A sales tax increase in Santa Clara County appeared headed for victory on Tuesday, signaling a willingness among South Bay voters to help backfill federal cuts to food and health care safety net programs.

Measure A was leading 57% to 43% in early returns on Tuesday.

“We’re calling it!” Supervisors Betty Duong and Susan Ellenberg said after results flashed across a flatscreen TV at a Yes on Measure A party in San José’s Willow Glen neighborhood.

The measure would increase the county sales tax by five-eighths of a cent for every one dollar spent, raising roughly $330 million annually. County leaders placed it on the ballot after President Donald Trump approved cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that will reduce county revenues by $1 billion a year by the end of the decade.

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