East Bay for Everyone has endorsed candidates for Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Walnut Creek, BART, and AC Transit who we believe are the best choices to move the Bay forward toward housing, transit, and equity for all.

To help guide voters casting ranked-choice votes, we have made multiple ranked endorsements in some cases – where our members voted for multiple candidates, but liked one more than another.

Oakland City Council District 1: Steph Walton first choice, Dan Kalb second choice

D1 is one of the wealthiest and most well-resourced districts in Oakland.  While we appreciate Dan Kalb’s pro-housing and pro-tenant stances on a number of issues, we are still looking for a candidate who can step up as a full housing advocate. Steph Walton has been upfront and persuasive before multiple groups about the obligation for wealthy areas like Rockridge to end exclusionary zoning.  As the mother of a school-aged child, she expressed frustration at the disparity in resources in Oakland as well as the need to solve climate change as an existential issue for her children.  We give our primary endorsement to Walton as the best pick for Oakland. In addition to her support for housing, tenant protections, and better transit and bike infrastructure, she also has excellent ideas for public infrastructure to advance equity issues in Oakland, including better internet access.

Oakland City Council District 3: Lynette Gibson McElhaney

Lynette Gibson McElhaney has spent her career advocating for affordable housing and equity, and we expect her, reelected, to continue her focus on growth that works for all Oaklanders. She has also worked for years on new alternatives to police for public safety in the creation of the Department of Violence Prevention. She supports policies to address the chronic undersupply of housing that has impoverished and displaced so many Oaklanders. Moreover, McElhaney supports housing abundance as a morally necessary part of the solution, alongside ensuring accountability and standards from the private housing market. East Bay for Everyone believes this perspective is critical to addressing long-term housing costs and equity..

At the same time, we hope McElhaney will become a stronger advocate for tenant protections and we look forward to advancing these protections in the future.

Oakland City Council At Large: Derreck Johnson first choice, Rebecca Kaplan second choice

East Bay For Everyone endorses Derreck Johnson for first choice and Rebecca Kaplan for second choice for the Oakland City Council At-Large seat. Derreck Johnson’s policy ideas focus on practical steps that Oakland can take: denser zoning near transit, permit streamlining incentives for affordable/workforce housing, public land, and supporting the construction labor force. However, we do believe Johnson should place greater emphasis on tenant protections. 

Kaplan is an advocate for many policies we support: expanded tenant protections, allowing fourplexes in single-family home neighborhoods, and transit-oriented development. Kaplan also supports the mobility justice initiative of depolicing bike and traffic enforcement. While we appreciate Kaplan’s insistence on regional accountability for housing production, we hope to see her be a more forceful advocate for streamlining housing approvals in Oakland.  

Berkeley City Council District 2: Terry Taplin first choice, Alex Sharenko second choice

East Bay For Everyone endorses Terry Taplin for first choice and Alex Sharenko for second choice for the Berkeley City Council District 2. Taplin is strongly aligned with EBFE’s views. He understands that building more housing is necessary, not sufficient. We also need to expand tenant protections, increase affordable housing funding, and do more for our unhoused neighbors, including rapid rehousing programs. We were impressed by his emphasis on addressing systemic racism and spearheading improvements to walking, biking, and bus transit, and by his commitment to racial justice and organized labor. Alex Sharenko shares many of the same policy positions and has put them into action as a founding member of Berkeley Neighbors for Housing and Climate Action. 

Berkeley City Council District 3: Deborah Matthews first choice, Ben Bartlett second choice

East Bay for Everyone endorses Deborah Matthews for first choice and Ben Bartlett for second choice for Berkeley City Council District 3. D3 represents South Berkeley, currently represented by Ben Bartlett. While we continue to support Ben Bartlett and his work on ADUs and prefabricated housing, we are excited to see Matthews, a community activist in South Berkeley for over 30 years, join the race for city council. She has experience from all angles in housing, from being a realtor, Berkeley housing commissioner, and Co-Founder of South Berkeley Now! As a candidate, Matthews supports mixed income housing at Ashby BART, re-investment in South Berkeley, and social and economic justice reform. Matthews’s embrace of a diverse set of housing strategies and opposition to downzoning makes her East Bay for Everyone’s top pick.

BART District 1: Jamie Salcido

East Bay for Everyone endorses Jamie Salcido for BART District 1. Jamie will bring transportation experience to the role through her work as a Transport Commissioner for Walnut Creek and an urban designer with experience in transportation projects that enhance the safety of public spaces. Jamie will take a holistic approach to her position by redirecting BART police efforts to social services, prioritizing Transit Oriented Developments (TODs), and a plan to increase and improve ridership after COVID-19. 

Additionally, we have endorsed:

  • Oakland City Council District 5: Noel Gallo
  • Oakland City Council District 7: Treva Reid
  • Berkeley City Council District 5: Todd Andrew
  • Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board: Andy Kelley, Xavier Johnson, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Dominique Walker
  • Alameda City Council: Jim Oddie and Malia Vella
  • Walnut Creek City Council: Michael Samson and Justin Wedel
  • BART District 5: Steven Dunbar
  • AC Transit At-Large: Victoria Fierce
  • AC Transit District 1: Ben Fong
  • AC Transit District 2: Jean Walsh

Ballot Measures

Prop 15: Schools and Communities First (Split Roll):  Yes

East Bay for Everyone endorsed Prop. 15 aka Schools and Communities First in the summer of 2019 because we realized how important closing this commercial property tax loophole is to the future of California. Prop 15, which would require the reassessment every three years of commercial and industrial property valued at over $3 million, is imperative to dismantling the feudal wealth architecture created by 1978’s Prop 13. Passing Prop 15 would redistribute $10 billion in wealth each year from rich landowners and corporations to K-12 schools, community colleges, and public services like affordable housing and transit, including over $30 million for transit in Alameda County alone.  

Prop 16: Affirmative action: Yes

In 1996, California passed Proposition 209, which effectively outlawed affirmative action and use of affirmative action in contracts. Since then, there has been no means of leveling the playing field in California for race and gender, deepening inequality for minorities and women.  It is estimated that $1.1 billion dollars in contracts have been lost for minorities and women since the passage of Proposition 209. Proposition 16 repeals Proposition 209 and allows for the reinstatement of affirmative action. We support Prop 16 because passing it is an important step for remediating the damage done in the past 24 years.

Prop 17: The vote for parolees: Yes

Prop 18: The vote for 17-year-olds in primary when they will be 18 at next general election: Yes

Prop 20: Restrict parole, increase sentences for some offenses: No

Prop 21: Expand local governments’ authority to enact rent control: Yes

East Bay for Everyone supports Prop. 21’s reform of the state preemption of local rent control laws. known as the Costa-Hawkins Act. Rent control is an important tool for housing stability. Households facing housing discrimination, eviction, displacement and escalating rent burden need help now. They are not responsible for the regional housing shortage and cannot be expected to wait for the systemic land-use reforms needed to stem the crisis. Finally, while we supported Prop. 10 in 2018, it is notable that Prop 21 is a much stronger measure, including a 15 year phase-in for new construction and other refinements. 

Prop 22: Exempt app-based companies from providing employee benefits to drivers: No

East Bay for Everyone firmly opposes Prop. 22. This ballot measure, backed by rideshare companies and their venture capital backers, is an assault on the rights of workers. For the past decade, rideshare companies have used regulatory and labor law arbitrage to steal wages and exploit workers. The rise of the gig economy has seen marginal workers squeezed for more and more value by corporations and venture capital. The protections for “gig economy” workers established by California courts and affirmed by the legislature last year  provides economic stability and economic power for millions of precarious workers. These labor protections must be defended. 

The measure also contains a pernicious provision that requires a 7/8 vote of the legislature for some changes. This would give an unacceptable veto power to the Republican Party in the state legislature over any future legislation to protect workers. Make no mistake: Prop 22 is an undemocratic power-grab by billionaires and anti-labor conservatives that could permanently hinder the rights of California workers. This measure must be defeated.

Prop 25: Uphold law replacing cash bail with risk-based assessments: Yes

View the entire list on our 2020 Endorsements page!