State Senate primary is being waged on Arreguín's turf

Berkeley councilmember abruptly resigns; Price recall effort gets $125k infusion of cash; Thao's office says recallers are losers; Wahab transit agency bill pulled from state senate committee

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín.

ELECTION 2024

7TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT

—BATTLE OF BERKELEY—Over the next seven weeks, expect the March Primary campaign for the open 7th Senate State District seat to become a maelstrom of rhetoric, attacks, and loads of political mailers and media buys.

—Some campaigns for the Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, and Richmond area state Senate seat, however, appear to be tipping their pitches about who they believe is the front runner.

—Since the start of this race last spring, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín has proven to be its top fundraiser. Along with the gravitas of being the only mayor in the six-candidate field, Arreguín has pieced together a strong list of supporter from local elected leaders to labor unions.

—Money doesn’t always buy elections, especially when your opponents also come equipped with big money and well-financed independent expenditure committees.

—Over the past month, Jovanka Beckles, a candidate for SD7 and elected member of the AC Transit Board of Directors, has used the fiery confrontations between pro-Gaza activists and the Berkeley City Council as cudgel to undermine Arreguín’s record in his city.

—Beckles started shooting videos of herself among the activists at Berkeley City Hall last month. Now, Beckles is doing the same to highlight Arreguín’s response to protesters at People’s Park.

—She isn’t the only candidate taking the argument to Arreguín’s turf.

—Sandre Swanson, the former assemblymember taking a second stab at winning a seat in the state Senate, recently touted his campaign with a large billboard on San Pablo Avenue.

—Popular Rep. Barbara Lee is prominently featured on the billboard, even though she has not endorsed a candidate in the race. Swanson, however, once served as Lee’s chief of staff.

—Lastly, nearly $2 million in independent expenditure money is poised to enter the race for labor candidate Kathryn Lybarger. Although, the pair of IEs supporting Lybarger will likely focus on introducing the relatively unknown candidate to the district’s voters, there could be some left over to use against Arreguín, and others.

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