Half of the Berkeley City Council seats are up for grabs

An upward view of Berkeley City Hall, a gray five-story government building, from the sidewalk. — Ten candidates from four districts are vying for seats on the Berkeley City Council. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Berkeley voters cast their final ballots in four City Council races that, along with the mayoral race, could reshape city government.

Councilors Terry Taplin and Ben Bartlett are both being contested for their seats representing South and Southwest Berkeley (Sector 2 and Sector 3), while the other two races are open competitions. Susan Wengraf is not running for re-election after four representative mandates Sector 6. And Sophie Hahn sets her free Sector 5 seat after two terms as she competes to lead the council as mayor against Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii.

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The council, consisting of one member from each of the city’s eight districts and an elected mayor at large, is the city’s legislative body, makes appointments to city boards and commissions, and has final hiring and firing power over a number of city executives, including the the city manager.

It could take days or even weeks to find out the winner if the results are close. The elections for the City Council are made by ranked choice votingwhich could affect the outcome of the District 3 and District 5 races if no candidate garners more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round.

The regularly scheduled general election contests come just months after two special elections — one in Aprilone in May — brought two new faces to the board following the abrupt resignations of Rigel Robinson and Harrison in January.

District 2: Guarino seeks to unseat Taplin

Master’s student Jenny Guarino, left, is challenging Terry Taplin for the Ward 2 seat on the City Council. Credit: Jenny Guarino, City of Berkeley

Academic Labor leader Jenny Guarino is seeking to unseat first-term incumbent Terry Taplin. in sector 2.

The Southwest Berkeley district is home to Bayer’s 46-acre campus; Water Parks, San Pablo and Strawberry Creek; and a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial districts.

Taplin, a poet, transportation activist and former instructional assistant, previously served on Berkeley’s transportation and civic arts commissions and currently represents Berkeley on the Alameda County Transportation Commission. He chairs the council’s Public Safety Policy and Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Stability subcommittees.

Guarino is a master’s student specializing in affordable housing and urban policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and was elected chief executive of UAW 4811, which represents the university’s academic student employees. He previously worked as a legal assistant and researcher.

District 3: Matthews, Moore challenge Bartlett

From left: Incumbent Councilman Ben Bartlett, Realtor Deborah Matthews and Planning Commission and Police Accountability Board member John “Chip” Moore are running to represent District 3 on the Berkeley City Council. Credit: Submitted images

Realtor Deborah Matthews and Police Accountability Board Chairman John “Chip” Moore III are challenging two-term incumbent Ben Bartlett to represent District 3.

The South Berkeley district is on the precipice of a large-scale redevelopment at and around the Ashby BART station. It is home to Grove Park and Tim Moellering Field and the Adeline Street commercial corridor, a major thoroughfare between Berkeley and Oakland to the south.

Bartlett, an attorney, previously served on Berkeley’s transportation and zero-waste committees, advocating for electric vehicle infrastructure and the city’s plastic bag ban. He also held positions on the Berkeley Loan Management Board, the Planning Commission and the Police Review Commission.

Matthews ran twice to represent District 3, co-founded and advocated for low- and moderate-income housing through the South Berkeley Now! and served on the development team for Black Panther Housing Development in Oakland, which provides low-income housing for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Moore is Bartlett’s appointee to the Planning Commission and PAB and has chaired the Mayor’s Community Advisory Group, co-chaired the Berkeley Unified School District Repair Task Force and chaired the Berkeley Progressive Caucus. He founded 4&20 Blackbirds, a cannabis delivery company, and later his own consultancy, and is a master’s candidate in public administration at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy.

District 5: Andrew, Gor, O’Keefe battle to succeed Hahn

From left: Todd Andrew, Nilang Gor and Shoshana O’Keefe are running to represent North Berkeley on the City Council. Courtesy of candidates

Todd Andrew, chairman of the Solano Avenue Business Improvement District Advisory Committee, Berkeley High School teacher Shoshana O’Keefe and nonprofit founder Nilang Gor is running to succeed Hahn, who is running for mayor.

The North Berkeley district includes much of the Hopkins Street Corridor and several neighborhoods in the western sections of the Berkeley Hills and lies between Albany to the west and the rest of the Berkeley Hills to the east.

Andrew ran for office once before in 2020 — when Hahn won his second term — and served on the city’s Homeless Commission. Now retired, he previously worked in employee benefits consulting for 15 years before going to work in residential real estate for more than two decades.

Gor is a scientist and senior manager at the biotechnology company Gritstone bio, founder of Cultivate Empathy for All, and a board member of the California Plant Based Alliance. He previously served on Berkeley’s Homeless Commission and volunteered with several organizations that provide services to homeless residents of the Bay Area.

O’Keefe has served on the zoning board of adjustment for 11 years and was most recently reappointed by Hahn. She is a math and science teacher at Berkeley High School and previously worked as an immigration attorney. She is a member of the Berkeley High School Board and a former parent member of the Malcolm X Elementary School Board.

District 6: Blackaby, Katz vie to succeed Wengraf

Brent Blackaby, left, and Andy Katz, right, are running to represent Berkeley City Council District 6 in the 2024 election. Credit: Submitted Photos

Online privacy entrepreneur Brent Blackaby and attorney Andy Katz are running to succeed Wengraf on the City Council.

The Northeast Berkeley District stretches north and east from UC Berkeley’s main campus through the Berkeley Hills to the city limits of Oakland and Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park to the east and Kensington to the north.

Blackaby co-founded Confidently, an online privacy operation that provides data cleansing to its clients, as well as Trilogy Interactive, a political marketing and advocacy agency. Councilor Mark Humbert appointed Blackaby to the Police Accountability Board last year.

Katz is a workers’ rights and environmental attorney and serves on the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors and the Berkeley Labor, Community Health and Disaster and Fire Safety Commissions, and previously served on the Board of Adjustment of areas and in the Housing Advisory Committee.