One of the sharpest local races on the Midpeninsula this fall is for a water board seat. In Santa Clara Valley Water District's District 7, incumbent Rebecca Eisenberg faces Los Altos City Councilmember Pete Dailey on Nov. 3. The district covers parts of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno and Los Gatos, the Mountain View Voice reports.

Valley Water manages much of the county's water supply and runs its creek maintenance and flood protection. Each of its seven directors is elected by one area.

Rebecca Eisenberg, the incumbent

Eisenberg, 58, is a corporate attorney who has worked for companies like PayPal, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post. She lists affordability, sustainability and flood protection as her top priorities. She points to her role in stopping the Pacheco Reservoir expansion. "I stopped the dam that would have quadrupled people's water rates because water needs to be affordable," she told the Voice.

Her term has been turbulent. A February 2024 investigation looked at 25 complaints against her and found nine substantiated, the Voice reports. The board censured her, which removed her from committee assignments including the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, and Valley Water sued her; that case is ongoing. Eisenberg denies the allegations and says her remarks were taken out of context. On Oct. 9 her lawyer filed a suit alleging whistleblower retaliation and 12 other claims against Valley Water, former CEO Rick Callender and District Counsel Carlos Orellana.

Pete Dailey, the challenger

Dailey, 57, is giving up a chance at reelection to the Los Altos council to run. He was Los Altos mayor in 2025 and has served on the appointed Valley Water Commission since 2022, chairing it last year, the Palo Alto Ledger reports. He founded a cable TV company in South Korea before retiring from tech, according to the Daily Post.

He calls flood protection the biggest challenge and names Reach 2 of San Francisquito Creek as the top priority for the area. He is endorsed by the Santa Clara County Democratic Party and the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, and at the debate cited support from Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, state Sen. Josh Becker and Assemblymember Marc Berman.

The debate

At a League of Women Voters debate, Dailey brought up the investigation report, and Eisenberg interrupted: "That's not true. Fact check." "She interrupts all the time," Dailey replied, the Daily Post reported. Dailey called the choice one between "a divisive person with a questionable track record" and a widely endorsed candidate. Eisenberg said she was targeted by Callender and his allies after she exposed his record and stopped the dam, and that she has brought a new era of collaboration and science-based decisions.

On storms, Dailey said creeks need to be cleared before culverts get blocked. Eisenberg, whose Palo Alto neighborhood flooded in 1998, said crews should also be posted at bridges during storms to clear debris. Both are largely funding their own campaigns: Eisenberg with $60,000 and Dailey with $80,000, according to the Daily Post.

The race comes as Valley Water has declared an El Niño emergency ahead of the rainy season. Mountain View voters also decide Measure F, and Los Altos voters Measure D. See every South Bay race in our Election 2026 guide.