in spite of the challenges and helped the city to weather the repercussions with a notable lack of acrimony, with all three issues now largely in the rear-view mirror. She also has been a steady supporter of The Rise project, which has sparked controversy over the years but now stands to deliver a true downtown for Cupertino and the most significant housing project in City history – garnering honors for both the city and developer Sand Hill Property Company as co-recipients of the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Structures Award for 2024.
Wei briefly dropped her reelection bid for health reasons in September but has since made a strong comeback after receiving positive reports and empowerment from her constituency. She counts as priorities education, affordable housing, and community safety, and will continue the fight for fiscal responsibility, public safety, housing options for all income levels, and environmental policies.
Wei is endorsed by California Assembly member and US Congressional candidate Evan Low; former mayor and fellow City Council candidate Rod Sinks; Homer Tong, former trustee, Fremont Union High School District; among others.