I Didn’t Expect to Win

Kalimah Priforce

At this point, I knew I didn’t like Kalimah as a public representative. I’d written about it when he first ran for office, and been critical of some of his antics on social media. That said, I didn’t think he was a bad guy. Just a quirky one who liked the spotlight and sound of his own voice. I suspected I’d probably like him socially if I met him in person.

When I reached out to him to see if he’d grab coffee with me, he seemed a bit evasive but willing. We bantered a little bit about Marvel comics. Then when I tried to nail down a time and place, he instead suggested we talk over Zoom at a time I couldn’t do. Then when I tried to pivot back to an in person meeting, he declined and said I should email him if I have any specific questions for him.

I thought to myself, “alright, he’s not interested in meeting” and that was fine. He was probably busy. I told him it was a standing invitation and left it at that.

John Bauters

Bauters is a huge name in local Emeryville politics, and I’ve generally supported him in my time here. We’d met a few times at events like annual Emeryville Art Exhibitions and such, but I don’t think he really remembered me from those. I reached out to meet him for coffee, and despite his extremely busy calendar he agreed.

He was very helpful and easy to talk to, but sadly my work called me in for an emergency meeting with a partner — something that almost never happens — and I had to leave our chat early. Luckily he was gracious enough to meet me again… and I messed up my timing for the new meeting and missed it.

I beat myself up about this a lot. How was I so organized and so respectful of everyone’s time, except for this one person, who was probably the busiest of anyone else I requested it from? But despite this, he gave me a third chance and met me for brunch at Doyle Street Cafe. He shared some advice and a lot of apprehension for my policies. I’d categorize him as curious but unconvinced.

Similarly to Sam’s advice, his big one was something like:

Don’t let it get to you when people who don’t know you — and make no effort to — lie about you from their platforms.

I’ve kept this as a mantra during some of the harder times in the campaign. *foreshadowing*

David Mourra

I had a great impression of David before we ever met in person. I voted for him 4 years ago and had mostly minor disagreements with his work on the council since, with the obvious exception being Flock. I expected to vote for him as my second vote before I knew who else was running.

When we met for coffee, he was pleasant but seemed anxious. I chalked it up to me being an unknown and an opponent, so it made sense for him to be a little guarded. He was also the first opponent I met, so I arrived with the confidence of ignorance. We chatted about a lot of different topics, including our roles as HOA board members.

A city is like a big HOA in many ways.

David Mourra (paraphrased)

This idea brought me comfort and eased my impostor syndrome a little. We shared stories from our HOA work over the last few years, our love for the greenway, and goals for housing affordability. These topics were easy and frictionless, as I expected.

Data-Driven

We spent most of our conversation time on Flock and policing though. David often claimed to be data-driven in all his decision-making when he campaigned last time, so I was sure to bring the data for Flock. I cited my sources for the many ways Flock has deceived police departments and city councils all over the country. I also brought my experience working with the EFF and ACLU on civil liberties and privacy

Despite all the data, he remained quite stubborn. Even more stubborn than others I spoke with who were also part of the unanimous council decision in 2023. Perhaps he feared I was using it to attack him, but I was really just lobbying him the same way I did with other decision-makers. My goal was to arrive in city hall after November 3rd to make it right together. And even if I didn’t win, I wanted to make my city safer. I was going to need more than one seat on the five-person council on board.

We ended up walking side-by-side together toward our respective condo complexes, him walking his bike between us, and continuing to talk. I left feeling like we could collaborate well. Even if he didn’t move on Flock, he was a reasonable and thoughtful guy I could trust to do his best in good faith.

Talking to the Press

On August 8th the city clerk releases all the candidates who qualified to be on the ballot, and my phone and email immediately blew up.

Hyperlocal Emeryville Press

Our local press in Emeryville is a little bit pathetic. I don’t say that to deride the few people making the effort, but more to express a wish to have more of their like.

• The E’ville Eye is the one I consider best-run. It’s on-the-ball with a lot of news and reports events fairly quickly. I’ve been critical of the perspective some of the headlines and analysis comes from, but it’s generally not too bad. It is, after all, run by one guy without a staff to check him. It also allows anonymous comments on its articles which can stir the pot of discourse for better or worse.
• The Emeryville Tattler is similarly a one-man operation that’s fairly on-task with sharing information in a timely and useful manner. But the perspective of this one is a lot more openly and unapologetically biased. I think there’s room for that. I am, after all, an openly biased blogger myself. But I don’t appreciate how pushy, defensive, inflexible, and overbearing the writer can be. It makes it frustrating both when I agree with him and when I disagree with him.
• Emeryville Today launched during the election. It was put together by Berkeley Journalism students, and I hope it continues to grow. I was interviewed by a few of them over the last couple months, and they were professional and polite with me. My critiques so far include:
  • They don’t really publish in a timely manner. Their coverage of Emeryville Pride came out a month later, for example.
  • Their coverage of the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum in October completely skipped a lot of the most interesting parts of the event. And much of their telling mischaracterized what was actually said. I’m not sure why, but perhaps the paper is attempting to be on the opposite end of the Tattler and be less sensational to (in my opinion) a fault.

And that’s it. We have two news blogs run by one older white guy each and a brand-new site run by students just getting started. They’re all valuable in their own ways, but we need more and better.

Wider Bay Area Press

Our small city election felt mostly ignored by bigger news outlets, with a few exceptions.

• The Bay Area Reporter, an explicitly LGBTQIA+ news outlet, did a story about me and Albany’s Jon Destin as queer city council candidates both fighting Flock. (They would later endorse both of us too)
• The JoongAng (The Korea Daily SF) interviewed me too, and published it shortly before election day.

I saw little to nothing else about our race in the news. Flooded out by bigger stories and scandals, I suppose.

August 13th — Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus Meeting

I was in no condition to speak at an event.

I was heartbroken, bruised, swollen, and could barely speak clearly. But Alfred told me about this meeting and how I could have two minutes of their time, and I really wanted their endorsement. Half of Emeryville voters, and more than half of my neighbors who’d been supporting me so far, are Asian Pacific Americans.

I tuned in from my couch and watched other candidates and advocates talk about all their campaigns and ballot measures.

One funny note: I noted how weird it was when Ross Bernet (running for city council in Berkeley) set his background photo on Zoom to photos of him (a white cis man) and his Asian wife. I remembered seeing him on other Zoom events, never with that background. It gave me an ick about him I never really shook, but he’s lucky I’m not a constituent. He seems like a decent guy with a fine platform besides this one weird thing. Daria is just better, even without this quirk.

Eventually it was my turn, so I stood up and walked out to my balcony for better lighting and to avoid a background full of medical supplies. I don’t remember what I said, but Bethany told me I did a good job. I thanked them for their time, excused myself, and laid back down.

[flash forward] They didn’t end up endorsing me, but the Friends of the Filipino American Community were in attendance and they did!

August 18th — Met Brandon Soublet

I didn’t know who Brandon was until the E’ville Eye article was updated to include him as a new challenger alongside me. His photo looked imposing, like a no-nonsense tough guy, but I tried not to judge a book by its cover.

Then after I looked him up I recognized him from the Sutter study session at city hall.

I knew where he stood on Sutter, but the others on his website weren’t very detailed yet.

I reached out to him from his website to grab coffee in August and he was happy to join me. I requested we meet near me since it would be my first trek outside the courtyard of my condo complex since surgery and I warned him my face was a horror show. H was happy to accommodate me by riding his bike over to my side of the tracks and never flinched.

We had a great conversation over coffee and I immediately felt at ease with him, despite him being nearly a foot taller than me. We were both still cautious about how much to share with an opponent, and neither of us had ever done this before so we kept it pretty casual and helped each other clarify our stances to the other.

Brandon explained to me some misconceptions about his own campaign, so I updated my ballot post I was developing to include details about him being anti-Flock and not at all motivated by NIMBYism regarding the Sutter project. He also gave me a ton more resources about Sutter I benefitted greatly from to decide my own policies about the Sutter project. He was just starting up his campaign at the time, so he hadn’t had a chance to get all of this stuff on his website yet.

After this meeting, we occasionally chatted over email and text to keep each other up-to-date about endorsement opportunities and local events.

August 20th — Interview with Labor AFL-CIO

I got great feedback from my questionnaire answers for Labor, and multiple people told me I nailed my interview. It felt pretty easy considering I’ve been on the right side of picket lines since I was a toddler. My history as an HOA board member who prioritizes union contractors whenever possible helped too. I felt good after talking to the panel of interviewers and getting lots of smiles.

[flash forward] A couple weeks later, I received an off-the-record message from a member of the Labor team saying I did great in the process but they regrettably wouldn’t be endorsing anyone in my race. When the Labor social media account announced Regina‘s endorsement and she didn’t see my name next to hers she was surprised and thought there must be some mistake. I shrugged. 🤷‍♀️ I still don’t know what happened, but by then I was already validated in my union cred by my SEIU 1021 endorsement.

August 20th — East Bay For Everyone Candidates Mixer

As I arrived at this event, I learned I’d just missed my hero Barbara Lee who had to leave for another event on the other side of Oakland. I still haven’t had a chance to meet her face-to-face, but hope to someday.

I arrived alone, still swollen and weak, and Kinfolx — an awesome black-owned coffee shop with great baristas — was bustling. I grabbed a non-alcoholic beverage and scanned the room for familiar faces while waiting for Cheshire and Bethany to join me.

Luckily, I saw Sam Gould and said hi. He apologized he still wasn’t sure about endorsing me yet, even though I didn’t ask (but I was wondering), and he started introducing me to people in the room. It was really helpful to have someone do this for me as a newcomer, and everyone was so friendly.

In hindsight, I think this East Bay For Everyone event was the first event where I really hit my stride. Everyone there cared deeply about equity, affordable housing, environmentalism, public transit, biking/pedestrian safety, and scientifically-sound methods for solving these challenges. I really felt like I belonged there.

As the space filled, Brandon arrived too and I said hi to him. We ended up chatting for a while and when Bethany arrived I introduced them. After the event Bethany said she had a really good feeling about him and would probably vote for him. She’s pretty intuitive about people.

I met lots of other local candidates, including my policy twin in Berkeley Daria Wrubel. I endorsed her immediately after this event and sang her praises to every Berkeley resident I met. Adriana Valencia and I admired each other’s campaign branding, and she introduced me to Ryan LaLonde who designed hers. He’s also a member of Alameda’s school board and a Stonewall Democrat! We hit it off well and he told me to put him as an endorsement! I also met Jennifer West there, who was a former Emeryville City Councilmember and would later endorse me after my performance at the League of Women Voters forum. I can’t name all the others in a timely manner, but I’d go on to see several of them more in coming events all over the east bay.

August 22nd — Alameda County Dems Screening Interview

Another panel interview over Zoom, and this was a big one. Multiple people I talked with said the Democratic Central Committee was the biggest endorsement to shoot for, so I prepared as best as I could.

When the waiting room popped and I got in, the first face I saw was familiar and friendly. It was Sean Dugar who I met at the Harvey Milk Democratic Club event in July! He greeted me and said he wished me well in my recovery from surgery, which put me at ease. I was trying to mention my recovery to people in these interviews to explain why I looked and spoke strangely, but it was nice I didn’t have to use any of my limited time answering questions to address it here.

While my nerves eased at this, I didn’t totally relax until I got their first question.

Corry, what’s your take on data centers?

I must’ve lit up in anticipation of giving this answer. I started with my equivocal stance against them, stated clearly and then elaborated. Bethany wasn’t there, but I could feel her being proud of me out there doing hair in Albany.

She had been training me to answer with clear punchy summary statements first before doing my nerdy excited details after. I got all my policies about them in the two minute timer and saw a Zoom room full of smiling faces.

From there, each other question felt just as easy. I’d been refining my answers for these questions for a year now in my time working on my Policy and FAQ pages. I didn’t know how the AC Dems felt about my answers, but I knew where I stood and wasn’t going to change depending on who else was in the room. I left the Zoom feeling happy with how I did.

Fun tidbit: I ran into Sean again later at an event and asked him if the data center question was a softball because he knew I’d knock it out of the park. He said nope. All the questions were pre-selected and pretty much the same for every candidate. I just happened to have the best answer, he said.

September 1st — T-Shirts Arrive!

I was hoping we’d have these for the Campaign Kickoff, but they looked great when they arrived. Which was a relief considering they were our biggest expense so far.

The Only Lie I Told on the Campaign Trail

Due to a communication error between me and the printer, they processed our order using a non-final version of the design file. Because of that, our union-printed in Denver, Colorado shirts say “proudly screen printed in Emeryville” instead of “proudly printed in a union shop” like they should. I was upset about it, but no one else noticed.

If I ever do this again, I now have a local union shop I’ll try to use instead and triple-check my documents before approving the print run! Artist Proof Collective in Denver was great, but I want to stay local if I can next time.

September 3rd — Stonewall Dems Endorsement Meeting

As a member of the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club, I was watching this meeting to educate myself on who I’d vote for or endorse, in addition to being a participant.

I read all the questionnaires beforehand and watched the candidates answer questions live and felt pretty good about my chances. After all, I was a member in good standing, queer, and running for one of two seats against two incumbents who don’t identify as LGBTQIA+. I also have self-serving policy goals attempting to make our city safer for queer folks like us.

I was surprised not to see Brandon’s questionnaire on the list, and messaged him. He said he missed the deadline, and I felt bad because I didn’t tell him about it. I just assumed he was a member of the group already. We could’ve been endorsed as the rainbow duo of Emeryville!

When it was my turn, I felt calm and ready.

I spoke about making Emeryville a sanctuary city for everyone. And how privacy was a huge part of ensuring that. Even for people who ICE isn’t currently kidnapping and murdering, the data they’re using to massacre our people will be used on us next. I talked about how many friends have left the country already and how I want to stay and fight. It all came pretty naturally.

David Mourra arrived later and did his best, but didn’t have anything really in-touch with LGBTQIA+ issues to say.

[flash forward] I won their endorsement and had to turn down another check! A few members donated as individuals, luckily and helped us get our Yard Signs funded.

I told them about Brandon but they couldn’t do anything for him after the deadline. We hadn’t endorsed each other yet, but he was my queer brother in arms. He deserved this one.

September 4th — Campaign Bank Account Issues

Setting up a bank account for a political campaign is apparently very complicated for whoever the unlucky banker is who has to do it. Or so we were left to assume after spending several hours sitting in a Wells Fargo office waiting for them to convene several meetings about opening what seems to me to be a basic business checking account. All this despite us always having all the paperwork they requested immediately. It’s almost like these accounts aren’t necessary at least every other year…

Knowing now what the FPPC actually wants from our finances, there’s no justification at all for how much of our time they wasted. For our lean campaign, it truly was just a checking account with a debit card, and our balance never exceeded $1,000.

I won’t use Wells Fargo if I ever do this again.

September 4th — Bridgewater Meet & Greet

At 6pm on Friday evening, I had my first meet & greet since qualifying for the ballot at my condo complex. I wasn’t expecting as good of a turnout as we got! We ran out of the two-dozen cookies I brought from Butter Pecan Bakeshop and one of our lovely volunteers had to order us a pizza from Pizza Gallery to make sure the others didn’t leave with nothing but stickers and flyers.

By the end of the event, we had over twenty sign-ups for email updates and even a few new volunteers!

It really boosted my morale, which I found I needed regularly throughout the campaign. There truly are big ups-and-downs in putting yourself and your most cherished beliefs out there for something like this. Caring about what strangers think of me is a brand-new thing, but getting anything done democratically requires it.

September 5th — Meeting Regina

I reached out to Regina Chagolla, an incumbent running for re-election for Emery Unified School Board, and asked if she would grab coffee with me. She was very busy promoting races across the county and even in SF for progressive causes. Between teaching full-time in Berkeley and campaign work, she barely had time to sleep, but she spent 30 minutes chatting with me on Saturday morning at Dos Corazones Cafe.

We immediately hit it off. She loved my message and I hers, and confirmed I was going to vote for her again this November. After discussing how city council could collaborate better with our schools, she agreed to endorse me. Shortly after, one of her neighbors in their building walked by with her dog and she introduced me. She also introduced me to several other local figures, including Barnali Ghosh who I’ll mention soon.

Regina became another great ally in the race. We split our resources canvassing the city promoting both of our campaigns. She told me about important dates for meetings and deadlines.

Anytime I was at an event she couldn’t go to, I made a point to tell everyone she was out fighting the good fight elsewhere and defending her honor against Brian Donahue’s barrage of “throw the bums out!” about all incumbents in the race he was also running — but not really running — in.

September 8th — Alameda County Democratic Party Endorsement

After I left a post-op doctor appointment I saw the email from the Alameda County Dems. I won their endorsement.

Holy shit!

me, out loud in a Lyft

I never expected to be the pick for the Democratic Party. I openly talk about abolishing prisons and defunding police. I’m a first-time candidate running against two incumbents in an often overlooked small city. But I needed endorsements to show legitimacy as a first-timer, so of course I’ll take it!

My first thought as I rode back to return to working the rest of the afternoon was “Maybe Lateefah Simon will congratulate me tonight at her town hall!” 😳

September 8th — Lateefah Simon’s Emeryville Town Hall

I’ve met Lateefah Simon before at protests where she marched and spoke in Oakland, but I never wanted anything from her before. I didn’t expect her to remember me or anything, and I had no idea I was going to run for office last time we spoke. I canvassed for her in my neighborhood as soon as she got Barbara Lee’s endorsement. She’s another celebrity I admire as a shy fan.

I arrived early and greeted the staff members running the event as I signed in. Sadly, I heard Lateefah was feeling under the weather and wouldn’t be shaking hands or meeting people that night. But she was fantastic on stage despite not feeling well.

Before it began I greeted a few familiar faces in the crowd including Brandon and his parents and some of the city staff I knew.

Topic #1 at the Town Hall: Flock

I was still in my head about Kalimah Priforce’s statements at a few forums how people didn’t really want Flock gone, and I hadn’t really talked to the people. This town hall completely blew all the gaslighting out of the water. Simon said Flock was easily the number one most popular topic people wrote in about.

She stated in no uncertain terms:

Flock is not a trustworthy vendor. They’ve lied repeatedly, misrepresented themselves to public officials all over the country, and put innocent residents at risk.

Lateefah Simon, September 8th, 2026 at Emeryville Senior Center

She went on to list Flock’s crimes and reference messages she’s been receiving from every city in her district about wanting them gone.

An Interruption from Jamie Joyce

See the whole story here on my ballot page.

For weeks after this event, Jamie Joyce blew up my DMs on Bluesky trying to prove me wrong and somehow win me over to her bullshit, which struck me as a big waste of time and effort. Especially considering only one other person on the planet hearted my post.

Bethany, my resident expert in narcissism, informed me about some people’s insatiable need to win over absolutely everyone. And suddenly Twitter and the toxic parts of Bluesky made so much more sense to me. And I felt pity. Pity and “Welp! Not my problem!”

I really wish Lateefah Simon would post the Town Hall replay, but I suspect Joyce’s disruption may be the reason she hasn’t.

Topic #2: Disproportionately Racist Unemployment and Black-Owned Businesses

Right after Jamie Joyce’s barging in without being called on, a middle-aged black man was handed the mic. He told a story about being laid off from an auto repair shop belonging to a national chain, and how it didn’t feel like a coincidence that everyone who was laid off was black. One of his nephews has been unemployed in the same industry for over a year. He talked about how it’s hard to find a black mechanic in Oakland right now, and what a shocking statistic that is. He asked, what can we do to fight back against racism in hiring locally?

Lateefah Simon was sympathetic and talked about all the anti-DEI measures the Trump administration and DOGE have been undertaking. But she didn’t have a solution ready. She took his contact information and said she’d reach out.

I thought to myself, this was yet another reason to put resources into city services for local businesses that benefit people of color, like Emeryville’s BIPOC small business support pilot. We need to get away from giving big corporate chains and franchises all our marketplace spots, because they do opportunistic bullshit like these layoffs.

Topic #3: Data Centers

When asked about how communities can fight against data centers coming into our cities, Simon repeated something she also mentioned about Flock:

Nothing for us, without us.

Lateefah Simon

Meaning: no matter how big and powerful a corporation is, they shouldn’t be able to overrule our cities and communities. If we don’t want it, we have to be equipped to stop them.

She also repeated this sentiment later when asked about the Sutter project, but she didn’t seem to want to comment more in-depth about that. We thought “Hopefully she’ll be an ally for us when negotiating with Sutter in coming months after she’s re-elected.”

After the Town Hall

Outside the Senior Center, there were several police and a handful of press interviewing Joyce, who seemed gleeful to have the attention. Brian Donahue from The Emeryville Tattler was off to the side, seeming — to his credit — uninterested in her stunt, talking to Brandon Soublet. Cheshire and I hung out for a little bit to see if maybe Lateefah Simon or Mia Bonta might appear for a greeting or handshake, but they stayed inside.

As I walked home, I was politely catcalled by a man grabbing takeout food at a local spot, and it felt nice considering how dissociated from my body I’d felt for the last few months. I also hadn’t yet taken a progress pic that day, so I took a quick selfie.

Brandon and I Start Chatting More

As we kept running into each other at events and having “WTF experiences” to commiserate about, we kept chatting on Signal. We also shared tips with each other about all the last-minute events and endorsement questionnaires we were getting.

After the Lateefah Simon event, I learned about how Brian Donahue was really bending his ear constantly. I told him about an often-overlooked feature on his phone called the Block button, but he seemed hesitant to get on Brian’s bad side.

I had no issue talking to Brian. He was never disrespectful of my boundaries — probably because I held them consistently and clearly — and didn’t seem scary to me. But I also wasn’t his pet project for this election the way it seemed like Brandon was. Resistance to the Sutter project was something they both supported together so I suspect that’s why he was Brian’s early favorite to pair with Kalimah, who was well-known to be his ally for a while at this point. I figured I wouldn’t have a shot with that crowd, but didn’t ignore them either. They can always come around.

I was still unsure if I was going to endorse Brandon or David at this point, but Brandon was quickly growing on me while David wasn’t even really around. I rarely saw him at events and despite me reaching out to him a few times to build comradery, he always felt distant and deflecting. Meanwhile Brandon was warm and human about everything.

September 9th — East Bay For Everyone Meeting

Cool people, free pizza, learning more about the ballot measures in Oakland and Berkeley, and finding out they endorsed me! What a great night!

September 10th — Sutter EIR Meeting in Oakland

Cathy Leonard, a local activist who’s been vocal about the impact of the Sutter Hospital project, and her org the Golden Gate Community Association (GGCA) got 5 Oakland representatives from different departments, including councilmember Zac Unger, to appear for a town hall. Brandon gave me the heads up this was happening, and encouraged me to join.

I arrived at Downs Memorial Methodist Church a little early, and a woman smoking and talking on her phone in the parking lot pointed me to the door inside. I greeted unfamiliar faces and made conversation until Brandon and his parents arrived and I spoke to them. When they began calling the meeting to order, I sat near the back to respect that I wasn’t an Oakland resident.

As people took turns talking about what their concerns are for the project, the city reps seemed surprised by a lot of it. There was a slide presentation showing all the theorized traffic impacts of the hospital, something Sutter has not yet offered us at this point, so they did it themselves.

Once they got past the initial presentation and rep comments, the audience began raising their own questions.

GGCA’s Questions

• Brandon was encouraged to speak early on, and fired off dozens of troubling stats from his extensive research about the project. The city reps took notes as he spoke.
• A young girl — perhaps 12 or so — stood up and eloquently shared concerns about her classmates riding bikes and walking on the side streets nearby to commute to and from school.
• An older woman in her 80’s spoke about how difficult it already was for her to safely walk in the area the hospital was near.
• I raised my hand and spoke about some of the ways we can negotiate with Sutter. The fact that they don’t have a backup plan for where to put this hospital, so we have a strong bargaining position. I named a few ways we could make them agree to a CBA to mitigate all their major impacts on both our cities. (I didn’t want the entire meeting to be about just the many problems, and wanted to offer some solutions too.)
• A mother who lives only a block or so away from the project expressed a desire for permitted street parking and greater enforcement because people going to the hospital will try to avoid paying for parking in Sutter’s garage by parking in front of homes and blocking driveways in the residential neighborhood right there.
• A white 30-something dad mentioned how difficult the process was for his family going back and forth to distant hospitals for every test and procedure. Having a new hospital right here would be a great thing for the city. He started his comment stating sympathy and understanding for all the issues, but just wanted to make sure he got that out there.
• Many Oakland residents spoke about how bad Oakland streets were already maintained and designed, and how they’ll need to fix those existing problems ASAP before the hospital makes them all much worse.

After about an hour of that, the meeting had already overrun its planned time, so I had to head out. I was hoping to meet Zac Unger and chat with him a bit after this meeting, but perhaps I’d get a chance another time.

Bethany and I had date night (Thursday) after all, but she was gracious about letting me be late to attend this event. She even picked me up from the church to bring us to our hot date at Clio’s Books.

September 12th – Oakland East Bay Democratic Club Forum

The afternoon before, I received a vague last-minute invitation to a candidate forum over Zoom on Saturday.

I told them I was interested, but would need more information (like what time, and a Zoom link, and what the format would be) to know for sure. After a few emails back-and-forth we figured it out. I looked at their website, which was broken in several ways (and doesn’t seem to have been updated at all since) and figured they must do things in-person, the more old-fashioned way.

On Saturday morning, Brandon, Kalimah, and I attended a Zoom meeting. David was, once again, a no-show. As we took turns answering questions, Kalimah used his time to rebut my answers rather than answer the questions himself. Which the format of the forum (not a debate) explicitly says not to do. For my answer about Flock, which multiple members on the Zoom call clapped and cheered for, Kalimah once again tried to tell me nobody is anti-Flock. He told people about how mean I’ve been to him on my blog multiple times.

Brandon emailed me immediately after the call ended.

We then took the chat to Signal, where we’ve basically been secret besties ever since.

To this day, I don’t know what happened after that meeting. They never announced any endorsements in any race, as far as I can tell. 🤷‍♀️

September 15th — David Mourra Proposes a Flock Study Session

At a city council meeting, David Mourra proposed this and the motion passed after some objections from Priforce. I was pleased with this development. Maybe our conversation over coffee made an impact? Maybe he did more research after, as he said he would? This made me respect him a little more again.

I was disappointed to find out the session wouldn’t take place until at least January. But at least it would occur before renewing the contract.

September 18th — ECAP Grand Opening

Cheshire was with me for this opening, so he made a point to get photos of me talking to everyone whenever he could.

I was a little emotional because ECAP supported me when I was laid off a few years ago and I showed up to a hot parking lot next to a church to get groceries. They were always so kind to me, pushing more items into my arms when I only took a few, and insisting I also take some treats in addition to protein and vegetables.

This new ECAP location reminds me of the free supermarkets Zohran Mamdani opened in New York City. There’s so much more dignity here for both the amazing volunteers and the clientele who deserve a normal experience shopping for groceries.

I finally got to chat with Courtney Welch, who kept ignoring my attempts to meet previously. She was the first person I reached out to when I decided to run, even before my neighbor Matthew Solomon, because she’s kind of my favorite current councilmember. She was pleasant and friendly as usual.

David Mourra also came over to congratulate me on our AC Dems endorsement and I congratulated him back.

They definitely endorsed the two best candidates.

David Mourra

I laughed awkwardly and made a point not to necessarily agree. I offered to collaborate on some door-knocking together and he brushed it off as a maybe. So I suspect the comment was more intended as a dig at Kalimah and Brandon, rather than complimentary to me.

There were hundreds of little digs made at Kalimah’s expense throughout my run — most of them microaggressions, eyerolling, or the like. My impression has been that he’s massively unpopular but most people don’t just outright say it openly like I do. And honestly, based on his reactions to me, I can kind of see why. I can also now understand Brandon’s hesitation to publicly distance himself until later in the campaign.

I also got to chat with Sukhdeep Kaur for the first time since beginning my campaign. She was lovely and very complimentary of our campaign. Cheshire lit up, as he should, at her compliments of our branding and photos.

John Bauters was super busy, as usual, MC’ing the event so we greeted each other but didn’t spend a lot of time chatting.

After the ribbon-cutting, I excused myself to run to the Senior Center for Drag Bingo.

September 18th — Emeryville Pride Drag Bingo at the Senior Center

There were several professional photographers at this event, so I didn’t take any of my own photos, but I’ve seen barely any photos posted since! Which sucks, because the attendees were out in excellent fashion! Please let me know if you have any photos from this event, because it was super fun and fabulous.

First, I helped serve lunch. I was paired with a bright young German man who was in town visiting family, and we charmed the crowd with our banter as we handed out chicken with rice, beans, and squash or eggplant for vegetarians.

After we served everyone, they gave us our own plates and I suddenly realized I’d been running all over the city but hadn’t eaten in 7 hours. Despite assuming food at a senior center would be bland, it was delicious! I didn’t even use hot sauce on mine. Brandon and his parents were there volunteering too, so we hung out while we ate.

Then drag bingo began and I was assigned as a runner. I’ve only done this once before many years ago for a smaller crowd, but this was even funner. The entire audience had big fun personalities and amazing outfits that were easy to compliment to make conversation. Robby played up the vitriol by prompting them to booooo when he called a number they didn’t have, but there were zero actual negative vibes in the room.

I can’t wait to turn 50 and participate in these events myself.

September 19th — Emeryville Pride at Bay Street

The next day we were tabling at Bay Street Pride. Cheshire had been coordinating with them for weeks beforehand and set it all up. I had a scheduling conflict that morning that prevented me from showing up early like I usually would, but him and his wife Sarah really kicked ass on the setup without me.

Lots of people came up and talked to us throughout the entire event. There were so many vendors, food trucks, and awesome performances going on right beside us. The Stonewall Dems came by and grabbed stickers and literature to help promote us, which was awesome. I had lots of great conversations with neighbors who later came to our events or volunteered! Brandon came by to chat and I got to meet Steven and Temba in person finally!

I was talking nonstop for like 6 hours straight when my voice finally started to give out and we started packing up. I wasn’t sure if all that effort was worth it, but for the rest of the campaign I’d hear people saying they remember me from Pride!

September 20th — Emeryville Pride at Public Market

We weren’t tabling here or doing anything official, but I showed up to participate as a normal neighbor and enjoyed the show thoroughly.

Campaign Photos Re-Shoot

After a while Cheshire met me to finally take our re-shoots of my campaign photos. I’d been looking forward to this from the moment we took the first ones back in May. And Cheshire composed what may be my favorite photo of myself I’ve ever taken:

This Protect What You Love mural is one of my favorite street art projects the city commissioned since I moved here. Steffi Lynn (the artist) did an amazing job nailing my exact reason for running for city council. It was the perfect place to shoot my new photo. I posted it everywhere.

September 21st – 30th — City Training Webinars

The City of Emeryville hosted three training seminars for all candidates about general city operations, public safety, and public works. The incumbents didn’t attend, but I assume they did in their first election 4 years ago. Brandon and I both enjoyed these more than we expected. It turns out we are truly both geeks about this stuff that really matters to us and our neighbors!

I was especially looking forward to the public safety one, where the EPD chief of police and Alameda County Fire Chiefs gave us presentations justifying their combined hold of more than half our city budget. The Fire Department seemed quite reasonable and effective as-is and I was mostly just struck by how expensive private equity and other global supervillains have made it to run a fire station in 2026. The police department’s presentation didn’t surprise me much, except that I learned that a lot of the waste I perceived in their department is covered and required by grants that pay for them. Not all of it, by any means, but a significant portion. I was also happy to hear about how well they’re doing while somehow still perpetually understaffed — which I’m still extremely skeptical of.

In the public works presentation, I was surprised to hear we’re missing out on a huge state fund for affordable housing because our schools are under-performing. It re-enforced my desire to support Emeryville’s schools much more. I was also not-surprised-but-annoyed that there is no central communications department or even a single dedicated staff member who manages that for the city. The lackluster state of communication between the city and residents makes a lot more sense in that light.

September 24th — Wellstone and East Bay Young Dems

I had a conflict on my calendar for two different endorsement-essential events occurring at the exact same time. I RSVP’ed yes to the East Bay Young Democrats first, so I kept my word with them. But as I was heading there and waiting for the event to begin in earnest, I joined the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club‘s Zoom meeting and engaged with them a little before apologizing and excusing myself.

I’m not sure if I would’ve won the Wellstone endorsement if I chose them (they didn’t endorse anyone in Emeryville), but the Young Dems event was very productive. Cheshire and I split up to cover more ground, and I made quite a few new friends and allies. I even convinced a few uncertain voters to vote yes on Prop 40, which is essential.

It’s amazing how very smart people on the left can sometimes overthink things so hard they bite themselves in the ass.

Avery Arbaugh was there and just as cool as I imagined. She was one of my very first endorsements and donors, and I got to meet the other four members of her Berkeley Rent Board slate. All great. No notes.

I met Annie Koruga in person finally, who’s awesome. I’d seen her around many times in Zooms and bigger events but finally got ten minutes with her at this event. I got to see Daria again, and her campaign was rocking since last time so she had visible added swagger that night.

And, yes, they did endorse me. 🎉

September 27th — Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour

It was finally time for me to take this tour Regina told me about and meet the great Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee.

I can’t recommend this tour enough to anyone in the area who’s even a budding historian or revolutionary. They don’t shy away from the messy parts, and provide moving stories and performances along the way to truly take you back to the times discussed.

Along the way I also got to chat with Barnali a bit about my run and she offered me some great advice and said she’d tell her colleagues about me. I was honored. I already felt like I got so much out of the tour even without that kind gesture.

September 27th — East Bay Stonewall Dems Mixer

That night I was looking forward to a more chill night with my like-minded peers at Pickle Athletics, a queer black women-owned business. We watched the Valkyries game, enjoyed beverages, and played some casual pickleball together. And even though we talked about a lot of heavy topics, our solidarity felt reinvigorating.

September 28th — Berkeley City Council Forum

Daria absolutely killed it at the forum, and watching it helped me finalize my ranked choices for the Berkeley city council elections.

October 1st — Manny Yekutiel Drops Out of the SF Supervisor Race

Finally, after months dismissing accusations of sexual assault and accepting big endorsements from San Francisco Democrats who don’t see that as a problem, Yekutiel drops out.

And, sadly and predictably, the story of this serial sex pest (at the very least) remains being dominantly told by the offender and a society that excuses powerful men being shitty to powerless people. Barely any news coverage or content that rises to the first page of search engine results tells Ryan or Brad’s stories from their own perspectives.

I want to make sure people know about believebrad.org, a petition and support fund for survivors of sexual assault.

Learn More about the story:

• SF political activist accuses supervisor candidate Manny Yekutiel of 2020 sexual assault (The San Francisco Standard, June 2026)
• S.F. Dems endorse Manny Yekutiel in tense meeting despite sexual assault allegation, plea from accuser (Mission Local, August 2026)
• 2nd sexual misconduct allegation rocks Yekutiel D8 supervisor campaign (The Bay Area Reporter)
• An ugly day for San Francisco — and not just for Manny Yekutiel (Mission Local)
• Manny Yekutiel’s accusers are relieved he dropped out. They’re still angry at his backers (SF Chronicle)

But the consent theme doesn’t end in San Francisco, much like it didn’t end at the White House or Supreme Court or anywhere else. *more foreshadowing*

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October 2nd — The Emery Arts Exhibition Opening

I’ve gone to these every year since moving here and it’s always a highlight of the season.

For the entire month of October, I can walk into a gallery space right next to Public Market and wander around appreciating local art. It’s awesome every year.

Opening Night

Opening night is always packed, so it’s not always the best time to see the art if that’s what you most care about. But it’s fun if you want to see all the artists with fans and family members, and if you want to tell them how much you enjoy their work. It’s also fun socially, since there’s live music and city council members serving wine. This year was no different.

But this year I was also campaigning, so Cheshire insisted we both wear our t-shirts and talk about that instead of his art — two beautiful photographs — and the lovely subject of one of those photos in attendance. I’ve greeted and chatted up councilmembers every year since I moved here, but this time they knew who I was.

I spoke to David Mourra and once again offered to canvass with him as fellow AC Dems endorsees. He said he was busy this week, but perhaps after that.

At this point, I’d only see one mailer from him, and it was pretty boring — just saying local officials he works with endorsed him. I hadn’t seen him at events or canvassing at all, so I wondered what he was even doing to campaign.

Closing Out the Night

As we started heading out, the bartenders pointed us to what I can only describe as a pile of half-empty wine bottles and encouraged us each to take one so they wouldn’t be wasted. We did our duty as Emeryville citizens.

I made a point to return a few days later when it was empty and quiet to enjoy all the art I couldn’t see opening night.

October 3rd — Emeryville Harvest Festival

I was excited to go to the Harvest Festival, even though I was a bit tired. It was a hot day, so Rogue and I stayed hydrated as we walked all the way there hopping between shady walkways.

Local Media Tents

As I tunnel-visioned toward Trader Vic’s tent to get a Mai Tai, I was greeted by Brian Donahue sitting at his Emeryville Tattler table. While I waited for my cocktail, we chatted along with one of the officers who was stationed across the street at the EPD tent. This was our first time speaking at length in person. We talked about the school board candidates, Flock, and police budgets, finding lots of agreements. And while he did sort-of dominate the path of the conversation the way he tends to do, it was never unpleasant and I was willing to follow along for a while. Eventually, I excused myself to go enjoy the rest of the festival.

Later on, I ran into Rob Arias from the E’ville Eye and we spoke for about as long. This was also my first time speaking with him at length in person. He was skeptical about my anti-Flock stance, but curious about it. I told him about my skepticism that using city data to train an AI model then selling that AI model elsewhere isn’t really much different from selling city data. It’s just a laundering of accountability, like most AI bullshit. I’m not sure if that sunk in, but he definitely seemed intrigued.

Emeryville Today didn’t have their own tent at this event, but I chatted with one of their journalists briefly near the food trucks.

Brandon’s Table

I stopped by Brandon’s table twice — once to say hi and introduce him to Rogue, then later to say bye before heading out. On the second visit, I offered him some of my delicious Lumpia from the HighOnFries food truck. He was there mostly by himself, so I figured he may not have eaten much besides the cookies he was giving away.

I walked away glad I didn’t table there, because wandering around and talking to everyone felt really fun and productive. It was probably similar to how Brandon felt about the Pride event at Bay Street when he could freely roam while I tabled.

East Bay DSA’s Table

Right next to Brandon was the East Bay DSA table. They weren’t there when I first said hi, but they were packing up when I stopped by the second time. I started chatting with the reps and they were excited to hear I was running for city council. I thought it was odd they didn’t already know this, considering they’d ignored my multiple attempts at outreach for the months before this event.

They pointed behind them and said, “Have you met Kalimah yet?” but there was no one there. After a few more minutes talking, Kalimah would reappear and reluctantly shake my hand. I talked with him and the other DSA rep about housing, rent control, and taxing big corporations. Then I mentioned Flock and the DSA guys was excitedly anti-Flock, like most DSA members are. Kalimah wandered off again shortly after that without saying much.

Then the DSA guys start pitching me hard on joining or donating. I mentioned how I don’t really have the cash, especially while running a grassroots campaign and getting support from several other local orgs who were paying attention to my local city races.

This whole interaction put even more of a bad taste in my mouth about the DSA. I’ve been a socialist since before Bernie, and these guys who I keep interacting with never seem like they respect that work. If it doesn’t happen inside their own org, they don’t seem to pay attention to it. I get that social media is a huge deal for political movements, but I’m not going to fawn all over any org just because of their follower count.

The Rottenest Dog Contest

I entered Rogue in the Rottenest Dog Contest this year, hoping she’d act nutty like she usually does. Once we got on stage, she stayed in her sweet social mode and greeted each judge gently, completely ruining our shot. She’s such a little troll.

The Scooby Doo group costume absolutely deserved to win, though, and I hope someone (other than EPD on Instagram) posts photos and videos of that somewhere. Sadly, like Emeryville Pride, despite seeing multiple photographers there I haven’t been able to find any posts sharing them since. (Perhaps they’re all on social media apps I don’t use)

Cheshire arrived during the contest and consoled us after the results. We chatted for a while and I pointed him toward the Waste Management tent. Cheshire is one of Waste Management’s many unhappy customers here in the city, and wanted to make sure their reps at the festival were aware of that. I went off to visit all the city departments.

Local Departments

Spread out across the entire event were tents for Emery-Go-Round, Public Works, EBMUD, and many more. I grabbed a cute little planting pot with the city of Emeryville logo on it for Bethany. Saying hi to all the familiar faces from city hall, shoreline cleanups, and our candidate trainings was fun too.

Public Works

The Public Works tent let us write down all the new businesses we’d like to see in the city on sticky notes and place them on a board. I wrote down a couple:

• Small local grocery store (w/ a bodega cat)
• Laundromat w/ wash & fold and tailoring services
• Coffee Shop that switches to a Wine Bar at 5pm

I was hoping they’d post the results at the end somewhere online, but I guess it was just for that event. After the event, I thought of another one: a Lesbian Bar where we can watch Valkyries games and sing karaoke!

Emeryville Pride Tent

Robby was, as always, out and energetic at the Harvest Festival. I was finally able to donate for my purple Emeryville Pride t-shirt I couldn’t find time to grab while I was working all the events that weekend.

Emeryville Historical Society & Sierra Club

I browsed some of the old photos and news clippings and chatted with one of their curators for a while. It was really cool to see how the city’s grown. Then as I was chatting with the Sierra Club reps right next to them, we all chatted together about sea level rise and cleaning up our industrial spaces in the city, which was cool. Sort of an interconnected past-present-future conversation.

October 5th — First Night Canvassing

We kept trying to find time to knock on doors before October, but there were just too many meetings and events. My HOA duties were heavier than usual. And on the few nights per week I had free, I needed to rest. Needing to keep a full-time job separately from campaigning and eventually serving as councilmember is rough, and I’m jealous of councilmembers in other cities who can do just that full-time once elected.

We decided to start in Cheshire’s neighborhood on the eastern city border and work our way north. I figured he’d know some of the people there and it’d be a smooth start to my experience.

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Door-Knocking

I want to take this moment for an interlude about my general experience doing this.

Despite it being my biggest fear about running for office, I actually loved knocking on doors. I’d done canvassing for other candidates and measures before, but never for myself. People genuinely appreciated me being there in person, and I enjoyed meeting my weird and whacky neighbors.

My Method

1. Check for “No Solicitors” signs and completely ignore those homes. I never entered a gated community without being invited and escorted by a resident.
2. Knock/Ring — if no answer after ~30 seconds, leave a doorhanger.
3. “Hi, my name’s Corry and I’m running for city council. Do you have a moment to chat about Emeryville?”

About half the people who answered were busy, so for them I asked if I could give them a flyer. While pulling my flyer out I gave them my quick elevator pitch.

I want to make housing more affordable by both long-term by building more of it and short-term with rent control and real tenant protections. I want to get rid of the Flock cameras. And I want to make city hall more efficient and effective as an experienced manager.

Sometimes I also mentioned making Sutter do more for us, if I had an extra second for a 4th sentence.

Often, after that quick pitch, even the folks who said they were busy would stay and chat. One woman even let her pasta overcook and didn’t mind having to start a new batch after we finished talking. People were generally pleased with living in Emeryville, like I am, and didn’t want too much to change.

• More than half the people I spoke to said “nice” or “fuck yea” or other forms of affirmation when I mentioned getting rid of Flock.
• A lot of people further outside the 53rd/Horton area didn’t know about the Sutter project until we talked about it.
• I generally stopped ringing doorbells and knocking around 8:30pm, to avoid waking up sleeping kids and not spend too much time wandering in the dark.

My Wagon of Goodies

After my first session, we finally got Yard Signs delivered and they didn’t fit in my backpack. So Bethany generously let me use her coincidentally-teal-colored wagon.

It wound up being much easier on my back than keeping a backpack on and continuously needing to pull it on and off the restock on literature. It also meant we could bring more merch with us to hand out, which was great.

Canvassing Apps

Several people tried to get me to use apps to track where we were knocking, but I considered that a breach of my stance against buying/sharing data that wasn’t explicitly given to me.

I also didn’t care if I knocked on the doors of unregistered voters or non-Democrats, which most of the apps would filter out. I wanted to meet everyone who lives here, even if they couldn’t vote for me. I spoke to some very nice people who didn’t have citizenship yet and I serve them too — hence wanting to get rid of Flock.

Oddball Resident Stories

Lots of fun and weird stuff happened while knocking doors. Here are a few of my favorite stories.

I had to leave Oakland because of antisemitism!

One of the people I spoke with was wide-eyed and pale like they barely left their home. I thought maybe we startled them, but when they spoke I learned that they harbor some paranoia or xenophobia.

This is all paraphrased:

I appreciate that your statement about not accepting donations isn’t anti-semitic. Jamie Joyce sent me a horrible one recently.

Oh jeez. Yea, she’s a piece of work, but I didn’t know she was that bad.

Me

Yea, it was horrible. She said she doesn’t accept donations from Israel or anyone aligned with Israel.

Cheshire and I both just froze and blinked, having no idea what to say.

I don’t know where you stand, but I at least appreciate that you’re not explicitly excluding Jewish people.

Well, I don’t accept money from any PACs or corporations at all, so that’s not specific. 👍

I left out the part where I would totally refuse any donations from Israel, and I’ll again reference my answer to that Zionist org’s questionnaire. Free Palestine, from the river to the sea, and fuck Netanyahu and anyone supporting his genocide.

They continued:

It’s so nice here in Emeryville. When I lived in Oakland, I couldn’t leave my house. There was Palestinian flags and graffiti everywhere. I feared for my life!

More stunned, silent blinking from us.

Well anyway, I appreciate you coming and meeting people like this. I love what you’re running for, definitely get rid of Flock and get us rent control!

We wrapped up the conversation and moved on to the next home.

My One Trans Friend

One woman I spoke with told me about “her one trans friend” who was great and “was obviously trans” which was unsettling for me at first. I know her intentions were good, and I forgave her on behalf of all trans women everywhere while telling her a couple tips that I’ll share for other cis women doing their best™️.

1. Trans women generally don’t enjoy being told we don’t pass. You’re basically just calling another woman ugly when you say that.
2. Don’t worry, we know. No one knows it more. Your services making sure are not needed.
3. You probably should be closer friends or make more trans friends than one token one and you’ll learn more of these nuances. 💖

I never want to be like the annoying wokescolds online who just shame people for being ignorant or left behind by the latest “politically correct” way to say things. I want to encourage empathy and show them how their behavior and words affect the folks they’re trying to support. Treating trans women (or men) as some separate other thing and not just another woman (or man) is something many allies still need to work on.

The Old Revolutionary

When we walked up to one door in a multi-family building all the lights were out, so I figured no one was home. I did my usual knock, expecting no answer and to put a doorhanger on their knob.

As soon as I knocked on the screen door, a man’s voice said “What’re you selling?”

It startled me. It was so dark, I didn’t realize the door behind the screen door wasn’t closed too. But I recovered quickly and said my usual “Hi! I’m Corry and I’m running for city council!” spiel.

The man turned on a lamp and illuminated his entire living room. He was an older black man sitting in a recliner facing the door.

I’m afraid you may be wasting your time on this jaded old man, sweetie.

He talked about being around for a long time, fighting in the military, marching for civil rights, and doing some hardcore direct action decades before my time. We exchanged a couple resistance stories.

He was so cool.

Cheshire pointed behind him at his crowded bookshelf and remarked about him being a big reader. He told us he’s really into history, and how his knowledge of history makes him know how bad things are right now.

I told him about how being dejected about the wider world and feeling helpless about it was why I wanted to focus on my local world. That protecting my family and neighbors here started my search for where I could help.

I don’t know if I turned him back into a voter again, but by the end of our 20 minute conversation he took some campaign literature and wished me luck.

A few other quick tidbits:

• A professional political strategist loved our campaign and put a sign in her yard.
• Several doors were opened by cute queer femmes who moved to town recently, which is an awesome trend I want to see more of!
• We knocked on the door of Christopher Keith Allen, one of the school board candidates! He and his wife paused their dinner to chat with us and even put one of my yard signs in their yard surrounded by wonderful Halloween decorations.
• A grandmother pushed past her son in the doorway to tell me how much she appreciated my performance at the LWVBAE forum.

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October 8th — The LWVBAE Forum

I was really nervous for this. As I’ve said in many of my ballot posts, I use the forums the League of Women Voters puts on as one of my primary means of comparing candidates for my own voting choices.

I overthought my outfit, my makeup, everything. This was going to be my first time on TV (and YouTube) after surgery, and a lot of people’s very first impression of me.

I arrived early and found my way to the multipurpose room. I’d been here before for a job fair when I was unemployed, but my memory was sketchy so I gave myself extra time.

Setting Up

When I walked in there were maybe 30 folding chairs set up in rows in front of five plastic folding tables. A tall man with curly hair was setting up a laptop on the middle table. He introduced himself as the principal of the high school. He was pleasant, and he introduced me to one of the student helpers who were going to be at the desk near the entrance.

The two tables on either side of him had name tags. Mine was second from the door, and I cringed a little when I saw Kalimah’s next to mine. Brandon and David were on the opposite side.

As I approached my table I saw it was filthy. With unidentifiable dark grey dirt and what I hope was strawberry jelly. I asked about cleaning supplies and the principal told me the restrooms were through a door in the back of the room, so I grabbed some paper towels, got half of them wet, and scrubbed my table thoroughly. I warned the other candidates as they entered that theirs may be sticky as well.

This was already feeling pretty half-assed and disorganized, which somehow made me both more and less nervous.

LWVBAE Organizers and Other Candidates Arrive

Brandon and David arrived not long after one another and greeted me quickly. They seemed a little tense too. Then the League of Women Voters reps arrived and started making some sense of the room. They handed each of us a playing card from a small pile and told us not to say what it was. When they collected them after, I showed them my ace of clubs and my heart sank as she cheerfully congratulated me on “getting to go first!” A friendly tech set up our microphones and showed us how to mute and unmute them.

The moderator arrived next and introduced herself to each of us as Dr. Tracy Edwards with handshakes. She seemed professional and put-together, and others introduced her with a PHD in her credentials. As she chatted with the school principal, she corrected him on several rules he told the rest of us incorrectly. So I quickly put away my campaign literature I had on my table to use as notes or hand out after the event.

Attendees trickled in, including a group of students from the school who we were previously told were there for a class project. Part of the forum was going to involve them asking a few questions of the candidates, so I had a few answers prepared about education, youth services, and employment support.

Kalimah walked in holding a black wooden stool and loudly greeting the entire room. He focused on the students in the back corner and chatted them up. After a few minutes the moderator called him over to bring him up to speed about the rules and he hugged her abruptly while saying he was “a hugger”, which seemed to surprise her. She shrugged it off and finished her explanation before instructing us all to be seated.

Priforce stepped away to grab his stool and set it up, not behind the table like the rest of us, but in the front-left corner of the table, looming over me so he was never outside my line of sight. I knew this was an intimidation tactic, and I was determined not to let it get to me. When I glanced at the moderator, she also seemed confused but chose not to say anything.

The Forum

You can’t see a lot of what I experienced in the video. It zooms in on people as they’re talking, so you can’t see how their words affect everyone in the room. You can’t see:

• the people nodding when Brandon talked about Sutter or rolling their eyes when David dodged a question
• Brian Donahue being the only one snapping his fingers loudly whenever Kalimah spoke
• the event ending without asking a single question from the audience, including the students who were assigned to be there

But you can see most of the rest, so it’s worth watching.

The Homelessness Question

Kalimah attacked my answer saying Newsom didn’t do sweeps at that time yet, but that’s false.

While some of Newsom’s proposed investments are fairly straightforward, such as funding rent relief programs, others are sure to be more controversial, such as specific funds for “encampment resolution grants”: money for local governments to sweep encampments.

Newsom announces $12 billion budget for housing and homelessness (June, 2021)

As governor, he was constantly pushing for “encampment resolution” in budgets and other forms of delegation, often working with or enabling other organizations like AC Transit to carry out these inhumane operations, like the one I was referring to.

Emeryville encampment fights for adequate shelter

He was probably thinking I meant after 2024 when Newsom was emboldened by Trump and the Supreme Court to push even harder on these sweeps, but I’ve been paying attention to this issue for longer than two years.

His attempt to discredit me and act like I wasn’t there is a standard issue attack from him at this point. I’ve never seen him at any of these meetings, benefits, protests, or outreach operations either. But I generally assume people who say they were just went on days I didn’t. (He also, once again, didn’t actually say anything substantial about what we should do to help unhoused folks.)

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The Cornel 57 Question

This fall a case out of Ithaca has forced a national reckoning. A former Cornell University student filed a civil lawsuit alleging the seven members of the Chai FI fraternity, the oldest college fraternity in the country, drugged and sexually assaulted her for several hours at the chapter’s fraternity house.

Given the past sexual abuse scandals in Emery Unified and the close formal and structural relationship between the district and the city, what role can council members play in preventing sexual abuse in the district in the future and influencing the creation of age appropriate curricula with students about respectful behavior, whether on or off campus.

LWVBAE Curated Forum Question (link added)

This threw everyone off, but it threw some folks off more than others.

David Mourra’s Response

So, that case sounds horrible. I’m sure that the law enforcement, as that progresses, the the victim will get justice.

As far as sexual misconduct within the school system, clearly there’s a cultural element here, and I I’m kind of optimistic. I do think that overall our our culture is changing and evolving. But as far as what specific programs could make that cultural change faster, I’m not actually sure.

David Mourra [38:36] (text cleaned up)

David seemed like this was the first time he’d heard of the story, which is odd but understandable. Then he says he’s confident law enforcement will derive justice for the victum, which is pretty naive considering:

Most Survivors Never See Justice Through the System

FBI crime data shows that law enforcement clears 26% of reported rape cases. In this data, “cleared” may mean someone was arrested or even that the suspect was deceased; it does not necessarily mean the perpetrator was charged, convicted, incarcerated, or otherwise held accountable.

Reporting & Criminal Justice (RAINN)

So David’s ignorance and naive optimism is pretty far out of touch with what sexual assault victims in our country well know is a grim reality. I hope he and anyone else who’s uninformed about it reads that link above.

This further shows David’s blind faith that law enforcement does what it should do and is effective at it.

Kalimah’s Response (part 1)

I’m not sure how to respond to something related to culture. The only culture that I see happening is rape culture. Rape culture is when rape is is talked about in fun, enjoyable, exciting ways. You know, some of us who play video games, you heard it. Every time you you beat up on somebody and you say “we just raped that”, right?

That’s rape culture, right? Every time we use that word.

That’s the only culture that I see that’s an issue. Other cultural elements, I don’t know. That’s a really weird, dark place to go to. But what I think is most important as a council member is to support student led organizing, our administrators, our leaders, our teachers being able to create safe spaces for you all. Because if [your space isn’t safe], then nothing matters.

Kalimah Priforce [39:33]

A cringe-worthy incorrect definition of rape culture. He’s not wrong about that being the culture David was likely talking about, but he only seems to understand a very small part of the affects of rape culture. It’s probably irresponsible for him to attempt to inform anyone else about the topic, especially not in a room in a school full of students.

• A better explanation of rape culture: What is Rape Culture? (domesticshelters.org)

But disregarding that part, not a terrible answer. Creating safe spaces for students to speak up about these occurrences and issues is important. At this point, I thought David’s response was worse, but he did have to go first.

Brandon’s Response

First off, what happened at Cornell is horrific and should not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. I’m a little confused by the question with respect to jurisdiction over who’s writing curriculum. That’s traditionally the purvey of the school board. I would welcome the council and the school board working more closely together on various things, but I think that’s more of their thing.

I would tell you to ask them about these things at the [school board] candidate forum later tonight– oh, wait! There won’t be one because only one candidate showed up.

Brandon Soublet [40:42]

Brandon’s answer probably wasn’t satisfying to the audience, but it was honest and what the rest of us were probably thinking when we heard the question.

My Response

The biggest factor in being able to have people come forward when they’re victimized is not just safety, but consequences. We have to make sure that when somebody is caught doing this, which is rare, that there’s actual severe consequences and they don’t become president of the United States. They don’t become a Supreme Court justice. They have to actually go to jail. They have to actually be completely dropped from any ability to to serve any position of power over anybody.

I think that’s something that we don’t have a lot of control over as a city, sort of as Brandon alluded to, but I think that is a culture we can promote, support, and manage upward to higher parts of California law, to our nearby universities, etc. To set a good example in that way, and teach consent in our sex ed courses. Which we’re probably already doing here, but we need to make sure we’re doing it right.

Corry Frydlewicz [41:36]

Kalimah’s Response (part 2)

After this, the moderator asked an entirely new question about involving more residents in the decision making process. David and I each gave our answers before it was Kalimah’s turn.

So I want to respond to the whole thing about consequences. You you have to be very careful with consequences because the Central Park Five — Donald Trump pushed for there to be consequences against the Central Park 5 without there actually being evidence.

And so you have to be really careful when you when you try to make a determination and not involve the full weight of, not just public opinion, but the but the justice system and how it is delivered to the people. That’s why I’m not jumping towards consequences. Because I’ve heard a lot of that, and I’m very careful of that, because that’s usually how we get into the issues that we have.

(he moves on to the actual question the moderator asked)

Kalimah Priforce [45:17]

This was the moment I realized for certain that Kalimah Priforce is unfit for office. Even with all the other weird crap he’s done in just this article alone, I was at least not thinking he was dangerous. (And I’m sure he’d be so excited to hear me say this edgy-sounding thing about him) But anyone who stands up in a campaign event or candidate forum and uses that platform to argue against consequences for convicted rapists is wiiiiiiiild.

And I don’t know how he moved from “somebody caught” perpetrating sexual assault to The Central Park 5, but some folks who spoke to me after the forum theorized he was trying to somehow draw comparison between me and Donald Trump? All just speculation, of course.

But, of course, how does one make anyone else look like Trump while he’s arguing against the position of consequences for rapists? In hindsight now, I just chalk it up to him wanting to refute anything I said, even if it’s a reach to do so.

No one who doesn’t consider sexual assault or harassment grounds for immediate punitive action should have any position of power. Someone who covers it up or neglects to punish It is nearly as bad as the person who perpetrates the offense in the first place. It wipes away any possibility of that workplace, public space, or classroom being safe. To not understand that, let alone to proudly declare this position, is immediately disqualifying.

And I can’t even fathom what “that’s usually how we get into the issues that we have” means. Which “issues” do we have that were caused by us seeking consequences for convicted sexual predators? Is he railing against cancel culture and #meToo?

Wrapping Up

I was even more flustered after this segment. There was something chilling about an opponent looming over me and looking back at me as he argued against what I thought was a pretty benign and obvious point about what victims need. I considered not talking about how much it affected me, because I don’t like showing bullies when their tactics work, but it really shook me for a few days after. And even now, recounting it while jogging my memory with the video, it shook me a bit again.

Perhaps I’m overly sensitive. Maybe I was just exhausted, nervous, or intimidated. I don’t know, for sure. I just know my body was tense and drained at this point.

Kalimah took credit for the forum being his idea during his closing statement. This despite The League of Women Voters doing these forums every election in every city in our region, for every race for many years now. It’s almost funny at this point.

After the Forum

When we turned off the cameras, everyone milled around and chatted. Audience members, candidates, organizers just naturally buzzing around each other.

I didn’t see where Kalimah went, but later saw him helping staff put away folding chairs. He didn’t come talk to the rest of us. I was still uncomfortable about his words and thus grateful for that.

A man walked up to me almost immediately and introduced himself as David Ridlehuber, one of the candidates for Emery Unified School Board. Their forum was supposed to be right after ours and we learned shortly before ours began that it’d been canceled due to lack of participants. He told me he was impressed by my performance and I thanked him. I told him I was disappointed about his forum’s cancellation but was glad at least he showed up. he excused himself to talk to others.

Next, I was approached by a few women who were in the audience. They each thanked me for my response to the Cornell 57 question. Their eyes were sincere and heavy, and I finally felt like I wasn’t the only person in the room who both knew about the topic and knew how serious it was. We all briefly shared our disappointment with the incumbents’ responses.

Brandon and I chatted briefly about it being just a generally weird experience, and remarking vaguely on the “WTF” of it all. A few audience members approached us and thanked us both for our openness talking about the Sutter project.

David Mourra and I had a quick chat where he mentioned being disappointed that they didn’t ask us about Flock. I was also surprised about that, and his remark made me think he may have continued to come around on the topic. I (regrettably) told him I was probably going to vote for him after the forum, and he brushed me off once again when I offered to canvass together.

---

Later that evening, Bethany told me she had a weird interaction with David where she educated him about the Cornell 57 story and he joked that she was now his expert consultant on [issues of sexual assault?] or something I can’t quite find a nice way to say.

I’m sure it wasn’t intended as anything more than admiring Bethany’s awareness of current events, but it was just such an out-of-touch thing to say. He had no idea why this woman he just met was knowledgeable about the topic. He apparently thought the topic was cool to joke about in mixed company, as an elected public official, while campaigning for that role.

If anything continues to illustrate how little the #meToo movement actually achieved in moving the minds and morals of cis men, it’s comments like this. Made at an event hosted by… The League of Women Voters.

---

After We Left

Bethany, Cheshire, Ember, and I went to Honor Kitchen and invited Brandon and his husband to join us. Sadly, they declined wanting to get home and rest. The four of us went to debrief and try to relax.

Is it okay if I give you one piece of critical feedback?

Bethany

I braced myself. “Yea, sure.” I was so nervous the whole time, so I thought I fucked up a lot. (it wasn’t until after I watched the video replay that I realized I did pretty well)

I absolutely hated when you said “I don’t know if I belong on city council” during your closing statement. That’s some internalized-misogynistic bullshit. You definitely deserve to be there.

Bethany

Cheshire agreed wholeheartedly, and they said that was the only thing I fucked up. I was relieved, because I agreed with them too. I think I dipped a little too far into humility or impostor syndrome for just a moment. The rest of the time at Honor was really nice and I was ecstatic to have the big forum over with.

October 9th — I Voted

After sleeping on it and continuing to be jarred by the LWVBAE forum, I decided to vote for Brandon.

Since before I even knew who Brandon was, David Mourra was my easy go-to favorite. But my experience running, talking to him, watching his campaign accept and spend big corporate donations, and seeing how little he actually engaged with the city outside his small corner of it drove me away. With how hard Brandon and I were hustling, sharing info, showing up to community events, listening to people, it really drew a clear distinction between them. The fact that he kept blowing me off for any sort of cooperative effort I offered was just shitty icing on the cake. It’s just been disappointing.

I know he’s a busy guy with a family, but so am I. It may not be the same as caring for children, but I take care of disabled friends and neighbors (and animals) in my community too. I don’t know if he’s going to win this thing alongside me. I’m still sure I’ll be able to work well with him in a professional setting, but I think Brandon is a genuinely better pick for the city and our goals. Anyone can parrot “balance the budget” over and over.

See the rest of my ballot here: November 2026 Election Endorsements – Emeryville, Alameda County, California

October 9th — Karaoke at Bank Club Cafe

This was one of the campaign events I really looked forward to. I’d sung karaoke at Bank Club a couple times before, and it’s always a blast.

Bethany took this video of me wrecking my voice once again. We got lots of other great photos and videos, but I won’t share those here on behalf of others who sang, unless they tell me I can.

Brandon joined us too! I was excited to tell him when he arrived that Bethany and I voted for him and I’d mailed my ballot that morning. He sang two great songs and even took home one of our yard signs. He wasn’t ready to publicly endorse me yet, still trying to avoid being targeted by Kalimah like I was, but I didn’t pressure him. People knew we were aligned just from seeing us collaborate.

October 11th — E’ville Eye Publishes Candidate Questionnaires

Meet Your Emeryville City Council Candidates: The E’ville Eye Questionnaire

Though I voted for Brandon before these questionnaires came out, the answers each candidate gave on the Flock question really confirmed my choice.

When I researched Flock, I found another problem: inequity. Wealthier condo communities and commercial properties already had Flock, gates, guards, controlled parking and layers of security many renters did not. I did not believe safety should be a luxury amenity. That is why I supported a citywide system while also pushing for civilian oversight. My colleagues rejected that oversight twice.

Kalimah Priforce

Essentially: “It’s unfair that only rich folks get to have unsafe surveillance! The rest of us deserve that too!” What!? It shows that he’s not only uneducated about the issue, but digging his heels in to avoid learning new information or doing better based on it. I can only speculate it’s a refusal to admit he was wrong.

Fortunately, Emeryville was very thoughtful in how we deployed and configured our cameras. Some cities and other jurisdictions inadvertently configured their Flock system to share data with national law enforcement including ICE which is against California law. Emeryville did a very good job setting up our cameras and made sure to only share data with other local cities like Berkeley and Oakland.

David Mourra

This is a massively uncritical understanding of our Flock contract, which doesn’t have any better protections in it than the ones in any other Bay Area city he mentioned having trouble leaking data to ICE. He also said we only share data with Berkeley and Oakland, when our own Flock dashboard shows we share data with 251 other cities! And that’s not even including all the places a true network audit (which we don’t require in our contract) would reveal.

I hadn’t publicly announced my endorsement of Brandon until after I read this, but I gave David a heads up over Signal when I did.

October 13th — Public Market Trivia Night!

Cheshire called the Public Market management folks weeks ahead and made sure they’d be cool with us doing this event, but when we arrived and set up our tablecloth a security guard came by and politely asked us to take it down. The management company didn’t want to endorse anything political. We put away all our gear but still wore our t-shirts.

*points at Bethany’s name tag* Does that make me Mrs. Mrs. Corry?

Ember

To which we said in unison, yes. (Bethany and Ember had just recently begun talking about planning a commitment ceremony for after mine and Bethany’s wedding next year.)

Our team, The Teal Cat-Dogs, had an unfairly large group of around a dozen. Adults, kids, and all kinds of odd expertise combined to tie us for third place!

October 18th — Neighbors United Community Meeting

I’d never been to this location before, so I arrived early again. I was dragging my wagon with me and walking all the way there, so I gave myself more buffer time than I needed. As I entered the neighborhood I saw flyers everywhere for Sutter activism and Brandon’s campaign. I saw one or two of my own stickers in the mix too. Neighbors United had been hard at work!

I arrived at the address and was happy to see they had a lovely little patio in the shade I could cool off in while I waited for Cheshire. After a few minutes playing sudoku one of the organizers walked up, greeted me, and escorted me into the room we were using for the meeting. It was a cozy clubhouse with a kitchen similar to the one we have at Bridgewater but with softer couch cushions.

I rolled my wagon under the nearby stairs to keep them out of the way until after the event. As I sat on the comfy couch, a young woman introduced herself to me as a reporter for Emeryville Today and asked if she could interview me about the Police MOU the council was going to consider that week. I agreed, but wanted to focus on the meeting first, which she agreed about.

I answered against promising police annual raises while every other city employee had to fight or even protest in front of city hall to get their contracts updated just to catch up to cost of living. Later that week, the council would accept it unanimously and my comments weren’t mentioned in Emeryville Today’s article.

After Brandon arrived, they said David wouldn’t be joining because of a family emergency and Kalimah didn’t RSVP, so it’d probably just be the two of us.

The Meeting Begins

They instructed me to leave the comfy couch and sit in one of the chairs at the front of the room where Brandon was, so I sat next to him. This was his neighborhood and his crowd, so I wanted to make it clear how aligned we were. We were regularly agreeing with each other at other forums and meetings up to this point and I already put it on my ballot post, so I didn’t hesitate to share my endorsement here. As long as at least one of us wins, their voices will be heard in city council.

We each got a huge 5 minute introduction, which we both had to work to fill. (most intros are 1-2 minutes) Brandon said most of what I believe in, so I focused on filling in any gaps in understanding his answer left. I also clarified that I’m not an outright no on Sutter, but that I took their issues very seriously and will work to at least get the city the best possible benefit at each step before any official decision gets made.

Then they started asking us a few pretty standard questions about our views on the Sutter project, and gave us two minutes per. I was happy to see them actually using a timer for us, whereas some of these meetings didn’t, or didn’t hold us to actual limits if we went over.

Kalimah Arrives

Priforce arrived about half an hour late, in the middle of Brandon and I answering their third question. He began noisily rearranging furniture and trying to sit on tables that weren’t made for being sat on. He apparently didn’t think to bring his stool that day. The residents tried to stop him from damaging their furniture.

He said “nobody told me about this meeting” despite us all receiving an invitation a week earlier. It was even announced on his staunchest public ally’s website over a week beforehand. Despite this being clarified by Judith, one of the women who volunteered to organize the event, he insisted no one ever told him.

After not resolving that, the moderator let him go back to give a five minute introduction and answer the two questions we’d already covered. This meant Kalimah got to speak for nearly ten minutes straight, despite being late for the event.

I flinched when he walked in, and realized my feelings from after the LWVBAE forum hadn’t gone away. Apparently I would get that feeling any time I had to share a room with him. I wondered about what I’d do if we both won the council seats and it freaked me out a little

Kalimah spoke about anything except the topics of people’s questions. I knew these folks were smart enough to see through all the dodges, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

Baseless Claims and Accusations

At one point, he took credit for Measure BB being on our ballot, despite not being on the budget committee. We’d later hear from a sitting councilmember I won’t name that he did nothing except vote yes on it.

He made a point to glare at Cheshire in the audience while telling the room “one of [my] supporters” was “making racist attacks against” him in the DSA chat. While we were both surprised, neither of us flinched at the obvious lie. The moderator let me respond quickly, where I said:

• no one involved with my campaign has done that, and I’d never allow it
• if he wants to share proof, I’ll kick anyone involved out of my volunteer group and any future events
• neither Cheshire nor I have access to whatever DSA chat he was referring to

He said he had proof and I welcomed him to share it. Unsurprisingly, no one else I’ve spoken to has seen it.

Open Floor Questions

We didn’t have time for many of these, sadly.

A vocal older man with what I believe was a British accent wanted to hear the candidates outright say “We’re going to stop the Sutter project, no matter what” and we spent some time as a group informing him why we can’t do that. Being that equivocal about a pending issue can be viewed as prejudicial and we may be compelled to recuse ourselves or get sued.

One of the members of the neighborhood group asked the question about (in her words) corruption. This is why I posted How can voters know if a candidate will do what they say they will? (Emeryville City Council Edition) but edited it down to remove screenshots of my opponents’ funding documents and lack thereof.

As the event adjourned, multiple attendees asked Cheshire and I for literature, stickers, and yard signs. One of the attendees was Jac Asher, a former Emeryville mayor who said she followed me online and wanted to endorse me! This brightened my day a bit, and I really needed that.

Struggling to Stay the No Drama Candidate

I left the meeting with a renewed drive to not only win the election, but to win by a landslide. This man shouldn’t be in any position of power anywhere over anyone. He’s continuing to lie, bully, and gaslight everyone I see him around. Demonstrating behaviors in public, recorded spaces that one must wonder how much worse they are in private.

But I needed to cool off. The best possible way to stop him from doing more harm is to beat him in this election, which was already my goal. So I heeded the advice of my campaign advisors and focused on continuing to set a good example myself and trust voters to notice the contrast.

October 19th — The Alameda County Green Party Voter Guide

The extracurriculars of this campaign are exhausting and childish

Brandon Soublet

Brandon reached out to console me about what the Alameda Green Party said in their voter guide. I had no idea it was published 5 days earlier, despite them telling me they’d let me know and ignoring my follow-ups to ask about it.

Essentially: They don’t understand how housing works and are just anti-YIMBY no matter what anyone actually says or does — exactly the nuance-less thinkers they accused me of being. They purposely miscategorized me as being pro-developer and pro-big-landlord despite my questionnaires and campaign materials clearly stating the exact opposite multiple times.

This is why I shared my full answers to their questionnaire in The Alameda County Green Party November 2026 Voter Guide. And I’ll leave it at that. The Green Party has continued to show itself to be a joke for many years now, and the local Alameda County version is apparently no different.

This was one of those moments when I needed the mantra based on the advice multiple people gave me early in the campaign:

Don’t waste your time trying to explain yourself to people that are committed to misunderstanding you.

Shannon L. Alder

…especially when those people have platforms they’re happy to shout those lies from.

October 23rd — Final Rally to Get Out The Vote!

We got together at Prizefighter for a rally, mostly to bolster my own spirits for the final push before the election, and this was exactly what I needed.

October 28th — Emeryville Commerce Connection

We were originally invited to a meeting with ECC a month earlier, but it directly conflicted with one of our training webinars with the city. David and Kalimah were able to attend that one while Brandon and I trained. Luckily ECC invited us to this one to make up for it, even though it was quite late in the campaign to change minds.

I walked into Fogo De Chao and greeted a few familiar faces from Emeryville Pride at Bay Street last month. After shaking hands and chatting with a few people who own businesses in Emeryville but don’t live here, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know what to say to that group. I’m not trying to win their vote. I mostly want to pull as much revenue out of them as I can. But as I listened to their concerns, I realized the city services and crime prevention work I was focused on would also benefit them greatly. They’re also excited about more people living nearby, which makes them pro-housing!

As I finished snacking on cheese and a Brazilian empanada, Kalimah walked in and my stomach dropped. Apparently he didn’t come last month when David did, for some reason (he wasn’t at the city presentations with Brandon and I). Well, whatever. Other sitting councilmembers were there already, so it made sense.

Speech!

After the MC announced the prize winners of Emeryville’s first ever Restaurant Week (Yay! Doyle Street Cafe!), they announced that candidates would get a chance to speak for two minutes each. I hoped I could see someone else go first so I could have an example of how to use my two minutes.

First up — am I pronouncing this right? Corry Frydlewicz!

Christa Williams
Board Chair, Emeryville Commerce Connection

(She pronounced it perfectly.)

Shit! I thought to myself as I nervously smiled and walked to the front of the room.

I congratulated the winners of the restaurant week prizes and mentioned my favorite order at Doyle Street Cafe — Smoked Salmon Scramble — before just going into my usual pitch. When I mentioned getting rid of the Flock cameras, about half the room cheered and clapped. I didn’t really say anything specific to the ECC but they seemed to receive it well.

Brandon went next and talked about how making living here more affordable creates a symbiotic relationship between residents and local businesses. Kalimah spent a full minute doing one of those “Let me here you ECC!” “Oh come on, we can do better than that!” greetings before talking about the things he’s spent 4 years not getting done but hopes to this time for real. They didn’t stop him when he talked for nearly twice as long as Brandon and I did, as usual.

After the speeches, I was surprised how many people came up to me and liked what I was doing. Lots of anti-Flock folks asked for stickers. One worker at the restaurant even offered to slip me an extra drink ticket. One of their strong delicious caipirinhas was plenty for me that night. I met a bunch of people who knew me as a customer at their businesses and we talked about fun behind the scenes stories. A handful of people who live in Emeryville told me they voted for me, which was nice. The few who mentioned their other vote went for Mourra.

October 30th — Sutter Cancels the Hospital Project!

Woke up to news that Sutter pulled their project! I didn’t realize how I truly felt about it until that moment, but I was relieved. The number of people I’d been talking to who either didn’t want it or were seriously concerned about how it’ll change our city must’ve really sunk in. I thought I was still neutral about it, and I was ready to negotiate (fiercely) with them as I campaigned I would, but hearing the news really made me happy.

Brandon had an existential crisis the way one sometimes does when they achieve a goal they didn’t know was possible. This is a huge victory for him, and I’m so proud of all the work he did organizing, researching, and speaking for our neighbors. That said, this was the definition of an October Surprise for his campaign. He’s never been a single-issue candidate, so we just need to focus on getting his other policies front and center while we do a victory lap tonight on the streets.

October 30th — My Last Canvassing Session

I know there are a few more days left in the election, but I’m done. I told myself after this one I was done canvassing. After the Halloween anti-Flock protest, I was going to rest, spend time with my family, and try not to think about the election for a few days.

Brandon and I got together for a joint canvassing session, wearing each others’ t-shirts.

Brandon was a little shaken by the news about Sutter, but we talked about how he should consider it a victory for his work helping organize and elevate the voices of his neighbors. And that the work isn’t done yet. Sutter will still need community feedback and advocacy for the next, more realistic project they’re planning now.

We knocked on a few doors on the blocks between where we’d each already canvassed before, then headed to take on another challenge.

A Karaoke Challenge

The day before we planned to go out, Rose Gonzales challenged all of us to come sing at Bureau 510 over Instagram.

I was immediately down and knew Brandon would be too, so we changed our canvassing plan to walk toward Bureau 510 at the end.

When we arrived, Rose was electric as a KJ. I’d never done karaoke here before, but it was fun and vibrant, even if the audience was small. But that just meant we all got to sing multiple songs!

It was a lot of fun, and we definitely plan to return again. Rose said they do it the last Friday night of each month, but follow her IG for specifics.

October 31st — DeFlock Halloween

On Saturday morning, I ran to the hardware store to finish my signs, so I could dress up as Monkey D. Luffy and stand on the corner of 65th and Hollis and point at a Flock Camera for two hours. I have strange hobbies.

I got lots of horn honks and cheers from cars that passed by. A few pedestrians walked over and said hi. I gave anyone I could some of my Get The Flock Out stickers, and even distributed a few t-shirts. One supporter in a super-cute Louise Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) costume ran across the street to give me a can of ginger ale and some candy. Cheshire arrived about halfway in to take pictures and hold up our campaign sign.

My shoulders and back were killing me after, but it was a fun stunt. I was excited to close out Halloween evening spending time with the rest of Luffy’s crew (my family dressed as Nami and Chopper) and partying for my favorite holiday of the year.