Edie and Janet’s November 2024 East Bay Voter Guide

About us: Edie and her mom, Janet Cox, have been teaming up for years to put together voter guides. We do our own research, look at other endorsements, have some insider knowledge from years of local at state-level political involvement and advocacy, and host a ballot info party with friends and neighbors to talk it all through before each election.

Our recommendations are also informed by our work. Edie has spent her career doing communications for nonprofits on a range of issues. She’s spent the last eight years focused on transportation and housing policy, currently with All Home working on homelessness and poverty around the Bay Area. Janet spent decades working on water policy and environmental program development in California (among other things); and has devoted the last 10+ years to working with activists across the state on climate action, fossil fuel divestment, and pension finance. In 2022 she founded Climate Action California, which lobbies for strong climate legislation in Sacramento, and also endorses “climate champions” running for the state legislature. 

This ballot is a big one, and our insider knowledge is not what it was 10+ years ago when we were more involved in local politics. Over the years, we’ve had to do more research as we have less first-hand knowledge of the candidates. So this year, we were very grateful that Edie’s politically-minded friend Katie DeCarlo had some time on her hands to help. Katie outlined all the races and candidates, helped research the ones we didn’t know, and has been a thought partner as we figure it all out.

Please share this guide far and wide. You don’t need to agree with us on every race and issue; consider this a conversation starter! You are more than welcome to, ask questions, or engage in constructive, respectful debate offline or in the comments. HERE IS A CONDENSED VERSION (3 pages instead of 15!) that you can take to the polls or print out, with just the recommendations.

This voter guide contains:

Federal Candidates

  • President and Vice President: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
    • There isn’t much need for explanation here. But if anyone is withholding a vote for Harris/Walz because of the horror of the war on Gaza and Lebanon, and our government’s enabling of it, here are our thoughts (which are modeled on Anat Shenker Osorio’s articulation of this case). First of all, what’s happening over there is horrendous, so rage and frustration are healthy responses. But we don’t win big progressive victories by electing someone president—national elections are just where we win the ground on which to wage and win big progressive victories, which come from movement building and organizing. Neither of these candidates is going to magically end the reign of ultra-conservative war-mongers in Israel, but there is one that we would much rather be advocating to. Not just for a ceasefire and to stop sending bombs to a government that is bombing civilians, but for all the other issues we care about.
  • U.S. Senate (Regular & Partial/Unexpired Term): Adam Schiff
    • Schiff is running against a quasi-MAGA Republican, nuff said.
  • U.S. House of Representatives
    • Bay Area incumbents we know well and support
      • Congressional District 10: Mark Desaulnier
      • Congressional District 14: Eric Swalwell
      • Congressional District 17: Ro Khanna 
      • Congressional District 18: Zoe Lofgren
    • Newcomers to the Congress running for open seats:
      • Congressional District 12: Lateefah Simon
        • Lateefah Simon is an excellent candidate—the type of politician who makes us keep believing in politics. A longtime nonprofit leader and advocate, she has been excellent on the BART Board during truly trying times, standing for access and financial stability, public safety and police accountability, alternatives to uniformed police officers, and more. She easily cleared the primary field of strong competitors, and we’ll be lucky to have her represent us in Congress.
      • Congressional District 16: Sam Liccardo
        • Earlier in this remarkably fraught three-way contest, Janet was for Joe Simitian, who barely lost to Evan Low in a recount. Janet has extensive experience with Low from his years serving in the state Assembly as the most conservative Democrat in the Bay Area delegation. We’re encouraging votes for Liccardo, former mayor of San José, in the South Bay district. 

State Propositions

Notable in 2024: In a year with a huge state deficit, legislators are turning to bonds to fund capital projects and essential services that the General Fund can’t afford, given the state’s statutory responsibility to have a balanced budget. 

YES on Proposition 2: Bonds for Public School and Community College Facilities

Since Prop 13 passed back in 1978, funding schools has been a terrific challenge for many communities, and way too many schools are run-down, unhealthy, and depressing. Many schools and classrooms in California have no AC, and here in Oakland it was just revealed that dozens of school water fountains and fixtures have unsafe levels of lead contamination. The last time a school infrastructure bond was on the ballot was 2020, and it failed. While this measure authorizes $8.5 billion for K-12 schools and $1.5 billion for community colleges it’s still stingy—it requires a significant match with local bonds that are hard for poor communities to pass. But—better than nothing. Bond issue placed on the ballot by the Legislature

YES on Prop 3: Constitutional Right to Marriage. Believe it or not, Prop 8, the infamous “Defense of Marriage Act” from 2008 is still on the books, even though it was reversed by the Supreme Court. Vote yes to put it away once and for all. Constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Legislature

YES on Prop 4: Authorizes Bonds for Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, and Protecting Communities and Natural Lands from Climate Risks. Another $10 billion in bonding. We can’t say no to this! Would that it moved wildfire mitigation costs to the General Fund and off our utility bills, but that’s a ballot measure for another time, maybe.Constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Legislature

YES on Prop 5: Allows Local Bonds for Affordable Housing and Public Infrastructure with 55% Voter Approval. Housing supply and affordability is arguably California’s biggest problem. Part of the reason why is that our state requires a 2/3 majority to pass local bonds to build and preserve more affordable homes—which allows a third of voters to block the rest of our willingness, over and over, to contribute to making California a better place to live. Prop 5 would also apply to local bonds for public transit, water, fire prevention, emergency services, and other vital infrastructure. It gives local voters and communities the power to fund the projects they need and want.  Constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Legislature

YES on Prop 6: The End Slavery in California Act eliminates the Constitutional provision allowing for forced labor of people who are incarcerated. California’s practice of putting inmates, who are disproportionately Black, to work for $0.74 an hour does sound like involuntary servitude. This amendment allows inmates to choose educational programs and rehabilitation services over labor, so it would also have a positive impact on recidivism. This is an outgrowth of California’s Reparations Task Force. Constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by the Legislature

YES on Prop 32: Raises Minimum Wage to $18 by 2026. It’s now $16. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage for a single adult in our state in 2024 is $27.32. How could we not support this? Conservative fear-mongering about negative effects of wage hikes on the economy have been thoroughly disproven. Initiative Statue

YES on Prop 33: Expands Local Governments’ Authority to Enact Rent Control on Residential Property. Repealing the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which has limited and restricted rent control in much of California since it was passed in 1995, is long overdue. Repeal was on the ballot in 2018 and 2020 and failed. If we can pass it Prop 33 will give local governments the option to enact rent control and implement tenant protections to prevent displacement—and make housing more affordable for everyone in California. 

The opposition, of course, is the usual suspects: apartment owners, the Chamber of Commerce, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Don’t believe their lies that fly in the face of common sense—more widespread rent control would be much more likely to improve housing affordability, than to backfire as opponents claim.

Bonus from Edie for the housing nerds: In an interesting new wrinkle, Prop 33 has the support of the NIMBY Republican mayor of Huntington Beach, who figures he can twist it to actually make new housing unprofitable to build, freezing his city in amber just as it is. This is the reason the Chronicle and CA YIMBY give for opposing the measure, and they almost had me… BUT! Some smart young pro-housing folks I spoke to poked a pretty big and brilliant hole through that fear-based argument: Since Prop 33 doesn’t enact any new rent control—cities still have to decide to do that—what are the odds that conservative places like Huntington Beach are actually going to pass super progressive rent control laws? And so what if they manage to somehow do so and block new housing? That’s basically the status quo in Huntington Beach already, minus the rent control! All the hand-wringing about unintended consequences around the margins is holding us back from the reform that we know is necessary. If the rent is too damn high, and it definitely is, let’s DO SOMETHING about it—or at least give the state the chance to try. Initiative Statue

NO on Prop 34: Restricts Spending of Prescription Drug Revenues by Certain Health Care Providers. This is another inside-baseball, narrowly focused initiative that isn’t actually about what it says it’s about. It got on the ballot because the California Apartment Association put tens of millions of dollars into paid signature-gathering. The criteria for the proposed restrictions are so narrow that the bill probably only restricts the activities of one organization, the Aids Healthcare Foundation, run by one Michael Weinstein, a player in the state’s housing battles (see Prop 33). Why do we have to put up with this? For more details see CalMatters’ writeup. Initiative Statute

YES, sort of, on Prop 35: Provides Permanent Funding for Medi-Cal Health Care Services. This is another one that should have been worked out by the legislature during the budgeting process, not thrown to the voters. It’s hard to argue with a bill that directs existing taxes on HMOs to support for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid. Still, the Governor and the League of Women Voters oppose it because they fear it will tie the state’s budgetary hands in the future, as it pulls money out of the General Fund. For more on the challenges of untangling the pros and cons of this one, check out this CalMatters article.  We’re a weak YES. If you don’t like ballot-box budgeting and you’d prefer the legislature to do its job, you could reasonably vote no. Initiative Statute

NO on Prop 36: Allows Felony Charges and Increases Sentences for Certain Drug and Theft Crimes. Ten years ago, California voters passed Prop 47 to reform overly harsh “tough on crime” policies that were driving mass incarceration and failing to keep us safe. The millions of dollars saved have been invested into effective drug and mental health treatment, crime diversion programs for youth, and services for victims. Prop 36 would roll back those reforms, increasing penalties and prison time for drug possession and low-level theft.

There is no evidence that worse jail/prison sentences deter the low-value property crimes or drug use this measure targets. There IS evidence that harsher sentencing and more incarceration will exacerbate homelessness and poverty and damage families and communities. 

This is a knee-jerk reaction to COVID-caused crime spikes, which need much more thoughtful remedies. And in fact, the legislature has recently passed new laws targeting retail theft rings, illegal online markets, and fentanyl, and increasing penalties for property damage, vehicle break-ins and online resale of stolen goods, among other things. Furthermore, the retail giants that brought Prop 36 to the ballot have stopped supporting it, leaving only the DAs that fought Prop 47 and masterminded three strikes. Hard pass!

State Legislative candidates

A note from Janet: The value of the Dems’ supermajorities in both houses of the legislature is that they can theoretically pass urgency measures or taxes without Republican votes, and chair the oversight committees that shape legislation. That said, all Democrats are not progressive, so it’s always a fight…and this is why Climate Action California has endorsed 25 climate champions running for the state Assembly and Senate in the November election, including a few in the Bay Area beyond the East Bay.

A note about redistricting

After the 2020 Census, many of the district maps for legislative offices changed, but state Senate districts, where members serve for four years, have changed in two batches: in 2022 for even-numbered districts up that year, and this year for the rest. Yes, it’s confusing. Read more about it, and compare maps here.

Senate District 9 is one of the ones changing this year. For the last 10 years, Senate District 9 stretched along the East Bay shoreline from San Leandro to the Carquinez Bridge, including Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond, El Cerrito, San Leandro, and more. Nancy Skinner (one of the most strategic legislators in Sacramento) has served our district and the state with tremendous dedication for eight years…but she has termed out. Now, something similar to her district is District 7, and the areas of Contra Costa County that were formerly District 7 (served by conservative Democrat Steve Glazer, also terming out) will now be known as District 9. Just to confuse us further? See a comparison of both maps here. 

State Senate

State Senate District 5: Jerry Mcnerney 

A very nice guy and climate wonk who served in Congress from the Stockton/Tracy/Tri-Valley area from 2007-2023, when redistricting would have pitted him against fellow Dem Josh Harder. He is now running against a Republican for this open state Senate seat, having beat Democrat Assembly member Carlos Villapudua in the primary. This is FAR East Bay, but it’s an easy call and the district now includes the Tri-Valley area of Alameda County.

State Senate District 7: Jesse Arreguín

Jesse has been a leader on housing and homelessness (among other issues) both as mayor of Berkeley and President of the Association of Bay Area Governments. He’s progressive and pragmatic, works well with others and can get good things done, which are qualities we want in a legislator. He’s led a housing boom in Berkeley, negotiating with and supporting BART and UC Berkeley to build in the process. He’s taken the initiative on crime and public safety in ways that are consistent with our values. He’s also a regionalist, which is improtant to solving our biggest problems and appropriate for a State Senator. 

State Senate District 9: Marisol Rubio 

Rubio has an incredible life story that includes advocating for her daughter, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at 13 months old, and is now in college. Rubio herself has had an impressive career while being a super-parent, and is currently a San Ramon City Councilmember where she has some strong climate/environmental, health, and housing accomplishments to tout. She’s endorsed by a lot of people and organizations we trust.

This is a Dem-on-Dem race, as Rubio is the underdog running in Steve Glazer’s former relatively conservative district against conservative Democratic Assembly member Tim Grayson, former mayor of Concord. Mom is not a fan of Grayson.  

State Assembly

Assembly District 14 – Buffy Wicks

Buffy has proven herself to be a serious and principled legislator, a strong negotiator, and champion on both housing and climate. Now the powerful chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Wicks has a lot of control over bills’ fate. Janet thinks she’s an improvement over recent Appropriations chairs.. 

Assembly District 16 – Rebecca Bauer-Kahan 

Bauer-Kahan is the incumbent Democrat running against a Republican. She may not be the most progressive person on the block, but it’s worth keeping the Dem’s supermajority!

Assembly District 18 – Mia Bonta 

Bonta is the incumbent Democrat running against an Independent, Andre Sandford, who is running on a tough-on-crime platform that includes increasing prison time and penalties for low-level crime (a la Prop 36), stationing a police officer at every school, and increasing surveillance. Bonta is largely focused on health and criminal justice reform, and seems to be doing a decent job.  

Assembly District 20 – Liz Ortega

Ortega is a labor leader and has focused on labor and employment issues in her first term in office. Her opponent is a Republican. 

Assembly District 23 – Marc Berman

Berman, a leftish Democrat, authored the bill that bans sales of non-electric leaf blowers! And votes right on the bills that matter to us. He was also Student Body President at Palo Alto High the year before Edie was, for whatever that’s worth. 

Assembly District 24 – Alex Lee

Lee is the Assembly’s whiz kid, formerly Leg. Director for Senator Henry Stern. Very smart, very left, and very worth keeping in the Assembly. 

Assembly District 25 – Ash Kalra

A former public defender, San José City Council member, vegan, and all around good guy, Kalra has been in the Assembly since 2016. He swings for the fences, authoring bills that lift up environmental justice communities, support regenerative agriculture, and generally focus on making life better for people and nature. 

Alameda County and Special Districts

NO on the Recalls

We believe that recall elections are fundamentally undemocratic and should be opposed on principle. If an elected official has broken the law, they should be prosecuted and removed from office if convicted. But the recent spate of recalls in California—targeting the Governor, a state Senator from Orange County, the San Francisco District Attorney and School Board members, two Millbrae City Council members—are symptomatic of the public’s lack of interest and respect for the democratic process and their willingness to overturn an election if they don’t like the result. Sound familiar?? These recalls have been a stain on our politics—the Millbrae City Council Members were recalled for failing to sign a letter opposing a permanent supportive housing development for people exiting homelessness! We want no part of this nonsense. Barbara Lee, Lateefah Simon, Nancy Skinner, and other prominent leaders agree.

This November, Oakland residents are unlucky enough to have two recalls to vote on: Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, and Oakland Mayor Sheng Tao

  • Oakland voted for Mayor Sheng Tao, and we should live with her for two more years, unless serious misconduct or actual crimes come to light (and no, she is not the target of the FBI probe that led to the search of her home). We’re not impressed with Mayor Thao—Janet isn’t even convinced she’s competent to do the job and wouldn’t vote to reelect her—but if incompetence was grounds for recall, every municipality in the state would be flat broke, because these elections are expensive! Word is the mayoral recall would cost Oakland $10 million. Our city has much better and more urgent uses for those funds.

    Oakland is plagued by intractable income inequality, and we think that plus COVID, plus inflation (fueled by Trump’s tax cuts) are the real causes of our crime and homelessness and economic woes, not our new mayor. These aren’t brand new problems, and they won’t go away if she does—they might get worse with a chaotic shake-up at City Hall. We may not be thrilled with how Thao is addressing those problems, but frivolous recalls degrade and destabilize our politics and government. 

    If you’re still tempted to vote Yes on the Mayor’s recall, read this column by Justin Phillips in the SF Chronicle about the people behind it and the gaping holes in their arguments. 

Alameda County Board of Supervisors, 5th District – John Bauters

This was a really tough call, at least for Edie. Both Bas and Bauters are smart progressives who know the issues and could be very effective. On policy matters, these candidates mostly agree with each other (and with us). But Bauters has an even stronger focus and track record on housing than Bas, and he’s a pragmatist and an unusually good communicator who will get things done, and hopefully stir things up. 

Janet thinks serving as the Oakland City Council President over the last couple of years, is a black mark against Bas. We know a resident of her district whose neighbors say she’s not responsive. Bas touts her ties to Oakland as a strength, since Alameda County and Oakland have not been as coordinated as they should be in recent years, given how Oakland dominates the county. Bauters (an Emeryville Councilmember) also knocks Bas for her ties to Oakland and its structural budget deficit, while Emeryville has a balanced budget (as well as a much smaller population and a larger tax base, proportionally).

There is a big difference between the moneyed interests who independently support each candidate—for Bas it’s a lot of unions, and for Bauters it’s real estate, landlords, and law enforcement. You’d think that would tip our scales the other way, but in races between two progressives, it’s not always that simple. Both candidates have promised they’ll be champions for tenants, affordable housing, and labor. We think (and hope) that the interests we don’t like are more motivated by opposition to Bas than influence over Bauters. 

There are people we know and trust on both sides of this one, and Edie reserves the right to change her mind right up til she casts her ballot! If you’re undecided, we recommend Oaklandside’s summary of the race and these candidates. 

Peralta Community College Board Trustee, Area 2: Paulina Gonzalez-Brito

AC Transit Director Ward 6: Jesse Lee Gunn

EBMUD 

  • Ward 6: Valerie Lewis
  • Ward 5: Jim Oddie

BART

  • District 3: Barnali Ghosh may not appear on your ballot since she’s running unopposed, but Edie knows her well and we’re very glad she’ll be taking over Rebecca Saltzman’s seat on the BART Board. 
  • District 5: Melissa Hernandez
  • District 7: Victor Flores

East Bay Regional Parks District

  • Ward 2: Casey Farmer
    • Casey Farmer’s resumé is all about public service and local issues. She has all the important endorsements. With a background in education and twin toddlers of her own, she’s especially interested in getting youth off their screens and into the parks. Ward 2 extends from Alameda to Lafayette.
    • The Parks District is important – not just because of the fire hazard due to all the eucalyptus trees not yet eradicated, but because it’s a great way to enter politics. When we moved to the East Bay, Nancy Skinner held this position! 
  • Ward 4: Luana España
    • The only serious candidate in this race, Luana España has all the endorsements. She’s a trail runner who has worked with the EBRPD Park Advisory Committee, the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council Board, and the Hayward Area Recreation & Park District Citizen Advisory Committee.

Oakland

City Attorney: Ryan Richardson

Richardson is the Chief Assistant City Attorney, and has been endorsed by every member of the City Council, the Mayor, the outgoing City Attorney, and all former City Attorneys going back to the late 80s, among others. 

His opponent, Brenda Harbin-Forte, may well be a danger to the office and the City—she is one of the key people behind the Mayoral recall, which she embarked upon just a couple of months after Thao was sworn in, pissed off over her own (overdue) ouster from the Police Commission, and the firing of the police chief she supported (LeRonne Armstrong, who’s now running for the At-Large Council Seat). She’s clearly a grudge-holder and a factionalist who has her own agenda—not a good look for the person representing the entire City of Oakland in legal matters.

FYI, Ranked Choice Voting doesn’t apply with only two candidates in the race. 

City Council

At-Large: #1 Charlene Wang, #2 Shawn Danino, #3 Rowena Brown

Rebecca Kaplan has held this seat since 2006, and there are a LOT of people running to fill her shoes—though only a handful of viable, serious candidates. In addition to the ones we’re endorsing, those include LeRonne Armstrong, former police chief; and Kanitha Matoury, the owner of Spice Monkey (RIP),and now Howden Market. We don’t think either of them has the policy expertise to navigate Oakland’s serious challenges (more on that below). 

Wang has spent her career working in all levels of government, launching new social programs around homelessness, education, healthcare, and environmental justice. Edie’s favorite is the federal Reconnecting Communities Program that reimagines and revitalizes neighborhoods destroyed by racist transportation projects of the past. Tearing down the 980 Freeway and turning it into a greenway and economic hub that serves the West Oakland community is a great example of a project like this. 

Wang has a lot of energy and good ideas, and just as important, she does not seem to be aligned with either the progressive faction on the Council, or the reactionary moderates who are making a serious attempt to regain power in Oakland. The same can be said of Shawn Danino, though his policy experience is mostly focused on housing—not a bad place to start! Both impressed Edie during multiple candidate forums.

Rowena Brown is the District Director for Assemblymember Mia Bonta. She’s definitely qualified, passionate, and principled, and is endorsed by outgoing councilmember Kaplan, as well as Kalb and Reid, and Lateefah Simon. She’ll likely be a good progressive vote on the council, but we’re interested in giving the policy wonks with less political access a shot, which is the beauty of ranked-choice voting! (If we had to vote for just one candidate, we’d vote for Brown as the most likely to beat Armstrong.)

Learn more about all candidates from the Oaklandside, and if you’re tempted to vote for former police chief LeRonne Armstrong, read this first. Armstrong’s time as OPD Chief was rife with problems. And the most obvious place to find sustainable budget savings for the City is likely OPD’s bloated budget and tens of millions in overtime spending, which he’s unlikely to want to touch. 

District 1: #1 Zac Unger, #2 Edward Frank, #3 blank

We don’t know Zac yet, but the strength and breadth of his endorsements are impressive— almost the entire city council, most other local electeds, and orgs across the political spectrum. 

His opponents are not that serious. Edward Frank is not seeking endorsements or raising money, he seems to be running as a sort of civic experiment. He seems like a good-hearted person and dedicated parent and community volunteer who would no doubt be a breath of fresh air on the Council, if a bit out of his depth.

Len Raphael has run before and is conservative by Oakland standards, collected signatures for both recalls on this ballot, and has no endorsements to speak of save the East Bay Times (which is a red flag). 

District 3 – #1 Carroll Fife, #2 Warren Logan 

In her first term in office, Carroll Fife has gotten results for her district and the city. She’s supported new housing, put traffic calming projects in place, worked on illegal dumping, and reached out to residents of the Woods St. encampment to get them into housing and services before the encampment was removed. She’s a progressive leader on the council. 

Edie also likes and respects Warren Logan, who she knows from her time at TransForm (he was a colleague at SFCTA and OakDOT, then a board member).Warren has worked in government, shares our values, and could get things done. He would probably make a great councilmember, but we don’t see a good enough reason to unseat Carroll Fife, who brings vision and energy to the role. 

The rest of the candidates seem like dedicated community members, but don’t have the experience or gravitas to rival Fife or Logan.

District 5 – Erin Armstrong

Erin Armstrong impressed Edie at three candidate forums. She’s knowledgeable about the problems facing Oakland and District 5 as a senior policy staffer to Supervisor Nate Miley, and has served as chair of the County’s Illegal Dumping Task Force (a big issue in D5). In a forum with all the at-large candidates, Armstrong was the only one who would name a specific place to cut funds to help balance the budget—police overtime.

Incumbent Noel Gallo, running to keep his seat, has been on the council for 12 years, and it may well be time for a change. He’s had more unexcused absences/poorer attendance at council meetings and votes than any other councilmember, and he’s known more for picking up trash than setting down policy. When he’s present and voting, he’s mercurial in his positions. Of course he can point to accomplishments during his long tenure, but no special leadership is evident. 

Dominic Prado, the third candidate in this race, didn’t show up to any of the three candidate forums Edie watched (East Bay Housing Organizations, OMCA, and League of Women Voters), so not sure he’s a viable alternative. Re: RCV strategy, fine to put Noel Gallo as #2, but probably moot as it’s a two-person race and he has incumbent’s advantage.

District 7 – #1 Iris Merriouns, #2 Ken Houston, #3 Merika Goolsby

Iris Merriouns has the most relevant experience of the candidates in the race, having worked for longtime D7 councilmember Larry Reid, and now D4’s Janani Ramachandran. In between, she served as an interim executive director and board member of Youth UpRising, a strong nonprofit that’s disrupting cycles of crime and poverty in deep East Oakland. She has bona fides on bringing businesses to the district and smart ideas on crime prevention, and can hit the ground running. 

Ken Houston runs a successful social enterprise that employs unhoused and justice-impacted people to clean up trash. He’s well connected in and beyond the district, and has a solid understanding of the issues. 

Merika Goolsby is a housing activist with her heart in the right place, but doesn’t seem ready for a job this big. But we’d rather put her #3 than Marcie Hodge, who utterly fails to impress and has some serious baggage.

Alright folks, we’re getting tired. For the rest of these, we’re just going to list the candidates. We haven’t done deep research here, mostly looking at endorsements of those we trust (e.g. Oakland Rising has good write-ups of the school board candidates) and those we don’t. Will add more detail if/when we can!

OUSD School Director

  • District 1: Rachel Latta
  • District 3: VanCedric Williams
  • District 5: Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez
  • District 7: Clifford Thompson

Oakland Measures

  • YES on Measure MM to fund wildfire prevention with a parcel tax paid only in fire-prone areas, with exemptions for low-income households.
  • YES on Measure NN to fund violence prevention with parking and parcel taxes, extending the successful Measure Z and adding an oversight commission.
  • YES on Measure OO to strengthen the Public Ethics Commission, a critically important but chronically underfunded office, whose Commissioner just resigned due partly to being hamstrung by aforementioned underfunding).

Berkeley

For details, we recommend Edie’s colleague and friend Jeff Hobson’s voter guide, though we have our own reasons for a few minor variations. Former Councilmember Lori Droste also has a pretty good (and similar, though not identical) set of recommendations. Will add more detail if we can find time!

Mayor: #1 Adena Ishii, #2 Kate Harrison

City Council

  • District 2: Terry Taplin
  • District 3: #1 Matthews, #2 Bartlett, #3 John “Chip” Moore
  • District 5: ?
  • City Council, District 6: Andy Katz
    • We’ve known Andy for 20 years, and are confident that he’ll be an effective and diligent councilmember who shares our values. He’s a stalwart public servant, environmentalist, progressive, and has often advised us on our voter guides behind the scenes over the years!

Rent Stabilization Board (vote for 4, but we’re bulleting the two we know best)

  • Andy Kelley (Also a longtime friend and voter guide advisor!)
  • Alfred Twu

BUSD Directors (vote for 2)

  • Jen Corn
  • Ana Vasudeo

Contra Costa Bonus:

El Cerrito City Council: Rebecca Saltzman

A dear old friend ours, one of the best elected officials around—El Cerrito is lucky to have her!