Election 2010
In an event designed to showcase a wide cross-section of Oakland leaders backing her candidacy, Jean Quan said she wants to be a mayor who spearheads change through “block by block” community organizing.
Ranked-choice voting will change everything about the 2010 Oakland mayor’s race: the timing, campaigning, turnout, maybe even the winner. Reporter Lauren Callahan explains what lies ahead, and how this year’s ballot will be different.
On Tuesday night, an Oakland City Council vote about whether or not to redirect $255,000 earmarked for public campaign financing to educate Oakland residents about the city’s new voting system resulted in a tie that Mayor Ron Dellums must break.
It’s an early February twilight in Rockridge, and commuters are making their way from the BART station to homes and shops along College Avenue. Mayoral candidate Jean Quan and a small group of canvassers are gathering around a silver Prius on Claremont Avenue.
With new changes to the city’s election law, an Oakland voter could cast his ballot for Ron Dellums, Don Perata AND Jean Quan for mayor next year—and then rank each candidate in order of preference. This may sound confusing at first, but a majority of Oakland voters in 2006 said they preferred this system.
Oakland’s mayoral election is still 11 months away, but City Council Member Jean Quan received an early vote of confidence from Sandré Swanson, one of Oakland’s State Assembly representatives.
Jean Quan will be the first to admit she is not expected to win next year’s Oakland mayor’s race. But she’s also the first to say her chances are better than a lot of people think. “I have, in every race I’ve run in, been outspent and have been the underdog,” Quan said in a phone interview. “I’m not intimidated.” An Oakland City Council member since 2003, Quan issued a press release in mid-September announcing her decision to form an…