November 2026 Election Endorsements – Emeryville, Alameda County, California

Emeryville City Council:
Corry Frydlewicz ✅💖

There’s just something about her I can’t resist voting for. Amazingly, she seems to be fully aligned with my views and priorities. Check her out:

Corry’s priorities:

• DeFlock Emeryville — Get surveillance off our streets and out of our budgets.
• Empower City Services — Ensure our city budget goes toward the most effective ways to improve everyday life for Emeryvillains (not a typo) especially public health and safety.
• Affordability — Build affordable housing and work to prevent price gouging from big businesses and corporate landlords who prevent Emeryville families from making economic progress.
• Hold Sutter Accountable — Sutter must fit into our city and contribute to our values if they want to come here.
• Support Small Local Businesses — Creatively adjust city policies to favor our wonderful homegrown businesses and make the big chains pay their fair share.
• Make City Council More Productive — Reduce time spent on grandstanding, arguing over toothless proclamations, and general egocentric drama and actually get things done.

Emeryville City Council Seat #2: ???

You’re not allowed to vote for me twice — I checked — so if you’re not sure who should be your distant second choice, I think Brandon or David are solid picks. (I haven’t confirmed which one will be my 2nd pick yet)

Brandon Soublet

Brandon Soublet

Brandon and I’ve met several times now at various local community events, and it helped me confirm my suspicions that we’re aligned on most topics. His knowledge and research regarding the Sutter Hospital proposal is unparalleled, and helped solidify and refine my own stances on that major issue in Emeryville, so I’m grateful for that.

My takes on his 4 big issues on his website:

• “Safe, Walkable, & Bikeable Streets” is pretty unanimous across the board for this race, which I love. Brandon is just as dedicated to these issues as I and other councilmembers I support are.
• “Responsive Public Safety” doesn’t mean continuing our over-investment in policing. Brandon, like me, supports more effective and cost-efficient ways of crime prevention before they happen and a narrower focus for our police to handle the most important actions that they’re best suited for.
• “Thoughtful Housing & Development” is about making sure new developments adhere to our city’s established values, respect the existing communities here, and are invested in our collective vision for Emeryville’s future. He, correctly, likes high-density housing supported by robustly maintained public parks and transit access and wants us to continue building it.
• “Community-Centered Governance” is not an outright “no new development” stance. It’s a recognition that if big corporate developers want to come here, they have to listen to our residents, respect our shared values, and contribute to our city like everyone else.
  • Brandon was previously in the Neighbors United group I mentioned in a previous version of this post, but stepped down when he filed to run for office.

Do you want to “de-Flock” Emeryville?
Yes. While the idea behind technology like automated license plate readers (ALPRs, commonly referred to as “Flock cameras”) is sound, Flock has proven time and again that they are not a trustworthy steward of personal information. While I’m confident that Emeryville PD is using this technology ethically, bad actors can access Flock data they shouldn’t, despite what Flock and some elected officials will tell you. Some level of monitoring is beneficial in preventing crime, so I would like the City of Emeryville to terminate any agreements with Flock as soon as possible and form a local coalition with Oakland and Berkeley to implement closed circuit monitoring that is insulated from any and all access by private entities or the federal government.

Brandon Soublet (FAQ page)

Brandon is in-tune with the community while also being ready to collaborate with others to get his goals accomplished.

• brandonsoublet.com

David Mourra (incumbent)

David Mourra

David and I were both endorsed by the Alameda County Democrats, so we may do some cross-promotion with them. I’m not for-sure endorsing him as my second pick yet (until you see a ✅).

I voted for Mourra in his first election. I agree with him on most things. Even though I would’ve voted differently on a few topics over his first term, I respect his reasoning and think he’s been a good voice on the council.

• David was waiting outside the clerk’s office when I left my filing meeting because he’s just as organized and responsible as I am. I like that he seems to respect the time and effort of city workers, but I wish he were more willing to compensate them and fund their functions adequately.
• I obviously disagree with his vote in favor of Flock surveillance. I expected his experience in engineering would’ve made him more skeptical of their claims, but he’s an intelligent person who’s guided by hard data so I’m sure he’ll come around.
  • 9/15 Update: David Mourra calls for a study session on Flock Safety, which is a great step toward choosing better solutions for public safety.
• I like that he wants to make sure we carefully consider things, but it rarely seems like tabled votes and discussions get substantial new information between then and the follow-up meetings where the vote occurs again. I don’t understand the need for delay, but perhaps there’s stuff behind the scenes affecting it?
• All-in-all talking with Mourra about public safety felt very familiar. It echoed many of the discussions I’ve had over my years as an activist with centrist democrats about their need to find good safe balances for my “radical” ideas. I think we’d work well together, even if we may occasionally get on each others’ nerves, as any coworkers can do.

He’s certainly a safe pick, and I project him winning the most votes of all of us this November, based on my conversations on the street. I won’t be upset if he wins, but I think Soublet has better-informed policies and is more decisive about acting on important issues like housing, the Sutter project, and policing.

• david4emeryville.com

Kalimah Priforce (incumbent)

Kalimah Priforce

I tried to like Kalimah. He’s clearly passionate about our city and his geeky charm draws a lot of people to him. I relate to all that too — perhaps with a little less charm and a little more geek. Few paid attention to my efforts in aligning with him until after I’d already had my opinion soured by multiple unpleasant interactions online.

Now I often see anonymous commenters saying I’m out to get him or the like. I’m out to win, there’s only two seats, and he’s my least favorite candidate running. But it’s not like I can’t work with him. I want to be able to work with anyone on the council. Kalimah and I agree on many principles.

• He’s working to pass tenant protections, so we’d work together well on that as both of our top priority.
• Kalimah and I both want to include everyone in city decisions and discussions. We’re both fighting for working families, low income folks, unhoused people, and folks targeted by our corrupt system.
• We’re both big fans of Pamela Price and Zohran Mamdani, and aim to bring social, economic, and restorative justice to our city rather than perpetuating the prison-industrial complex.

But I look at his first term and simply don’t see someone who’s actually made strides toward those goals. I get that there’s a learning curve — I expect to have my own — but other rookie members David Mourra and Matthew Solomon seem to be doing great work efficiently getting their objectives in front of the council and executing them.

Not only does he support the Flock contract, but he asked for twice as many cameras as everyone else on the council when he motioned in favor of them. He even requested one be placed near his home. This contradicts our common belief in restorative justice and reducing the impact of policing and fascism on our streets.

For some reason, Kalimah doesn’t understand that building housing of any kind — even luxury housing — helps stabilize the housing market at all levels, despite having many opportunities to learn these facts. He wants to stop building to close the budget gap.

Kalimah is a big fan of AI and the Data Centers needed to power them, despite claiming to be pro-worker. To me, one of thousands (and growing number) of laid-off workers in our region, these two things don’t match up at all.

Priforce focused his efforts on being given the title of mayor, which is mostly a formality here. The council wasted months and thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on his censure. This was the last straw for me. Whether or not that censure was handled properly is irrelevant (I feel like the circus was unwarranted, personally), because no other council member has ever caused that. I’ve never seen a flyer in my mailbox for someone running for mayor in a city where there was no mayoral election, let alone from someone who wasn’t even on that year’s ballot. We all have our weird hobbies and passions for graphic design, but most of us don’t forcefully include everyone in our city to participate and pay for it.

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Emeryville School Board (Emery Unified School District Board of Trustees) 💖

There’s not a lot of info about this race yet. I usually decide after seeing the League of Women Voters Forum for this race, which will hopefully happen in September or October.

Regina Chagolla (incumbent) ✅💖

Regina is an elementary school teacher in the Berkeley Unified School District and I voted for her last time. She’s an active and passionate advocate for students and public education, and I fully endorse her.

• regina4emery

The Second and Third Seats

After that first vote, I’m undecided about some of the others.

2. (tied) Kimberly Solis is an Emery High graduate and former school board trustee (2020–2024).
3. (tied) Christopher Keith Allen has three children who went through our schools.
4. (tied) David Ridlehuber seems like a decent guy but it’s unclear why he’s running so far. He’s on the art board, so that’s cool.
   

Brian Donahue

Brian Donahue has a permanent restraining order against him for relentlessly harassing public officials and workers. I would feel irresponsible forcing anyone to work with someone who can be so hostile to city workers.

He also doesn’t want the job: Don’t Vote For Brian Donahue For School Board (Emeryville Tattler). In this post he remarks on forcing an election being his only objective for running in the first place. Because if only incumbents run (or the same or fewer candidates run than open seats available), that election is canceled to save significant city resources.

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Emeryville Ballot Measure BB: Business License Tax Reform — YES ✅💖

To protect City of Emeryville services/ensure smaller businesses pay less than larger businesses, shall the measure be adopted to: • keep parks/playgrounds safe; • repair potholes/maintain streets; • maintain 9-1-1 response; • improve crime prevention; • maintain senior/youth services; • general government use; by updating/simplifying Emeryville’s 42 year old business license rates up to 0.4% of gross receipts (described in the ordinance) until ended by voters, providing $12,400,000 annually, requiring independent oversight?

Sounds great to me so far.

I wish it had a more progressive increase for larger companies. We shouldn’t have a maximum annual business tax cap at all, or it should at least be even higher. It only protects the corporations in least need of protection.

How/When Inflation Adjustments Work

Inflation adjustments are great for minimums, but are insufficient for caps that generally affect entities at the accelerated pace of the “winning” side of the stock market. If we need a cap at all (we don’t), I’d suggest doubling the inflation rate on it. High inflation is best mitigated by revenue pulled from the biggest profiteers of such inflation and poured into those worst affected. In this case, that’s probably small businesses or consumers.

But all in all, these are good adjustments and I support the measure.

Quick Reference Image for California Props

Share these on your social feeds if you agree! Explanations follow…

California Prop 1: Affordable Housing Bond — Yes ✅💖

Building housing requires flexible funding. It’s annoying that these construction projects tend to always go over budget*, but they do. Bonds aren’t ideal, but they can help us actually finish these projects and not leave them stagnant, as a huge waste of money and effort. Let’s finish this necessary work.

*Part of the reason this happens so often is public officials regularly choose development contracts based solely on the lowest bidder. So those companies are incentivized to cut corners and “forget” necessary line items to make the project work in order to sell the lowest possible estimate. Then, when the winning company is confronted with “Whoa! What a surprise! These lighting fixtures need wiring! We hadn’t anticipated that!” we get endless change orders that bloat the price well beyond those original estimates.

California Prop 2: Rainy Day Fund — Yes ✅

This strikes me as fiscal responsibility. It has broad support from Democrats with vague reasoning about saving money for unforeseen future needs. That crashes against broad dissent from Republicans who don’t seem to actually read anything but just yell about “out of control spending” no matter what’s going on in the world at the time.

The only opposition I see boils down to:

We don’t have a rainy day fund in California. All this does is create a bigger slush fund for money to be used the following years instead of returning the money to the taxpayer.

Joe Patterson (R) — State Assembly Member 5th District

Returning money to taxpayers is something only rich assholes expect or care about. Everyone, especially people who need it most, benefit from public services.

• What is Proposition 2 before California voters in the 2026 election? (Mercury News)

California Prop 3: Make High-earner Income Tax Permanent — Yes ✅💖

Tax the rich. Always and forever. Tax them until billionaires stop being a thing. Nobody needs this much wealth, especially while most of us struggle to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves while ensuring we’ll continue to be able to do so in future years.

California Prop 4: Public campaign financing — Yes ✅💖

Public financing reduces the power of big money in elections.

California Prop 5: Recall Election Reform — Yes ✅💖

Recalls are absurd enough already without all the current nonsense about choosing replacements. When it comes to voting rights issues, I generally trust the League of Women Voters who’ve endorsed this measure.

California Prop 37: $25 Billion Homebuying Loan — Yes ✅

I believe these numbers are too high. I’d rather cap it lower so it helps people who truly need it most. With that said and with inflation increasing rapidly recently, a little headroom isn’t too bad to fill the gap. I’m hesitantly endorsing this one.

Proposition 38: Immunology research bond — Yes ✅

Selfishly, as someone with Alzheimer’s in my family, I want to give myself and my family the best chance we can get. (Sorry Robert Kaplan)

California Prop 39: Voter ID — No ✅💖

Don’t let oligarchs steal votes from the most vulnerable among us.

California Prop 40: Billionaire Tax — Yes ✅💖

It should be permanent! But that doesn’t mean doing the right thing once is a bad thing. Hopefully this passes and we get more like it next election.

One argument I hear progressives opposing Prop 40 say is “If we pass the Billionaire Tax now, people will think the problem is solved and not show up for better long-term tax changes next time” but I frankly don’t think that’s a real argument. I posit that losing this vote would have the same — or possibly an even greater — chilling effect on future initiatives. People feel hopeless, and like their vote doesn’t matter. Losing the most popular effort we have against the billionaire class right now won’t make them feel any better about showing up to the polls next time.

Rebuttals for the No on 40 Campaign

Billionaires have invested millions fighting prop 40. No surprise there.

• voteno40.com
• votenoon40.org
• Vote no on Prop. 40. It ignores education, housing and safety (LA Times — notice they don’t disclose the author)

Here are their primary arguments against it, and why I find them to be bullshit.

It’s Actually an “Everyone Tax”

No, it isn’t. This is basically just an outright lie.

Imposes one-time tax of up to 5% on certain taxpayers with covered assets valued over $1 billion; covered assets include businesses, securities, art, collectibles, and intellectual property, but exclude real property and some pensions and retirement accounts.

Prop 40 Text

Will Cost $25 Billion in Lost Revenue

They don’t make it easy for you to see the citation for this claim, but when you look for it it’s based on one Stanford economist who theorizes that billionaires will leave the state.

This is a threat the rich always levy against any increase in taxation, and they rarely actually do it. When they do, they often return before long. The economy lives on despite their petulant and expensive tantrums. Besides, billionaires take far more than they provide to tax revenue — hence the reason we need to tax them so badly — so them leaving only helps us. Passing this tax is a win-win either way they react.

It doesn’t do enough!

Okay. So after we pass this one, we’ll work on the parts it doesn’t help with next.

Politicians Might Tax You Too!

This is already the case with most taxation. Politicians manage tax policy for everyone all the time, and that’s how it’s supposed to work. Regular citizens like you and I don’t want to manage the entire state’s finances. We have enough to worry about with our own. Billionaires don’t raise a fuss about the status quo because usually it bends to their whims. Only in this particular matter do they suddenly have an issue with it.

Requires everyone to declare their assets

For those of us without a billion dollars, this will amount to the equivalent of a single checkbox that says “I’m not a billionaire”. Only people who qualify will have to pay their accountants a few extra bucks to fill out the extra forms to attempt to dodge it.

The full text of the proposed tax is available here:
vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2026/general/pdf/prop40-text-proposed-laws.pdf

Read the Yes on 40 campaign’s much more thoroughly cited facts page here:
yeson40.com/facts/

California Prop 41: Audit New Tax Spending — No ✅💖

This “audit” attempts to reverse the billionaire tax, preventing us from spending the revenue or pay it back. I hope California voters are too smart to fall for this.

California Prop 42: Prohibit New Personal Property Tax and Retroactive Taxes — No ✅💖

Prohibiting taxation is unrealistic, irresponsible, and puts a chokehold on public services. This is a blatantly stupid way the richest people aim to punish us for rightfully wanting them to pay their share in taxes.

California Prop 43: Limits Voters’ Ability to Raise Revenue for Local Government Services — No ✅💖

Nothing is more counter to my beliefs than limiting funding essential services to save rich folks a few bucks in taxes.

• Prop 43 on Ballotpedia

California Prop 44: Clinic Funding — Yes ✅

I stand with the United Healthcare Workers Union. There’s a lot of contradicting info from different types of healthcare providers and healthcare admin about this prop, so it’s a little confusing to read about. I choose to pay more attention to the nurses on the ground than to the higher level managers and established doctors who benefit more from the status quo.

California Prop 45: Expedited Environmental Review — No ✅💖

I’m all for consolidating and reducing red tape to build housing, but I don’t believe environmental reviews are the right place to cut back. Air and water quality are already behind public health guidelines set by the WHO as-is. We can’t let big businesses like PG&E and Edison — who’ve been setting our homes on fire, by the way — cut back our environmental protections. Environmental justice means safe air and water for everyone, forever.

• What Price, Abundance? (Sierra Club)

California Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim ✅💖

My favorite insurance commissioner I’ve ever seen run in my time in California. Let me refer back to my June endorsement:

My years as a board member in my HOA have taught me even more about insurance companies and how they scam us constantly than I already knew before.

This role in state government is more pivotal than many realize. Jane Kim has the right background, the right ideas, and the right endorsements to make the changes we desperately need.

June 2026 Election Endorsements for Alameda County California

California Superintendent of Public Instruction: Richard Barrera ✅💖

This is an essential fight for the rights of the most vulnerable. Barrera will fight for LGBTQIA+ kids to be treated like any other kid in our schools.

Sonia Shaw

Shaw, the president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, has been a vocal opponent of California policies that allow transgender students to participate in girls sports and prohibit school districts from requiring teachers to tell parents if they believe a child identifies as LGBTQ+.

Shaw and Barrera offer starkly different visions for California schools

Shaw puts queer kids in danger and is proud of it. (And she’s endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, of course)

California State Assembly 18th District: Mia Bonta ✅💖

Mia Bonta has been a solid advocate for those in need. She’s done great work in the state assembly the entire time I’ve lived here. I see no reason to change course.

June 2026 Election Endorsements for Alameda County California

Andre Sandford

Andre Sandford has good intentions, but has tired “solutions” to local problems that’ve been shown not to work over decades of attempts. He wants to increase police budgets, thinks cutting property taxes is how we improve affordable housing, and wants to continue tearing up homeless encampments for development. Sounds a lot like a republican to me.

He’s also been spamming my email inbox for several years now, totally ignoring unsubscribe cues. So fuck him.

June 2026 Election Endorsements for Alameda County California

Since then, I’ve also learned that he’s pro-AI and pro-data center, which tracks with his complete ignorance about privacy and ethical data handling. Definitely no on Andre, even if he were running against someone less excellent than Mia Bonta.

California Controller: Malia Cohen ✅💖

Obvious choice.

California State Board of Equalization, District 2: Sally Lieber ✅

Lieber wins my vote here mostly via her many solid endorsements, but also because her opponent opposes the billionaire tax on spurious grounds.

June 2026 Election Endorsements for Alameda County California

California Secretary of State: Shirley Weber ✅💖

Obvious choice.

California Treasurer: Eleni Kounalakis ✅

Obvious choice.

California Attorney General: Rob Bonta ✅

Rob Bonta has consistently stood up for everyday Californians throughout his career.

• Acted fast to fight ICE and other fascist attacks on Californians
• Defended reproductive freedoms
• Fought employer wage theft

Bonta on Gender-Affirming Care

Rob Bonta has defended gender-affirming care during his term, though he’s done so using less potent legal tactics many advocates disagree with. He also needed to be pressured into doing a better job at it, which is disappointing. That said, no other candidate will do any better here.

June 2026 Election Endorsements for Alameda County California

Since I wrote this, Bonta has been showing up, and won a recent victory for trans healthcare I’m grateful for.

California Lieutenant Governor: Fiona Ma ✅

Obvious choice.

California Governor: Xavier Becerra ✅

Unquestionably, the lesser of two evils. Xavier Becerra sucks, and we really needed to see that back in June, but here we are in November doing harm reduction once again. Hopefully we can pressure him to do better for us and not just his friends in insurance companies, fossil fuels, and big tech. If not, hopefully we get better options next time.

Endorsements for Races I Can’t Vote In

Alameda

Alameda City Council (2 seats)

1. Thushan Amarasiriwardena ✅
2. Tyler Savage
3. Amos White
4. Steve Slauson
5. Maria Bondonno

Alameda Mayor: Malia Vella

She had the best answers in multiple forums I’ve seen her in, and has been endorsed by several people I trust in Alameda.

• maliavella.com
• Mayor Hopefuls Differ on Infrastructure Bond, Urban Development Strategies (Alameda Post)

Albany

Albany City Council

1. Jon Destin ✅💖
2. Aaron Tiedemann
3. Robin López
4. Katherine Enos
5. Chris McDaniels

• Albany council candidates clash over housing, taxes (Albany Scanner)
• Out bayside council candidates run against Flock cameras (Bay Area Reporter)

Berkeley

Berkeley City Council, District 1: Daria Wrubel ✅💖

I already liked Daria on paper, but when we met at a local event I knew I was among a kindred spirit. I whole-heartedly endorse

• dariaforberkeley.com

Ranked Choices:

1. Daria Wrubel ✅💖
2. Moni Gangopadhyay ✅
3. Ross Bernet
4. Laura Babitt
5. (Don’t Rank) Steve Kromer

Berkeley City Council, District 7: Syrak Micael ✅

• syrakforsouthside.com

Berkeley City Council, District 8: Mark Humbert

• markhumbert.com

Berkeley Rent Board (5 seats)

1. Avery Arbaugh ✅💖
2. Ida Martinac ✅
3. Vylma Ortiz ✅
4. Nathan Mizell ✅
5. Derek Rodriguez

I’ve met the checkmarked folks in person and know they’re on the right track. The others are co-endorsed by them.

Berkeley Measure U: Infrastructure Funding — Yes ✅

While this funding is a drop in the bucket (deficit), we need to fill that bucket and every bit counts.

• Berkeley has a 30-year plan. Its leadership must match (The Berkeley Scanner)

Berkeley Measure V: Sales Tax Revenue — Yes ✅

Sales tax is one of the most equitable ways to boost revenue, as it’s a consumption tax rather than an income tax.

Berkeley Measure X: Improved Rent Board Policies — Yes ✅💖

Several adjustments to the rent board’s ability to do good for tenants in Berkeley. See the details:

Opinion: Vote Yes on Measure X for a more efficient Rent Board

Berkeley Measure Z: Yes ✅💖

Public banks are an excellent idea. Every county or city big enough to establish one should.

• Should Berkeley fund a public bank for the East Bay? Voters will decide in November (Berkeleyside)
• Opinion: Measure Z would tax Berkeley residents to create a public bank benefitting other cities (Berkeleyside)

I can see why some Berkeley residents are hesitant about the issues outlined by the Op-Ed above, but I think waiting to provide a public banking option until the conditions are perfect is also a bad idea. Better to start the project rolling and update policies around it ASAP after. (Of course, my bias as a non-Berkeley resident and neighbor whose city may presumably benefit from it should be considered)

Castro Valley

Castro Valley United School Board

• District 2: Myla Long
• District 3: Eryka Mathews-Cain
• District 4: Faith Carroll

I chose these because they were all endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats.

Concord

Concord City Council, District 3: Robyn Kuslits ✅

votekuslits.com

Oakland

Oakland City Council (District 2): Nate Adams ✅💖

Nate is a dedicated democratic socialist who wants to make life for working class families easier in Oakland. We share a similar platform, so of course he’s my pick for my neighbors in Oakland.

• nateforoakland.com

Charlene Wang

Charlene Wang

Wang is also great, but I think Nate has a much better pro-worker position on several policies. I don’t believe this district will go wrong with either choice, honestly.

Oakland Mayor: Barbara Lee ✅💖

Barbara Lee is one of my favorite politicians to ever represent me, and she’d have to stop being herself completely to lose my support. Luckily for Oakland and its neighbors, she has not stopped being her amazing self.

• barbaralee4oakland.com

Oakland Measure EE: Shift Powers From Unelected City Administrator to Mayor — Yes

Well summarized here:

• Oakland, Measure EE — Should Oakland amend its City Charter to give the mayor more executive power? (KQED)

I’m not sure about this one. At the moment, I’m leaning toward yes. I appreciate accountability and hope this can help the city get through some of its gridlock.

Yes is endorsed by

• East Bay Young Dems
• Barbara Lee (with an obvious bias at the moment)
• Several of my other favorite Oakland City officials

Oakland Measure FF: Increase Transfer Tax Revenue for Foreclosed Commercial and Large Multifamily Residential Properties — Yes ✅

Although foreclosure exemptions aim to boost economic activity by attracting buyers for inactive properties, they often favor financial institutions and investors, preventing cities from reclaiming value from large property transfers. Measure FF aims to recapture revenue from high-value property transfers and create a financial incentive for lenders to prioritize loan modifications over seizures, generating approximately $4 million to $13 million annually in revenue to bolster the city’s General Fund over the next five years. As Oakland grapples with projected budget deficits, relying on volatile revenue sources like transfer taxes is unsustainable, but with limited options to raise revenue without burdening working families and small businesses, closing the foreclosure loophole presents a viable solution that treats foreclosure transactions like other sales, protecting homeowners, small landlords, and community banks.

SPUR

Also endorsed by East Bay Young Dems.

Vallejo

Vallejo City Council, District 5: Tara Beasley Stansberry

taraforvallejo.com

AC Transit

AC Transit Board of Directors, Ward 3: Adriana Valencia ✅💖

A fellow New Jersey born Project Manager who’s passionate about reliable, affordable, and transparent public transit organizations will get me every time.

• adrianavalencia.com

AC Transit Board of Directors, Ward 4: Sarah Syed ✅💖

Syed is endorsed by several prominent orgs including the Sierra Club. She’s also been unjustly suppressed by a director’s harassment, but I don’t want that to be the story behind why I support her.

AC Transit Board of Directors, Ward 5: Murphy McCalley ✅

As far as I can tell, both the other candidates aren’t serious. One of them thinks public transit will somehow be solved with magical robotaxis, and both have no real info but are running for like 5 races simultaneously. Rich dudes have too much free time and money on their hands.

BART

BART district map: https://bart.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9527685698cc481eb9f0733184bad759

BART, District 4: Robert Rabum ✅

Yet another election Luis Reynoso decided to waste taxpayer resources entering without putting in any real effort to win.

EBMUD

EBMUD, Ward 2: Luz Gomez ✅

Endorsed by The Sierra Club.

EBMUD, Ward 3: Marguerite Young ✅

Endorsed by The Sierra Club.

EBMUD, Ward 7: Gary Wolff ✅

Endorsed by The Sierra Club, East Bay Young Dems.

East Bay Parks

East Bay Parks Director, Ward 3 — Rebecca Lewington ✅

She seems great, and her opponent is accused of sexual harassment and retaliation, so that’s an easy nope.

• rebeccalewington.com

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. House of Representatives, District 11: Connie Chan ✅💖

Connie Chan is the most competent candidate in this election, and the way she’s conducted herself in her campaign has only made that clearer to me as it’s progressed.

Scott Wiener

Statement Regarding Scott Wiener

I was a hesitant supporter of Scott Wiener after he was pretty effective in his roles. I briefly looked past his many shortcomings because he got a few great things done. But he’s made far too many mistakes for me to tolerate him a moment longer. Luckily, he once again has a great opponent to choose instead.

He was on thin ice with me when he had to be dragged into making the weakest possible anti-genocide statements he could muster. Which uncovered his history pro-Israel action behind the scenes.

A bill currently languishing in the House, H.R. 3565, would block the sale or transfer of certain bombs and other weapons to Israel. Chakrabarti has aired ads calling on Pelosi to support the bill, which has not passed out of committee. Interviewed this week, Wiener twice declined to say how he’d vote on H.R. 3565

Wiener’s Run for Pelosi’s Seat Marks a New Phase for California’s Housing Politics (KQED)

The last straw being him taking attention at the Trans March this June and complete silence in using that attention to support the trans marchers who were unfairly persecuted by unwelcome SFPD officers at their own march. (#noCopsAtPride)

Fuck Scott Wiener.

Media coverage has centered the fears of a cis politician who was yelled at while ignoring families with young children terrorized by police brandishing weapons at peaceful protesters.

A Fuller Story of this Year’s Trans March (Assigned Media)

San Francisco Supervisors Demand Answers After Pride Weekend Police Raid
An example of strong leadership from Jackie Fielder, the one who always should’ve taken Wiener’s seat in the first place.

U.S. House of Representatives, District 7: Mai Vang ✅💖

• maiforus.com

Courts and Judges

California Court of Appeal, District 2 ✅

1. Justice Armen Tamzarian
2. Justice Audra Mori

• The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association 2026 Voter Guide (anti-endorsement)

Pour-over (Algorithmic) Endorsements

I endorse these candidates whenever doing so doesn’t contradict any endorsement above it in the order on this page.

Every Other Working Families Party Endorsed Candidate ✅

We’re not always right about every race, especially hyper-local ones, but we usually are.

• caworkingfamilies.org/bay-area

The Opposite of Anything the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Supports ✅

This group works consistently for the worst people in California. If they ever support anything I’m considering, I need to look much harder at what evil shit is buried within.

• The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association 2026 Voter Guide

They truly are a great resource for voters to know that we can do the opposite of everything they say and be pretty sure we’re doing the right thing.

Anyone Running Against Republicans ✅

If you find a reasonable Republican that’s an exception to this rule anywhere in California, please let me know because it’s such a rarity. Likewise for any feasible non-Republican candidate who’s somehow worse than the Republican they’re running against.

Anti-Trans Democrats

Yes, it’s fucking horrific that we don’t have a good candidate in many of these races who view trans rights as basic human dignity. I’ll be the last person to minimize that. If you’re not aware of how bad this is, here are a selection of articles to bring you up to speed:

• The Guide To Anti-Trans Democrats In The 2026 Elections, By State (Erin in the Morning)
• Talarico backtracks controversial gender comments, pushes for Supreme Court overhaul (ABC4 News)
• Equality PAC, Political Arm Of Congressional LGBTQ Caucus, Endorses Marcy Kaptur Days After Her Anti-Trans Ad (Erin in the Morning)
• The Ohio Democratic Party Is Silencing Its Pride Caucus Over Criticism Of Kaptur’s “Transgender Ideology” Ad (Erin in the Morning)

This is why we need to primary on these issues within the [closest party we can find to the left] before November. Once we get here, it’s too late.

Harm Reduction

Republicans are worse. Fucking duh. This is what happens in general elections. We have to choose the lesser of two evils. Not voting will never make us better. Yes, focus your energy in other places if you think that’s a better strategy. But also mail in your ballot. Fight on every front. I beg you.