Mayoral Race
On Monday, eight of the ten candidates running for mayor of Oakland faced the city’s progressive community in a relatively lighthearted forum at Humanist Hall in downtown Oakland. The format of the event, co-sponsored by thirteen left-leaning organizations, including the Alameda County Green Party and the Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library, broke away from standard debate protocol.
Many Oaklanders have heard mayoral candidate Joe Tuman talk about politics, but they might not know it. Before he declared himself a candidate in Oakland’s most hotly contested race, he spent over twenty years as a political analyst and a talking head on TV, making him a familiar yet nameless voice in the region’s politics.
With one candidate refusing to participate, nine of the ten contenders for the job of Oakland mayor addressed a room packed beyond capacity Thursday night, stating their positions on public safety, the city budget, and local ballot measures.
After public complaints about a plan to include only the front-running candidates for Oakland mayor, the Sierra Club Wednesday hosted nine of the ten candidates at a forum on the environment and the upcoming election.
As the fog burned away into sunshine Saturday morning, campaign volunteers manned a table on the Lakeview Branch Library lawn and gathered signatures to officially put Rebecca Kaplan on the ballot for this fall’s mayoral election.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you could be taking dance lessons in Jack London Square or having a drink. But no, we’ve had too important a week, haven’t we?” With that, Aimee Alison, host of the KPFA Morning Show and founder of OaklandSeen.com, opened the Oakland mayoral forum on public safety held Thursday evening, July 15th at the Lakeshore Baptist Church.
On Wednesday, City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan officially announced that she is running for mayor of Oakland in this year’s November election. After being Oakland’s representative on the AC Transit Board of Directors for six years, then serving as Oakland’s at-large city councilmember from 2008 to present, she has decided to take it up a notch.
In April, Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland city councilmember at large, announced that she was considering running for mayor this fall. Oakland North reporter Ayako Mie sat down for an exclusive interview with Kaplan to talk about how she hopes to change the city.
At campaign events during the last week, former State Senate President Don Perata is suggesting that Oakland needs a firmer hand in City Hall and that he’s the one to provide it.