Party plans

These 12 contested races will be at the mercy of Alameda County Dems; Anonymous donor gives San Leandro $5M for a bridge; Hayward sorts through district maps; Fremont official supports Price recall

ELECTION 2024

63 days to Election Day

ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMOCRATS

—AND THE NOMINEES ARE—Candidates for Alameda County Supervisor, Berkeley and Fremont mayor, and Oakland’s at-large city council seat will face-off for the valuable Alameda County Democratic Party endorsement on Sept. 14.

—In total, candidates in 12 races this fall will compete for the party’s endorsement in a series of mini-candidate forums next week.

• ALAMEDA COUNTY SUPERVISOR-DISTRICT 5: Nikki Fortunato Bas and John Bauters. The party made no endorsement in the March Primary.

• BERKELEY MAYOR: Sophie Hahn, Kate Harrison, and Adena Ishii.

• BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL-DISTRICT 6: Brent Blackaby and Andy Katz.

• EMERYVILLE CITY COUNCIL (3 seats): Sam Gould and Matthew Solomon. The party placed incumbent Councilmembers Sukhdeep Kaur and Courtney Welch on consent for two of the three seats.

• FREMONT MAYOR: Vinnie Bacon and Raj Salwan.

• OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL-AT-LARGE: LeRonne Armstrong, Rowena Brown, Shawn Danino, and Charlene Wang.

• SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL-DISTRICT 6: Dylan Boldt and Robert Bulatao.

• UNION CITY MAYOR: Emily Duncan and Gary Singh.

• BERKELEY USD: (2 seats): Incumbent Laura Babitt and Jen Corn. The party placed the candidacy of incumbent Berkeley school boardmember Ana Vasudeo on consent.

• PLEASANTON USD-DISTRICT 3: Incumbent Kelly Mokashi and Donalyn Harris.

• EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DIST-WARD 2: Lynda Deschambault and Casey Farmer.

• EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DIST-WARD 4: Taryn Edwards and Luana España. This was the seat held by Ellen Corbett, who passed away last month.

—The number of contested endorsements could increase over the next few days. The deadline for central committee members to pull contests off the consent calendar is this Saturday morning.

—Five members of the central committee, including, at least, one from the assembly district in which the contest resides, must agree to pull a race off consent.

—The bar for endorsement is high, 60 percent of the vote. Otherwise, a “no endorsement” will be recorded for the fall campaign.

—PASSED OVER—The steering committee tasked with whittling down the lengthy list of candidates snubbed several Democratic incumbents. Among them:

• Alameda Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer

• Albany Councilmember Jennifer Hansen-Romero

• Albany school boardmember Veronica Davidson

• Berkeley Rent Commissioners Xavier Johnson, Dominique Walker

• Oro Loma Sanitary District Director Benny Lee

• Piedmont Councilmember Conna McCarthy

—MAYORAL MIX—In other mayoral races, Alameda County Democrats are backing Jean Josey for Dublin mayor over Sherry Hu.

—No endorsement will be considered in Pleasanton’s mayoral matchup between incumbent Karla Brown and Jack Balch. That’s because both are registered as No Party Preference.

—Ohlone Community College Board Director Elisa Martinez is getting the nod for Newark mayor. Michael Hannon, the incumbent mayor, is a Republican.

—COUNCIL CHOICES—Iris Merriouns, the long-time Oakland council staffer, is in line for the party’s endorsement in Oakland’s District 7 council seat left open by Treva Reid.

—In San Leandro’s contested District 2 race, Alameda County Democrats have forgiven incumbent Councilmember Bryan Azevedo for equating them to Republicans two years ago. Azevedo’s candidacy was placed on consent.

—In Alameda, Greg Boller, an Alameda County prosecutor; and Michele Pryor, were placed on consent for two at-large seats on the city council.

—411 ON THE 510—Become an East Bay Insiders subscriber today and get full access to the inside scoop every weekday morning at 6 a.m. It’s what the insiders read.