2022 Election Results
2022 General Election Results
The results are in! Oaklanders elected progressive leaders in the mayoral, city council and OUSD School Board races, rejecting neo-liberal and privatizing charter candidates. They affirm Oaklanders’ commitment to progressive leaders and support for measures that bring additional funding for city programs and services, corporate accountability, and housing security.
Oakland Rising Action’s voter guide reached nearly 60,000 Oakland households by mail, and received an additional 6,577 views online. We’re grateful to our passionate and dedicated team of outreach workers and volunteers who spoke with 5,700 new and infrequent Oakland voters on the phone and on the ground.
Candidate Breakdown
This year, Oakland ’s ranked choice voting system provided a more democratic approach to electing the city’s leaders, resulting in the election of the candidates with the broadest support.
The re-election of City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas (D2), along with her newly elected counterparts Janani Ramchandran (D4) and Kevin Jenkins (D6), gives us the progressive majority and visionary leadership we need to address pressing issues – from making sure we all have a roof over our heads to reimagining public safety.
In the school board race, we celebrate the victory of Jennifer Brouhard in District 2 and Valarie Bachelor in District 6. These new leaders promise to build on their work to prioritize all Oakland students, not just those living in the hills, and support all students to thrive and achieve their dreams. The victory of these progressive OUSD candidates reveal that voters reject charter-backed candidates who want to privatize Oakland’s public education.
At the county level, Alameda County voters overwhelmingly elected Pamela Price for District Attorney, leading our communities into a new era of criminal justice reform. This is the first time in over ten years that voters elected a new DA candidate to represent Alameda County. As the only candidate running with a progressive platform, Price promises to bring alternatives to incarceration, diversion programs, and community reinvestment to the forefront of our approach to public safety.
Local Measures Breakdown
As one of the largest community-based organizations phone banking and canvassing in Oakland this election, Oakland Rising Action’s outreach to nearly 6,000 new and infrequent voters was critical to winning Measures W, T, and V. In our conversations with voters, our outreach team and volunteers were able to educate our neighbors on these measures and found that voters were in favor of:
- a more participatory, responsive, and accountable local democracy;
- relief for our small businesses and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes; and
- housing security and expanded eviction protections.
Building political power with often-ignored voters in the Flatlands proved to be the key to securing victory for these local measures.
With progressive leaders headed for city hall and the school board, and Measures W, T, and V gaining wide support, we have high hopes for a vision of recovery beyond the pandemic that will center the needs of all Oaklanders.
The fight isn’t over. We will need to continue to push to make sure these policies are implemented. In the coming months, we will see firsthand how these measures play out in the budget battles at the city and county level.
In the coming months, we may see budget battles at the city and county level which could undermine these measures, so keep an eye out for opportunities to join us at City Council meetings and actions. Together, we can win funding for programs that tackle the true economic inequities that create harm in our communities – employment, housing and food insecurity – and invest in our children and people first.
To view our original analysis on each candidate, measure, and proposition, please visit our 2022 Voter Guide page.