Oakland Re-Elects Barbara Lee and Passes Measure EE in East Bay Vote

OAKLAND, BERKELEY & RICHMOND, Calif. — Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee cruised to a full 4-year (four-year) term and voters decisively approved the Measure EE strong-mayor charter amendment on Tuesday night, November 3, while tight city council, school board, and municipal bond contests unfolded across Berkeley, Richmond, Alameda, and southern Alameda County.

Oakland Re-Elects Mayor Barbara Lee, Passes Measure EE, and Sees School Board Shake-Up

As reported by Oakland North and East Bay Insiders, Barbara Lee captured 85% of early votes counted by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, holding challengers Brenda Grisham, Mindy Pechenuk, and Julius Robinson to single digits. Voters also backed Measure EE—shifting Oakland to a strong-mayor chief executive charter while expanding City Council oversight—with nearly 74% (74 percent, or nearly three-quarters) support, alongside Measure FF on foreclosure transfer taxes. At the New Parkway Theater in Oakland, KALW 91.7 reporter Francesca Fenzi noted voters closely tracked Measure EE, the 5-county Regional Transit Measure (RTM) (which passed with 61.5% regionwide), and Proposition 40.

On the Oakland City Council, Charlene Wang led Nate Adams in District 2, Council President Kevin Jenkins led Nancy Sidebotham (an Oakland resident since 1964) in District 6, and District 4 incumbent Janani Ramachandran—the youngest person and first South Asian and LGBTQ woman of color elected to the council—won unopposed, as did City Auditor Michael Houston (who joined the office in 2019 and became assistant city auditor in 2021). On the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) board, District 2 challenger Arielle Fleischer led incumbent President Jennifer Brouhard (despite $96,792 in Oakland Education Association PAC spending, including $4,461 on Nov. 3), District 6 challenger Alexandra Williams led Vice President Valarie Bachelor ($82,773 in union PAC support) by 167 votes ahead of LeAna Powell, and incumbent Mike Hutchinson held a 1-point (one-percentage-point) lead over Kathryn Camp and Sylvia Williams.

East Bay Congressional, Legislative & Alameda County Municipal Contests

According to East Bay Insiders, U.S. Rep. Aisha Wahab defeated Melissa Hernandez for the 4th time since the June primary with a 14-point lead, while Reps. Ro Khanna, Lateefah Simon, and Mark DeSaulnier won re-election, Democrat Scott Sakakihara ($19,800 in late contributions) defeated Republican Linda Price in the 10th Senate District, and Assemblymembers Mia Bonta ($13,000), Buffy Wicks ($8,500), Liz Ortega, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan ($2,500), and Alex Lee won re-election. Across Alameda County:

• San Leandro, Emeryville, Albany & Piedmont: San Leandro Mayor Juan González III led James Maes by 40 points and former Councilmember Lee Thomas led Joseph Trujillo by nearly 20 points in District 3 (amid a city ballot printing error that listed all 4 council races alongside unopposed incumbents Sbeydeh Viveros Walton, James Aguilar, and Xouhoa Bowen); Emeryville incumbents David Mourra and Kalimah Priforce led for 2 seats; Albany incumbent Robin Lopez (36%) led Jon Destin (25%) and Aaron Tiedemann (22.4%); and Nancy Beninati, Tom Ramsay, and Bill Reichle led Adam Hundt by 11 points.
• Hayward, Castro Valley, Fremont, Union City, Newark & Tri-Valley: Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas beat Tom Wong by 50 points, George Syrop beat Brian Schott, Julie Roche ran unopposed, Measure CC passed with 65%, and HUSD Area 2 (Joann Guzman by 144 votes over Joe Ramos) and Area 4 (Michelle Fernelius by 137 votes over Araceli Orozco) were close; Castro Valley elected Myla Long (Area 2), Kara Wong (Area 3), and Faith Carroll (Area 4); Fremont’s Ying-Min Li led Aziz Akbari by 12 points in District 4 while Desrie Campbell (District 2) and Kathy Kimberlin (District 3) won; Union City’s Vipan Bajwa led Ann Yap-Jequinto by 125 votes and Sarabjit Cheema by another 143 votes in District 4 while Jaime Patiño and Jeff Wang led; Newark elected Eve Marie Little, Matthew Jorgens, and unopposed Mayor Michael Hannon; Dublin Mayor Sherry Hu won by 24 points over Michael McCorriston, Richard Thornbury led Steve Lorey by 6 points in District 1, Kashef Qaadri beat Shivraj Singh by 14 points in District 4, and Measure I ($1,000 PAC filing) trailed the two-thirds mark by 3 points; Pleasanton Mayor Jack Balch beat Julie Testa by 40 points with Kathy Narum (District 1) and Jamie Yee (District 3 over Reena Gupta) leading; Livermore’s Ben Barrientos led Narayan Tadimeti by 40 points in District 2 alongside unopposed Mayor John Marchand and Evan Branning (District 1); and April Chan led Gary Wolff ($4,475) by under 6 points at EBMUD, Joel Young led Adriana Valencia by 6 points in AC Transit Ward 3, Fremont Councilmember Yang Shao defeated Paul Sethy at Alameda County Water District, and Benny Lee led Fred Simon by 10+ points at Oro Loma Sanitary District.

Berkeley Council & Measure U Returns and Richmond Mayoral & Bond Tallies

As reported by The Berkeley Scanner, Laura Babitt led Daria Wrubel 52% to 48% after ranked-choice tabulations in Berkeley’s District 1 race to succeed Rashi Kesarwani (with Ross Bernet, Moni Gangopadhyay, and Steve Kromer in the 5-way field, about 130 votes—less than 150—separating 1st from 3rd out of 3,800 ballots counted compared with 6,625 in 2022). Incumbent Igor Tregub led Majdi Gaith 59% to 41% in District 4 (which cast 6,037 votes in 2018, 3,049 in 2022, and 2,335 in May 2024), Syrak Micael led Aidan Hill (managed by Josh Lavine) 68% to 32% in District 7 (replacing Cecilia Lunaparra, who won 60% of 488 votes in April 2024 after 691 votes in 2022, 490 on Election Day), and incumbent Mark Humbert (64% in 2022) held 52% in District 8 ahead of Michael Wallman (33%), Mari Mendonca, and Fred Feller. On Berkeley’s 7 ballot measures (44,000 measure votes and 47,000 city ballots in 2022), 6 held majorities: $300 million infrastructure bond Measure U had 70% support, half-cent sales tax Measure V led 52% to 48%, sugary drink tax Measure AA led, and public bank Measure Z trailed 42% yes to 58% no, while Ka'dijah Brown, Jennifer Shanoski, and Sandy Park won the 3 school board seats (which also drew write-in Reichi Lee) ahead of Alameda County updates on Nov. 6, 9, 13, and 16.

In West Contra Costa County, Richmond Confidential reported that 20,436 early ballots (34% of 59,820 registered voters) showed Richmond Councilmember Claudia Jiménez leading Ahmad Anderson 53% to 47% for mayor, $120 million firehouse bond Measure Q at 69% (above the 66.7% threshold), and West Contra Costa Unified School District’s 9-year, $10 million-a-year parcel tax Measure V at 73%. For 2 Richmond council seats, Kimberly White (25%), Carolyn Wysinger (21%), and Wally Nowinski (21%) led Gabe Quinto (16%), Mary Ann "MJ" Jawili, and Forrest M. Lanning. In Hercules, John Delgado (39%) and incumbent Dion Bailey (35%) led while 1% sales tax Measure P led 54% to 46%; in Pinole, Gabriel Sandoval (24%), Matthew Avery (23%), and Truc "Christy" Lam-Julian (21%) led Tina Brown (17%) and Libby Duarte (15%); and in San Pablo, Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado (27%) and Anna Villalobos (27%) led Rita Xavier (26%) and Caden Cotton-Blake (21%), 0.50%/0.25% 5-year sales tax Measure R led 72% to 28%, and rent control Measure S (60% of CPI or 3% cap) led with 60%.

Alameda Election Leads, AUSD Charter Renewals & Mayor Ashcraft’s El Niño Advisory

In Alameda, former two-term Councilmember Malia Vella led the mayoral race with 43% over Tracy Jensen (29%) and Tony Daysog (27%) to extend the city’s 24-year streak of women mayors, Thushan Amarasiriwardena (26.59%) and Tyler Savage (17.47%) led Amos White (15.98%) and Marcie Johnson (15.64%) for 2 council seats, and $300 million bond Measure L reached 70.69%.

As reported by Alameda Post, the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Board of Education will vote on November 10 on staff recommendations presented October 27 by Assistant Superintendent Kirsten Zazo to renew Nea Community Learning Center for 5 (five) years and Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC) for 5 to 7 (five to seven) years, after unanimously approving Measure B schematics by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) Principal Architect Joel Williams and Bond Director Ruth Boyd for the Lincoln Middle School redesign (converting old gym locker rooms into special education classrooms ahead of BCDC review, following comments by parent Scott Vrable, AEA President Judy Ganley, and Trustees Erick Bell and Heather Little on September 8 Island High data). Separately, in Alameda Post, Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft (concluding 8 years as mayor) urged 1-week (one-week) El Niño storm readiness via 5 "Be Alameda Ready" steps, announced up to 5 (five) free sandbags per resident at 3 stations (Lexington and W. Hope Streets, 1300 Eighth Street, and 300 Island Drive) with staff loading help on Saturday, November 7, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., invited residents to celebrate the Main Library’s 20th birthday on November 7 at 2 p.m. at 1550 Oak Street (built after November 2000’s $10.6 million Measure O passed with 78.8% and opened November 2, 2006, logging 6.8 million visitors, 10 million checkouts, 360,000 attendees at 55,000 programs, and 150+ social work interventions over 6 months at 40 hours a week), and noted CASA yard-sign recycling at 1028 Fair Oaks Avenue.