Money pours into Oakland City Council race overshadowed by mayoral election

OAKLAND — The special election Tuesday to find Oakland a new mayor will also fill a vacancy in one of the city’s most diverse council districts, a race that has flown relatively under the radar despite heavy spending to back its leading candidates.

Voter turnout in the April 15 election has so far been low in a city distracted by a Trump administration that is antagonistic toward Oakland’s politics, as well as by fallout from the felony corruption case involving ex-Mayor Sheng Thao.

But the top two candidates who may fill the District 2 Oakland City Council seat — which spans Chinatown, Jack London Square and areas near Lake Merritt, including the Eastlake and San Antonio neighborhoods — appear locked in a dead heat.

Kara Murray-Badal, a third-generation Oaklander and Harvard-educated housing policy analyst who pledges more affordable housing, has spent $64,000 raised from campaign donations.

Charlene Wang, a fellow policy analyst who mostly worked in Washington, D.C. over the past decade, has so far outspent Murray-Badal, with over $74,000 in campaign expenditures.





https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/04/12/money-pours-into-oakland-city-council-race-overshadowed-by-mayoral-election/