Progressives lead in City Council races, new progressive majority on school board

Gap narrows between Sheng Thao and leading Oakland mayoral candidate Loren Taylor

By Ken Epstein

(Editor’s note: This article reflects standings and vote totals as of press time, Wednesday afternoon, November 16^th)

With thousands of ballots still to be counted, progressive candidate Pamela Price has taken the lead in the Alameda County District Attorney race, while likely winners of several Board of Education races are on the verge of forming a new progressive majority on the school board for the first time in decades.

“(Tuesday evening,) our campaign took the lead in the race for Alameda DA…There are still so many more ballots to be counted, and we must continue to wait for the victory,” Price wrote in an email to supporters.

“I remain confident that the final tally will be an exclamation point in history… it will be our charge to reclaim and fix our broken criminal justice system, restore public trust and rebuild public safety,” Price wrote.

In school board races, progressive candidates opposed to closing neighborhood schools, Jennifer Brouhard in District 2, and Valarie Bachelor in District 6, are in front. If they maintain their leads, they will join Board members Mike Hutchinson and VanCedric Williams to form a majority on the seven-member board against closing schools and opposed to charter school expansion.  (Because of redistricting, Hutchinson is running for a seat in District 4, but his current term as the District 5 representative doesn’t end for two more years.)

“We ran a good campaign …It was about the issues and people placed their votes in wanting to see an end to school closures and funding our schools,” said Brouhard on Facebook. “I’m optimistic about the outcome of our people-powered campaign.”

In District 4, Nick Resnick, backed by Mayor Libby Schaaf and pro-charter leaders, remains in the lead.

Progressive and very liberal candidates are also far ahead in Oakland City Council races.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas is well ahead of her opponent in her race to win reelection in District 2, and Janani Ramachandran has already declared victory in District 4. District 6 candidate Kevin Jenkinshas a comfortable lead over three opponents.

Still undecided is the race to replace Libby Schaaf as mayor of Oakland. Councilmember Loren Taylor holds the lead over Councilmember Sheng Thao, but the gap is narrowing this week with updated vote counts, released at 5:00 p.m. each day by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

Only 1.78% separated Taylor and Thao on Wednesday.

According to reports, at the beginning of this week, there were over 70,000 votes remaining to be counted. About 13,000 were counted today, leaving about 42,000 still uncounted.

Observers notice that in recent elections the ballots of progressive and very liberal voters in Oakland are counted later, meaning that their influence is not fully felt until the final days of tallying the vote.

Vote totals as of Wednesday afternoon:

Alameda County District Attorney

• Pamela Price 51.08%
• Terry Wiley 48.95%

Alameda County Board of Supervisors District 3

• Lena Tam 06%
• Rebecca Kaplan 46.94%

Mayor of Oakland (with Ranked Choice ballots)

• Loren Taylor 50.89%
• Sheng Thao 49.11%

Oakland City Council District 2

• Nikki Fortunato Bas 97%
• Harold Lowe 34.03%

Oakland City Council District 4

• Janani Ramachandran 67.71%
• Nenna Joiner 32.29%

Oakland City Council District 6

• Kevin Jenkins 69.86%
• Yakpasua Michael Gbagba Zazaboi 11.51%
• Nancy Sidebotham 11.36%
• Kenny Session 7.28%

Board of Education District 2 (with Ranked Choice ballots)

• Jennifer Brouhard 62.66%
• David Kakishiba 37.34%

Board of Education District 4

• Nick Resnick 39%
• Mike Hutchinson 31.29%
• Pecolia Manigo 29.71%

Board of Education District 6 (with Ranked Choice ballots)

• Valarie Bachelor 53.25%
• Kyra Mungia 46.75%

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