Nov 2026: Federal + State Elected Officials, plus Judges

Here are my recommendations for federal & state elected officials, plus the Judges I vote on. First the TLDR summary ...

Federal & State Elected Officials

Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon

Governor: Xavier Becerra

Lieutentant Governor: Fiona Ma

Secretary of State: Shirley Weber

Controller: Malia Cohen

Treasurer: Elena Kounalakis

Attorney General: Rob Bonta

Insurance Commissioner: Ben Allen 

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Richard Barrera 

Member, State Board of Equalization, 2nd District - Sally Lieber

State Assembly, 14th District - Buffy Wicks

Judges

Supreme Court Associate Justices: Yes Evans & Groban

Appeals Court Associate Justices: Yes to Wilson, Smiley, Banke, Stewart, Desautels, Petrou, Rodriguez, Brown, Chou, Simons, and Burns

See other/posts for recommendations on Berkeley ballot measures & Berkeley elected officials (city council, school board, rent board) and state propositions. I'll update this page with links once I've written those other posts. 

For details on federal/state elected officials & judges, read on ..

June 2026: Alameda County, State, & Federal Candidates

Off-year primaries are tough. Super important for California's statewide offices, but otherwise not too much going on. Here's how I'm voting and links to two writeups by folks I respect. An * in the list below means I wrote something substantive

Federal & State Offices:

• *Governor: Tom Steyer
• *Lieutenant Governor: Michael Tubbs
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
• Controller: Malia Cohen
• *Treasurer: Anna Caballero
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta
• *Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim or Ben Allen
• *Board of Equalization, District 2: John Pimentel
• State Superintendent of Schools: Barrera, Rendon, Muratsuchi, or Newman
• U.S. Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon
• CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

Alameda County offices + proposition:

• *District Attorney: Pamela Price
• *Superior Court, Office 13: Cabral Bonner
• *Superior Court, Office 19: Selia Warren
• *Measure A: Yes for Peralta Colleges

Here are recommendations from other people I respect:

• Edie & Janet's June 2026 Primary East Bay Voter Guide: I've known Edie for years, respect her, plus she makes this guide with her mom, and this spring Edie just had a baby herself! Their guide also covers some Oakland races I don't. They're progressives with work experience on housing and environmental concerns. 
• Landau's Guide, June 2026 Primary: I've known Nathan Landau even longer. He only distributes his guide via email, so I've posted this PDF of it (with his permission) on my Google Drive. His guide covers more of Alameda + Contra Costa Counties than I do. He's a progressive with work experience on public transit. As a longtime public agency employee, he places a high value on competent administration. 

For details, read on ....

November 2024 Summary

I finally finished all my election recommendation writeups. Here are links to the posts where I list how I'm voting in the November 2024 election (from least to most local):

State Propositions

Federal-State-Alameda County-District Elected Officials

Berkeley Measures

Berkeley Elected Officials

If you want the whole thing as a single document, here's a PDF -- all 25 pages of it. 

For the TLDR recommendations-only list, print pages 1-2, or read on...

Federal, State, Alameda County, & District Elected Officials - Nov. 2024

Here are my recommendations on the elected officials I vote on above the city level -- Alameda County, Special Districts, and State + Federal elected officials. Plus this is where I link to others who cover wider parts of the East Bay than I do. First the TLDR summary ...

Federal & State Elected Officials:

President/Vice-President: Kamala Harris & Tim Walz

US Senator (both races): Adam Schiff

US Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon

CA Senate, 7th District: Jesse Arreguin

CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

Alameda County Elected Officials:

Supervisor, 5th District: John Bauters

NO NO NO on the Recall of Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney

Special Districts:

*BART District 3: Barnali Ghosh

BART District 7: Victor Flores

*AC Transit, Ward 1: Christian Peeples

*AC Transit, Ward 2: Jean Walsh 

*Note: uncontested races, so they won't show up on your ballot, but you should know who's representing you!

Plus (for all of you who ask me about Oakland and other East Bay races), see below for recommendations from knowledgeable and like-minded friends. 

See other posts for Berkeley ballot measures, Berkeley elected officials, and the state propositions (coming soon!).

For details, read on!

March 2024 Primary

 Here's how I'm voting on the races on my ballot (Democratic Party):

President: Joe Biden

US Senator (both races): Barbara Lee

US Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon

CA Senate, 7th District: Jesse Arreguin

CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

Democratic Party, Alameda County Central Committee, 14th Assembly District:  Terry Taplin, Andy Kelley, Aaron Tiedemann, Dyana Delfin Polk, Elizabeth Echols, Ana Vasudeo, Alfred Twu

Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Office #12: Michael P. Johnson

Alameda County Supervisor: John Bauters

CA Proposition 1: YES for Treatment not Tents

Alameda County Measure A: Yes to modernize civil service exam requirements

Alameda County Measure B: Yes to make recall process consistent w/state requirements

Berkeley Measure H: Yes to keep funding Berkeley schools

I didn't write detailed recommendations this year -- I'm spending too much time in front of my computer. If you're interested in more detailed thoughts, I encourage you to see writeups from three people I trust:

• Lori Droste -- Lori is a former Berkeley City Councilmember and local politics wonk who I respect as a pragmatic progressive
• Edie and Janet’s 2024 Primary Election East Bay Voter Guide -- Edie is a current and former colleague and someone I've known in East Bay environmental + justice circles for 15 years; she and her mom write their recommendations together
• Landau's Guide - from Nathan Landau, Berkeley resident, AC Transit planner, and fellow local elections nerd; he sends this directly via email, so this is my PDF of his guide -- hope that's OK, Nathan!

If you have questions/comments about an individual race, please put a note in the blog's comments or email me directly.  

Nov 2022: Alameda County Measures, Judges, & Elected Officials

Here are my recommendations on measures, judges, and elected officials I vote on in Alameda County (plus one I don't).

Alameda County Measure

Measure D: Yes for Regulation of Ag Land near Livermore

Judges: Just say Yes!

Alameda County Elected Officials 

District Attorney: Pamela Price

Special Districts 

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Elected Officials

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Plus (for all of you who ask me about Oakland every year), see Edie's recommendations. 

For details, read on ...

June 2022: Alameda County, State, & Federal Candidates

For this election, I'm directing you to writeups by others. This past month our family had COVID in the house (everyone's OK now), a high school graduation, and lots of family visits. I just couldn't get it together to do my normal due diligence and a good writeup. 

So ... here are some recommendations from other people I respect highly, plus a note on the Alameda County DA's race: 

Edie and Janet's June 2022 East Bay Voter Guide -- I've known Edie for years and have great respect for her. Plus she puts this guide together with her mom -- how cool is that! For this election, she covers Alameda County, state, & federal candidates, plus Oakland Measure C (YES!) + SF Prop H (NO!). Check out Edie & Janet's guide here -- I think I'll vote with her on everything that I vote for. 

Landau's Guide -- My friend and fellow political junkie Nathan Landau writes up his recommendations for every election. He covers Berkeley and many local races in Oakland & Contra Costa County, as well as the state & federal races. I normally agree with most of his analyses. This time, for the races I'm voting on, I think I'll vote with him on most things except Alameda County District Attorney (where I'll be voting for Pamela Price, as I did in 2018).

A note on the Alameda County District Attorney's race: I strongly encourage you to read Edie & Janet's writeup about this race. I agree with them 100% -- it is very important that one of the progressive reformers (Price or Steward) win this race. The top two finishers will go to a runoff in the fall. If we had ranked-choice, I'd vote for them 1-2. Since we don't, I'm voting for the one I think is more likely to win -- Price has energized reformers, ran a strong campaign in 2018 (I endorsed her then), and has a great agenda. Steward is also great, and arguably has more experience running the DA's office (he worked in the SF DA's office). Best case scenario is they both get into the runoff in November, but worst case is they split the progressive vote. Both law-and-order candidates (Wiley & Wilson) have more money than Price, and *way* more than Steward. For more background, see this Mercury News' article or campaign websites for Price or Steward. 

Nov 2020: Alameda County Measures, Judges, + Elected Officials (Federal-State-Special Districts)

Here are my recommendations on Alameda County’s measures plus elected officials from the federal down to county/district level.

Alameda County 

Measure V: Yes for Utility Users Tax Unincorporated areas

Measure W: YES YES YES for Housing and Services for People Suffering from Homelessness

Federal + State offices
President: Biden-Harris
U.S. Representative, 13th Congressional District: Barbara Lee
CA State Senator, 9th Senate District: Nancy Skinner
CA State Assembly, 15th Assembly District: Buffy Wicks
CA State Assembly, 18th Assembly District: Rob Bonta

Special Districts:

AC Transit At-Large: Chris Peeples

AC Transit Ward 1: Wallace

AC Transit Ward 2: Jean Walsh

BART District 1: Jamie Salcido

BART District 3: Rebecca Saltzman

BART District 7: Lateefah Simon

East Bay Regional Parks Ward 1: Elizabeth Echols

Plus (for all of you who ask me about Oakland every year), see below for a friend's recommendations. 

For details, read on ...

March 2020 Elected Officials

Here's how I'm voting for all the elected offices on this primary ballot. I make NO recommendation in the big race -- for President -- 'cuz I don't know who I'll vote for on March 3. But I do make rec's in races you don't hear about every day on TV. 

Here's the summary -- details are after the jump:

President: I'm still figuring it out
Alameda County Central Committee, 15th Assembly District: for sure Echols, Waters, Lopez, Neal, Barnett, Tregub, and probably Rosales + Laverde
Congress, 9th District: Barbara Lee
CA Senate, 9th District: Nancy Skinner
CA Assembly, 15th District: Buffy Wicks
Superior Court Office #2: Elena Condes
Alameda County Supervisor, 5th District: Keith Carson

And now for the detailed writeups ...

March 2020 Ballot Measures

Here are my choices for state and local ballot measures. Details are below the jump. See a separate post for my thoughts on candidates:

State13: YES for School bonds

Alameda County

C: YES for Child Care, Preschool, Early Education, + Pediatric Health Care

Contra Costa County

J: YES for More Equitable + Sustainable Transportation 

Berkeley

E: YES for Berkeley School Teachers

G: YES for Berkeley School Facilities Bond

H: YES to Continue Existing Schools Parcel Tax

And now for the detailed writeups on each measure ...

June 2018 Local Races

How I'm voting on Local Races, June 2018

As with the statewide races, remember that California’s “top two” primary system means that in many races, the top two vote-getters will be on the ballot again in November. So if you’re torn between two obvious front-runners, don’t stress too much -- you’ll get to decide again in November.

Here are my choices in these races; details are below the jump.

Local Districts, Federal + State Offices

U.S. Congress, 13th District: Barbara Lee
CA State Assembly, 15th District: Beckles over Pardue Okimoto + Wicks

Alameda County

Superior Court Judge, Office #1: Tara Flanagan
Assessor: Phong La
Auditor-Controller/Clerk-Recorder: Blackwood
District Attorney: Pamela Price (Heart) over Nancy O’Malley (Head)

June 2018 Ballot Measures

How I'm voting on June 2018 Ballot Measures

Here are my choices for state and local ballot measures: details are below the jump. I’ll write up candidates in a separate post. 

State

68: YES for Parks, Water, & Environment
69: YES to Ensure Transportation Revenues are used for Transportation Purposes
70: NO. Don’t require Supermajority to use Cap and Trade Funds
71: YES for Good Government Reform
72: YES to Promote Rainwater Capture Systems

Bay Area

Regional Measure 3: YES to improve transportation with funds from higher bridge tolls.

Alameda County

A: YES for childcare and early education

November 2016 Summary

Here's a summary of all my recommendations -- the local measures, candidates at all levels, plus the state propositions I already posted. Click the underlined links for details.

Federal, State, and Judge candidates

• U.S. President and Vice President: Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine
• U.S. Senator: Kamala Harris
• U.S. Congress, 11th District: Mark Desaulnier
• U.S. Congress, 13th District: Barbara Lee
• CA State Senator, 9th District: Sandre Swanson
• CA State Assembly, 15th District: Tony Thurmond
• Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Office #1: Jackson

BART, AC Transit, and Alameda County measures + candidates

• AC Transit Measure C1: YES YES to support bus service (AC Transit)
• AC Transit At-Large: Chris Peeples
• BART Measure RR: YES YES to keep BART safe and reliable
• BART District 3: Rebecca Saltzman
• BART District 7: Lateefah Simon
• BART Districts 1, 5, and 9: Contact me if you want my opinion
• Alameda County Measure A1: YES YES to build more affordable housing
• Contra Costa Measure X: Contact me about this transportation sales tax

Berkeley School and City Measures

• E1: YES YES for Berkeley’s schools
• T1: YES to fix city infrastructure
• U1: YES YES to fund affordable housing with a tax on landlord’s rent receipts
• DD: NO NO to reject large landlords’ deceptive smoke screen that has worse policy
• V1: YES to let the city spend money it has raised in taxes
• W1: YES to use citizen redistricting commission set city council districts
• X1: YES to give matching funds to Mayoral/Council candidates
• Y1: YES to allow 16&17 year-olds to vote in school board elections
• Z1: YES to allow city to build homes for low-income families
• AA: YES to clean up rent control provisions
• BB & CC: NO, because Berkeley City Council reached a good compromise on minimum wage

Berkeley Candidates for Mayor, Council, School Board, and Rent Board

• Berkeley School Board: Beatriz Appel Leyva-Cutler & Judy Appel
• Berkeley Mayor: Capitelli #1
• Berkeley Council District 2: Darryl Moore #1, Nanci Armstrong-Temple #2
• Berkeley Council District 3: Ben Bartlett #1
• Berkeley Council District 5: Stephen Murphy #1
• Berkeley Rent Board: Judy Hunt, Leah Simon-Weisberg, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, & Igor Tregub

And if you missed it from earlier, here are my positions on state propositions:

Nov 2016 State Propositions

• 51: YES for K-12 & Community College facilities
• 52: Leaning YES to Use Hospital Fees to get Federal Funds for Medi-Cal -- Comments welcome!
• 53: NO NO to Statewide votes on local projects
• 54: NO to Over-Complicated Prescription of Legislative Operations
• 55: YES YES to have the 1.5% pay for for Schools & Healthcare
• 56: YES YES for Cigarette Tax to Fund Healthcare and Tobacco Use Prevention.
• 57: YES YES for Criminal Justice Reform
• 58: YES YES to Allow Bilingual Education
• 59: YES to Clarify that Corporations are not Human Beings
• 60: NO to a Badly-written measure about condoms in porn films
• 61: Leaning YES to Reduce Costs of Drugs - Comments Welcome
• 62: YES YES, a million times YES to Repeal the Death Penalty
• 63: YES to prohibit possession of large capacity ammunition magazines
• 64: YES on Marijuana Legalization
• 65: Leaning NO on Deceptive Plastic Bags Measure
• 66: NO NO NO - Don’t make it easier to impose death sentences
• 67: YES to Confirm Legislature’s Ban on Single-use Bags

BART, AC Transit, & Alameda County measures + candidates

Yes on AC, BART, & Alameda County housing, and elect Saltzman and Simon for BART:

• AC Transit Measure C1: YES YES to support bus service (AC Transit)
• AC Transit At-Large: Chris Peeples
• BART Measure RR: YES YES to keep BART safe and reliable
• BART District 3: Rebecca Saltzman
• BART District 7: Lateefah Simon
• BART Districts 1, 5, and 9: Contact me if you want my opinion
• Alameda County Measure A1: YES YES to build more affordable housing
• Contra Costa County Measure X: Contact me

How I'm voting, June 2016

Here's a summary of how I'm voting in the June 2016 primary. Since this is a relatively short ballot, I'll put it all in one post, starting with the bottom of the ballot and moving up to the top (I know, most people do it the other way, but I think my biggest value-add is the down-ballot races that you're less likely to research). 

On the local elections, I feel very strongly about Scott Jackson for Judge (Seat #1).

I also put some thought and research into the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee, 15th Assembly District (vote for 9 of 17): Brett Badelle, Elizabeth Echols, Bonnie Wheatley, Vincent Casalaina, Andy Kelley, Floyd Huen, Kate Harrison, Dianne Martinez, and Cecilia "Ces" Rosales.

On the state & federal elections, I’m voting Democrats. In contested races, I'm voting Harris (U.S. Senate) and I'm leaning towards Swanson over Skinner (Senate D9).

For details of these and lots of other races, see the rest of this post.

As always, thoughtful comments welcome, and I encourage you to sign in so I know who's commenting.

YES YES YES on Alameda Measure BB: Crucial Transit Improvements

I support Measure BB because it would fund several vital improvements: restore cut bus service, start a new youth bus pass program, repair potholes, and make unprecedented investments for pedestrian and bicycle safety and infrastructure and for transit-oriented development. Yes, there are some concerns (particularly one project I don't support), but I think they pale in comparison to the good that can be achieved -- on balance, we'll all be much better off with Measure BB than without it. Yes, it is a sales tax, but the benefits will be used very progressively.

In my work life at TransForm, I worked hard to get this to be a good plan when it first went on the ballot in 2012 -- and lost by just 700 votes. For a longer explanation of why BB is a good idea, see the Yes on BB post I wrote for TransForm back in June.

This year, we got some improvements and gathered support from a much wider range of groups, including the Sierra Club and League of Women Voters, both of whom were neutral in 2012, but who now say YES on BB. There's also endorsements from lots of other groups I trust (Bike East Bay, formerly East Bay Bicycle Coalition), faith-based groups (Genesis), organized labor, United Seniors, and lots more.

If you're really cool, you can volunteer to help the campaign -- via Bike East Bay or the official Yes on BB campaign.

And if you're thinking of voting no, please post a comment or contact me directly!! Give me a chance to change your mind :-)

June 3, 2014 election recommendations: See Landau's Guide June 2014

I did not do my own writeup for this election, because I didn't do my normal level of due diligence on this election. 

But my good friend and fellow political junkie Nathan Landau did. I normally agree with his analyses, and this election is no different. You can download his recommendations from http://goo.gl/Wz3luQ.  He covers the competitive state offices, state & East Bay propositions, and Berkeley-relevant elected offices.

The one place where I was unsure is Assembly 15th District. 

Nathan endorses Elizabeth Echols, who is terrific. I'd be happy with her as my Assemblymember. If I were doing my own writeup, I would've wanted to look more deeply into Tony Thurmond's background to understand if I'd be just as happy with him. But as Nathan suggests, that question is probably moot, as the November general election will probably be a "top two" race between the two of them. So we'll probably get to decide between them again. From what little I know, I tend to agree with Nathan's assessment that Sam Kang has the right ideas but not enough legislative/political experience to make a big difference in the legislature. But I'd love to vote for him for lower office, see him get that experience. 

Happy voting!

November 2012 Summary of Recommendations

Here's my summary of recommendations for the November 2012 election. I've tried my best to put these in the order they'll appear on your ballot, based on how they show up in mine. If there's a race missing that you want more info on, post a comment!!

Federal & State

• President, Senator, Congress, State Senate & Assembly: I'm voting the Democratic ticket. I like some of them (Obama, Lee, Hancock, Skinner) more than others (Feinstein).They're all going to win California or their respective districts, so I won't spend any time here debating their relative merits.

Nonpartisan Offices

• Berkeley Rent Board (up to 4): not satisfied, but probably voting the 'progressive slate', Dodsworth, Shelton, Soto-Vigil, and Tregub.
• Berkeley School Board (up to 2): Beatriz Leyva-Cutler, Judy Appel
• AC Transit Director, At Large: Chris Peeples
• AC Transit Director, Ward 1: Yelda Bartlett
• BART Director, District 3: Rebecca Saltzman
• BART Director, District 7: Maria Alegria

State Propositions
Most important to me are Yes on 30 (fix the budget!), No on 32 (don't silence our voices), and Yes on 34 (replace the death penalty with justice that works!). Here's the full summary:

• Yes on 30: Temporary State Budget Fix
• No on 31:  Poorly Worked-Out Budget Reform
• No on 32: Don't Silence Our Voices
• No on 33: Billionaire #1: Manipulating the Insurance Market
• Yes on 34: Justice That Works
• No on 35: Human Trafficking Penalties
• Yes on 36: Reform Three Strikes Law
• Yes on 37: Support our Right to Know What We Eat
• No on 38: Billionaire #2 with inadequate education funding
• Yes on 39: Close Out-of-State Corporate Tax Loophole
• Yes on 40: Approve Redistricting by Citizens Commission

Alameda County Measures:

• Yes on A1: Zoo Improvements
• YES!! on B1: Crucial Transit Improvements

City Nonpartisan Offices:

• Berkeley Mayor: Tom Bates
• Berkeley City Council District 2 (Southwest): Darryl Moore (1st), Denisha DeLane (2nd)
• Berkeley City Council District 3 (South Berkeley): Max Anderson
• Berkeley City Council District 5 (Thousand Oaks): Laurie Capitelli
• Oakland City Council, At-Large: Rebecca Kaplan
• Oakland City Council, District 1 (North Oakland): Richard Raya #1, Amy Lemley #2, Dan Kalb #3
• Oakland City Council, District 7 (Deep East Oakland): Sheryl Walton

City of Berkeley Measures (I put these all together in one long post): 

• Yes on M: Berkeley Streets & Watershed Bond
• Yes on N & O: Berkeley Pools Bond & Parcel Tax
• Yes on P: Raise Gann Limit
• Yes on Q: Modernize language for Utility Users Tax
• Yes on R: Rational Redistricting
• No on S: Wrong solution to a real nuisance
• Yes on T: Approve city's Rezoning for West Berkeley
• No on U: the Berkeley political gridlock ordinance
• No on V: More gridlock, financial reporting style

YES on Alameda County A1: Zoo Improvements

My 8 year-old son wins the day on this one. He loves tigers (enough so that he braved the taunts of his classmates and his brother to root for Detroit in the World Series -- I was proud of him.  But I digress). So he's been lobbying me to vote Yes to help the animals. I have personal experience of how the zoo is a good recreational and educational resource -- we had family memberships and went many times when our kids were little. The zoo looks like it could use some help. They say they need to renew the animal care facilities. The cost ($1/month for each residential parcel) is reasonable.

On the other side, concerned neighbors and some environmentalists (the California Native Plant Society, for example) believe that passing this parcel tax will help the zoo do an extensive expansion elsewhere in  Knowland Park. I don't know enough about that proposed expansion to know whether I'd think it is awful. I'm sure that passing this tax might make that more financially feasible for the zoo; it is true that the expenditure plan is broad and can apparently be changed easily.

But zoo expansion into Knowland Park is not what's on the ballot -- there's a different decision-making process for that, going through Oakland City Council. The ballot question is whether I'll pay $1/month to support zoo operations. I will: Yes on A1. 

YES on Alameda County B1: Crucial Transit Improvements

I'm supporting Measure B1 because it would fund several vital improvements: restore cut bus service, start a new youth bus pass program, repair potholes, and make unprecedented investments for pedestrian and bicycle safety and infrastructure and for transit-oriented development. Yes, there are some concerns (particularly some projects I don't support), but I think they pale in comparison to the good that can be achieved -- on balance, we'll all be better off with Measure B1 than without it. Yes, it is a sales tax, but the benefits will be used very progressively. For a long explanation of why B1 is a good idea AND links to the extensive debate that went into it in the first place, check out TransForm's blog post I wrote back in May.

California's crazy budget laws mean B1 needs a 2/3 vote. If passed, it would approve a new (30-year) expenditure plan, increase the tax, and extend it permanently. The expenditure plan is very detailed and there are many oversight bodies. The "Yes on B1" campaign is the source of all those "Keep Us Moving" signs you're seeing around town, and the measure has wide-ranging endorsements. How often do you see the Chronicle, Guardian, and East Bay Express all endorse the same thing? Plus lots of transportation and environmental groups (TransForm, East Bay Bicycle Coalition), faith-based groups (Genesis), organized labor, United Seniors, the list goes on. If you're thinking of voting no, please post a comment or contact me directly!!