The November 2024 ballot includes the presidential contest, a U.S. Senate race, U.S. House races, State Senate and Assembly races, and nine state ballot measures. But local elections are also in play. Berkeley, Oakland and Richmond are all electing multiple city councilmembers and one mayor this fall. Note that the endorsements listed in this article are not complete lists. Strongly recommended: Visiting the candidates’ websites for more information about their positions, and checking campaign contributions to see who/what is financing the candidate. Berkeley Berkeley’s mayoral race to replace Jesse Arreguín, who is running for State Senate, has five candidates: Logan Bowie, Sophie Hahn, Kate Harrison, Adena Ishii and Naomi Pete. Of these, Hahn, a former city councilmember; Harrison, current District 5 city councilmember; and Ishii, an education and housing advocate, are considered the frontrunners. Hahn is endorsed by current Mayor Arreguín, multiple current city councilmembers, multiple construction trade unions and multiple elected state officials, among others.Harrison is endorsed by Our Revolution East Bay, the League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay, multiple school and rent board members, and some unions, including the UAW and the Teamsters.Ishii is endorsed by current State Sen. Nancy Skinner, current State Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and multiple current city councilmembers, among others. City Council Four city council races are being contested in Berkeley. In District 2, incumbent Terry Taplin is opposed by Jenny Guarino. Taplin’s endorsements include Skinner, Wicks, the Sierra Club and multiple unions. Guarino’s endorsements include the Berkeley Tenants Union and multiple members of the rent board. In District 3, incumbent Ben Bartlett is endorsed by Arreguín and all the other members of the council. Opponent John “Chip” Moore is endorsed by Our Revolution and City Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra. Opponent Deborah Matthews is endorsed by the Berkeley Democratic Club and councilmembers Susan Wengraf and Mark Humbert. In District 5, Todd Andrew is endorsed by multiple Planning Commission members, as well as “all members of the Solano Avenue Business Improvement District Advisory Board,” according to his website. Nilang Gor is endorsed by Harrison and multiple members of the homeless- and environmental-activist communities. Shoshana O’Keefe is endorsed by Arreguín, multiple city councilmembers and multiple labor unions. In District 6, Brent Blackaby is running against Andy Katz. Blackaby is endorsed by outgoing City Councilmember Wengraf, Skinner and Wicks. Katz is endorsed by Arreguín and the Alameda County Democratic Party. Both are endorsed by multiple sitting councilmembers. For campaign contributions information, start at ssl.netfile.com/static/agency/brk/ Oakland The City of Oakland’s ballot includes a mayoral recall, along with major changes to the city council resulting from the decisions by three sitting councilmembers to not seek re-election: At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, District 1 Councilmember Dan Kalb, and District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid. All told, five Oakland city council seats will be decided in November. The at-large city council race is receiving the most attention for several reasons: While in theory the seat doesn’t command more power than the district  seats, its oversight of the whole city does give it some outsized influence. Also, of the 10 candidates vying for it, the frontrunner is Oakland’s former police chief, LeRonne Armstrong, fired last year by Mayor Sheng Thao. Armstrong is endorsed by four current city councilmembers, Supervisor Nate Miley, the Oakland Police Officers Association and several unions. His nine opponents include Rowena Brown, Shawn Danino, Kanitha Matoury, Mindy Ruth Pechenuk, Fabian Robinson, Nancy Sidebotham, Selika Thomas, Cristina Tostado and Charlene Wang. Of these, Brown, a staff member for Assemblymember Mia Bonta, is considered Armstrong’s strongest competition. She is endorsed by both Mia Bonta and State Attorney General Rob Bonta; outgoing incumbent Kaplan; Lateefah Simon, the current candidate to replace Rep. Barbara Lee; and multiple labor unions. In District 1, Zac Unger, Len Raphael and Edward Frank face off. Unger is the frontrunner, endorsed by outgoing incumbent Kalb, Thao, Rob Bonta, Skinner and five other current city councilmembers. Raphael is endorsed by former Oakland City Council President Pat Kernighan. Frank does not have a website or any published endorsements. In District 3, incumbent Carroll Fife is being challenged by Baba Afolabi, Michelle Hailey, Shan Hirsch, Warren Logan and Meron Semedar. Fife is endorsed by six current councilmembers, Simon, multiple labor unions, APEN and Our Revolution. Her strongest opposition likely comes from Logan, endorsed by former Mayor Libby Schaaf, East Bay Young Democrats and the Black Women Organized for Political Action PAC. In District 5, incumbent Noel Gallo has two opponents, Erin Armstrong and Dominic Prado. Gallo’s endorsements include six current city councilmembers, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the Sierra Club and the Building & Construction Trades Council of Alameda County. Armstrong is endorsed by Simon, Miley, Oakland Firefighters Local 55 and multiple labor unions. Prado has no endorsements listed on his website. In District 7, four candidates are vying for the seat: Merika Goolsby, Marcie Hodge, Ken Houston and Iris Merriouns. Goolsby is endorsed by the Oakland Tenants Union, the Green Party of Alameda County and the Alliance of Californians for Community Engagement. Hodge does not have a website or any published endorsements. Houston is one of two endorsements by Empower Oakland; his website at the time of this writing did not list endorsements. Merriouns is endorsed by Empower Oakland, Our Revolution, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21. For campaign contributions disclosures, visit opendisclosure.io/election/oakland/2024-11-05/ Richmond Richmond will elect or re-elect councilmembers in three of its six districts, the third election in which district candidates are being chosen. In District 1, incumbent Melvin Willis is challenged by Jamelia Brown and Mark Wassberg. Willis is endorsed by Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action (APEN), the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia. Educator/community activist Brown does not list endorsements on her site. Wassberg does not have a website.In District 5, Ahmad Anderson is endorsed by the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, Skinner, former Mayor Tom Butt and former Mayor Nat Bates. Sue Wilson is endorsed by current council incumbent Gayle McLaughlin, Martinez, Gioia, three other councilmembers, the Sierra Club and the Contra Costa County Central Labor Council. In District 6, incumbent and Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez is running against Shawn Dunning. Jimenez is endorsed by APEN Action, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Gioia, Martinez, three sitting city councilmembers and multiple labor unions. Dunning is endorsed by the Contra Costa Building & Construction Trades Council, former Mayor Rosemary Corbin, Butt and the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County. For campaign contributions, see public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=RICH — Janis Hashe Stakes rise for Alameda County District Attorney When Nancy O’Malley stepped down from the district attorney’s office in January of 2023, voters were unsettled about the future. Crime hadn’t been down in years, and communities were growing more hopeless. The next DA would inherit chaos. Enter O’Malley’s successor, current District Attorney Pamela Price. In a county worn down by lawlessness, Price touted a polarizing platform. She championed police reform and compassion for incarcerated individuals. She envisioned an overhaul of the criminal justice system that would lead to fewer youth behind bars, abolishment of the death penalty and fairer sentences for people of color. These are the values she campaigned on. Now, these same values could cost Price her seat. Within just 24 months of her six-year tenure, the DA faces a recall election, scheduled for Nov. 5. This recall is the culmination of months of grassroots organizing by Alameda County voters. One group, called Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE), spearheaded the movement to unseat Price, calling her “soft on crime” and accusing her of declining to charge cases. Particularly, SAFE advocates have shown apprehension over the DA’s new directive that shortens prison sentences. Fearful that Price prioritizes offender wellbeing over public safety, SAFE merged with community leaders and launched a petition to remove her, which garnered more than 100,000 signatures and was certified by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in April of this year. Since then, pro-recall groups have steamrolled ahead, urging voters to keep up the momentum as they prepare to make their voices heard in November. But Price hasn’t taken these shots lying down. Even as calls to have her ousted intensify, the disgraced county official stands by her policies, claiming that shortened sentences can reduce recidivism. She has also alleged that Republican special interest groups are fueling the recall, saying conservative voters have not traditionally connected with alternative policing. At the crux of this upset are questions that could reveal how people feel about criminal justice in Alameda County: Will the historically progressive region see out Price’s vision? Or will it give her the boot and hold out for a candidate with a more heavy-handed approach to prosecution? In a moment that could define the county’s future, it’s up to the citizens to decide the way forward. Alameda County: Supervisor race heats up in District 5 What was originally eight candidates vying for Keith Carson’s highly coveted seat has now been whittled down to two. Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Emeryville City Councilmember John J. Bauters are now sprinting toward the November finish line in what’s arguably one of the most highly anticipated local races this election season. The seat represents Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont and part of Oakland. Despite maintaining a low profile, the county board of supervisors governs some of the most critical programs and departments in the region, including social and health services. It also oversees the county budget.   Both candidates cite homelessness as a high-priority issue in their campaigns. Bas promises to expand access to mental health and substance abuse services, while Bauter emphasizes building shelters. Also front and center on both platforms are affordable housing and public safety. Contra Costa County:  Over in Contra Costa County, Shanelle Scales-Preston and Mike Barbanica are going head to head for Supervisor Federal Glover’s seat when he retires this year after a six-year term. Stakes are high; this will be the first time the seat is up for grabs since 2000. The candidates compete in a historic election to influence policy in the district, which includes the cities of Martinez, Hercules, Pittsburg, Rodeo, and parts of Pinole and Antioch, as well as unincorporated communities. Both candidates boast experience as city council members. They have a shared vested interest in solving the homelessness crisis, as is standard for Bay Area politicians. However, besides a couple of key issues, these candidates differ significantly in their priorities and the followings they’ve built. A former cop, Barbanica has secured a number of endorsements from various law enforcement agencies. By late September, a pro-Barbanica political action committee had raised over $400,000 to funnel into his campaign, the group being mostly police officers and dispatchers. Clearly, Barbanica’s law-and-order-centered campaign resonates with the voters in uniform. Preston, on the other hand, appeals to voters who are moved by the plight of marginalized groups. Her platform prioritizes community empowerment, which she defines as engaging with diverse communities, encouraging open dialogue and incorporating citizens’ voices in legislative decision making. Preston’s resume arguably features the most coveted endorsement: that of outgoing Supervisor Glover. But with the funds that have been raised from public safety departments, it’s clear her opponent puts up a serious fight. Preston seems more aligned with the values of the previous supervisor, but could CoCo County be ready for something different? — Panashe Matemba-Mutasa