Why I’m Running

Marc Hunter Lewis for Marin County Supervisor, District 5

Novato is my home, and Marin is my community. I filed to run for Marin County Supervisor, District 5 because when you put the numbers together on our infrastructure, our schools, and our housing obligations, you see a county that looks prosperous on the surface but is quietly falling behind where it needs to be. Marin lists hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance on aging public facilities on top of large long term pension and retiree health obligations, even as it confronts a regional housing mandate of more than fourteen thousand units countywide by 2031. The picture that emerges is a county that cannot afford to drift, but also cannot afford to keep defaulting to new taxes every time the math does not work.

My Background

I did not set out to be a politician. I became a community policy advocate in Novato because no one else was putting the full picture in front of residents, and because out of town developers were telling this community "approve this or else" at a time when our local agencies were not in a strong enough position to push back. Over the last several years I have gone line by line through city, county, and school district budgets, tax measures, infrastructure plans, and vendor contracts. The pattern is the same at every level. We celebrate what we own, but we rarely talk plainly about what it will cost to maintain, replace, or staff it, and what that means for the next generation of taxpayers.

Infrastructure Falling Behind

In Novato and across Marin, our basic infrastructure is slipping behind while we talk about new projects. Roads, water systems, levees, public safety facilities, schools, and county buildings all carry significant deferred maintenance, and those costs compound every year we wait. Our school districts are facing structural deficits driven by flat enrollment and rising costs, and Novato Unified is already planning deep budget reductions just to stay solvent. At the same time, the state has imposed an aggressive housing mandate on every jurisdiction in Marin, with strict timelines and penalties if we fall out of compliance, yet many of our plans and fee structures still assume a slower, cheaper world than the one we actually live in.

The Fiscal Reality

All of this is happening in a broader fiscal environment that is turning against us. The federal government is carrying tens of trillions in debt, and California governments carry well over a trillion dollars in pension and retiree health obligations when you add state and local promises together. That means fewer bailouts and less room for error. When the numbers tighten, local agencies fall back on the same tool: another tax measure on residents. In Marin that burden is already high, and people feel it. We cannot keep layering new obligations on the same base of taxpayers while leaving the underlying cost structure untouched.

Why District 5 Needs This

I am running because Marin is at a point where drift is not neutral. If we keep doing what we have been doing, we will see more emergency cuts in our schools, more surprise tax measures, and more pressure from Sacramento and the courts on housing and land use. District 5 deserves a supervisor who does the math, who is honest about deadlines and tradeoffs, and who will put the full picture in front of residents before decisions are made. I am not accepting donations. I am not backed by a party or an interest group. My campaign budget is about what you would spend on a used dishwasher. I am running on a simple idea: a supervisor who understands the numbers and is willing to say "no" when they do not work is more valuable to Marin than someone with the largest donor list and the safest talking points.

Listening First

This campaign will be built around listening and straight answers. I will be holding small listening sessions across District 5 from downtown Novato to Hamilton, Bel Marin Keys, Black Point, and Indian Valley to hear what you see in your neighborhood, in your schools, and on your tax bill. These are not rallies. They are working conversations about what is broken, what is worth preserving, and what kind of Marin we want to hand to the next generation. If you have questions, I am easy to find, and I will do everything I can to give you clear answers grounded in the numbers and in the law.