The Oakland, California elections races for 2018 are officially set. And so we have three sports active in Oakland right now: baseball (Go Oakland A’s), football (Go Oakland Raiders!) and Oakland Politics (I’m putting in a plug for Women’s Rugby!). And who’s involved in this horse race, as some might call it? The Oakland Office Of The City Clerk has released the list of candidates who turned 50 or more signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Here’s the tally of Oaklanders who made it and Oaklanders who did not make it.
Office Of The Mayor Of Oakland – Oakland Mayoral Election
Originally, there was a record number of 17 Oaklanders who submitted documents to run for the seat held by the incumbent Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf: Libby Schaaf, Cedric Troupe, Cat Brooks, Ken Houston, and Saied Karamooz, Peter Y. Liu, Marchon Tatmon, Pamela Price, Nancy Sidebotham, Jesse Smith, Kristina Molina, Preston Walker, Randolph Wilkins, Shelton Dunson, Asah Pearson, and At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.
That list of 17 candidates in the Oakland Mayor’s Race (as I prefer to call it) was whitteled down to 11 candidates, thus making the 2014 Oakland Mayor’s Race the largest ever held in Oakland’s history with 15 candidates.
Who’s amoung the last standing? They are Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Cat Brooks, Ken Houston, Saied Karamooz, Peter Y. Liu, Pamela Price, Jesse Smith , Nancy Sidebotham, Marchon Tatmon, and Cedric Troupe.
(And in that list, this blogger must repeat that Oakland Mayoral Election Candidate Peter Y. Liu should be investigated for violating Oakland’s Hate Crime Law. The reasons for this assertion are explained in my previous post you can read via this link; I’ll continue with the presentation on the Oakland Elections Canidates List.)
Oakland City Council District Two – Oakland City Council Election
All of the candidates: incumbent Abel Guillen, Nikki Bas, and Kenzie Smith, have qualified for the November ballot.
Oakland City Council District Four – Oakland City Council Election
For the Oakland City Council District Four Race, seven of the original 10 candidates have turned in signatures and of them, all have been marked “qualitied”for the November ballot – that includes Pamela Harris, Sheng Thao, Francis Hummel, Nayeli Maxson, Charlie Michelson, Joseph Simmons, and Joseph Tanios.
Oakland City Council District Six – Oakland City Council Election
For the Oakland City Council District Six Race, the incumbent Councilmember Desley Brooks, Miya Whitaker, and Maria Rodriquez, Loren Taylor and Natacha Middleton all have been marked “qualitied”for the November ballot by the Oakland City Clerk.
In the Oakland City Auditor’s Race, Courtney Ruby, the previous Oakland Auditor, was marked qualified, whereas the incumbent Brenda Roberts was listed as “verification in process” – now she’s marked “qualitied”for the November ballot.
In the Oakland School Board Races, Aimee Eng, the lone District Two candidate, qualified weeks ago. In District Four, Clarrisa Doutherd and Gary Yee are marked “qualitied”for the November ballot.
And finally, in Oakland School Board District Six, of Anthony Wilson, Shanthi Gonzales, and Ebony Edgerton, who were are all marked “verification in process”, only Shanthi Gonzales emerged from the scrum, marked “qualitied”for the November ballot. Congratulations to Ms. Gonzales.
So Let The Oakland Debates Begin!
Now, we can really have fun by attending as many of the candidates debates (I am hating on the term “forum” because it sounds so passive aggressive) as possible. A big one (well, they’re all big ones) is set for Thursday, August 23rd from 5 PM to 9 PM PST and is produced by the Alameda County Democratic Party, and to be held at the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building, and (guess what?) moderated by former Oakland Mayor (and my boss) Elihu Harris.
Stay tuned.