City Government

OP-ED: A Look at Mayoral Election Results

Published

12 years ago

November 19, 2014

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters preliminary results of the ranked choice voting shows how Mayor-elect Libby Schaaf pulled off her victory. The registrar has not released the precinct or council district results yet, but it is fascinating to look at the ranked choice results.

The vote count shows 103,090 Oakland citizens cast their ballot. Immediately after the polls closed, Libby jumped out to a huge lead. Of first round votes, she received 29.67%, doubling the numbers received by incumbent Jean Quan at 15.47%.

Schaaf easily outdistanced bunched together opponents. Rebecca Kaplan, Dan Siegel and Joe Tuman had between 12% and 14%. Brian Parker had only 7.9% and Courtney Ruby 3.08%.

At the start of ranked choice, approximately 4,500 votes throughout the nine minor candidates were distributed evenly between the candidates. Many of their second votes did not count because their second and third choices had already been eliminated.

The first interesting distribution occurred with Ruby’s 3,329 votes. Schaaf got about 29% of Ruby’s votes, followed closely by Tuman. The remaining votes were sprinkled among the other candidates, with none getting more than 9%.

Next eliminated was Brian Parker with 8,403 votes. Over a third of his votes went to candidates who had already been eliminated. Of his remaining votes, Schaaf again gained about 30%, with the remaining divided primarily between Tuman and Kaplan.

Next to be eliminated was Joe Tuman. Again, approximately 25% of his votes went to previously eliminated candidates. A robust 63% of his remaining votes went to Schaaf.

This points out the weakness of the united three-vote appeal by Tuman, Parker and Ruby. About a third of each candidate’s votes went to eliminated candidates. The largest percentage of their remaining votes went to Schaaf. The three amigos campaign failed miserably and did not produce any extra votes.

Next down was Dan Siegel, who finished fourth in the running. Again, over a third of his of votes went to eliminated candidates. A whopping 43% of his remaining votes went to. Schaaf.

Now, the true countdown. Third place went to Quan with 23.3%, second-place to Kaplan with 26.4 and the final winner with over 50% was Schaaf.

Clinton Killian

She maintained a 2-to-1 lead over her closest competitors throughout election night. This showed her message resonated with the overwhelming majority of Oakland citizens.

The one thing that voters appreciated was the actual results they saw in her four years on the council. On the city Council and the budget committee, she showed that she wants to make city government accountable to the citizens.

Clinton Killian is an attorney at Oakland law firm Fried & Williams LLP and former public official. He can be reached at ckillian@friedwilliams.com.

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Related Topics:City of Oakland Clinton Killian Oakland Oakland Mayoral Election

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

2 days ago

July 5, 2026

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”