18th Assembly District:

Date:
Saturday, January 7

Candidate speeches begin:
30 minutes prior to registration

Registration & voting begin:
10am-12pm,
12pm (election portion begins)

Counting of ballots begin:
TBD

Location:
Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 Building
1720 Marina Blvd.
San Leandro, CA 94577

Cross streets:
Merced St.

Onsite Phone:
(510) 895.8660

Women:

Eleanor “Ellie” Casson (Oakland): After years of working as a Community Organizer with Greenbelt Alliance to bring more affordable housing and stronger environmental policies to Bay Area cities, Ellie ran the successful 2012 re-election campaign for US Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. She now works in government affairs in the tech industry. Ellie has helped launch community groups dedicated to housing Oakland’s homeless, as well a group focused on ensuring an equitable integration of the tech industry in Oakland.

Amber Childress (Oakland): A mother, small business owner, millennial and a woman of color, Amber will bring a much-needed voice to the table. She began serving her community in the 90’s when she was just in elementary school and hasn’t stopped since then. Amber was elected in June 2016 to serve a 4-year term as a Trustee on the Alameda County Board of Education.

Lisa (LaFave) Cysewski (San Leandro): A registered nurse (RN, B.S., B.S.N.) for 35 years. Successfully fought to save San Leandro Hospital from closing. An active and involved CNA/NNU union member. Nurse delegate to the People's Summit in Chicago this past summer and actively campaigned for Bernie Sanders. Lisa was chosen by her union members as a nurse negotiator and helped to successfully bargain a well received contract for the nurses at San Leandro Hospital.

Gabrielle “Gaby” Dolphin (Alameda): Busy in Alameda with establishing a Sanctuary City; mandating solar; local campaign finance reform; fighting the egregious uneven playing field between the local 1% property owners and development companies and the 99% who will never in this country or economy be able to purchase their own home; advocating community forums on Black Lives Matter; healing police/community divide; fracking; and divestiture from Wells Fargo.

Pamela Harris (Oakland): An activist and filmmaker, Pamela has dedicated her life to advancing LGBTQ rights, and racial and economic justice. She has worked in the areas of disability services, affordable housing, and advancing the arts as essential components of a vibrant democracy. A former Fulbright Fellow to Uruguay, where she did work focused on racial equity, Pamela’s film work has focused on the fight for a living wage and environmental and racial justice in California.

Rabia Keeble (Oakland): Worked on the campaign of Dan Siegal for Mayor of Oakland, Obama, and Bernie Sanders. Rabi'a has worked tirelessly with organizations such as Black Lives Matters, Just Cause, Muslims for Black Lives, and Interfaith4BlackLives. Rabi'a is a tireless community activist and stands firmly on the principles of justice, righteousness, and unity. She is a author of a new book on her life as a Muslim activist, due in 2017.

Mara Schechter (Oakland): Builds progressive coalitions as a Campaign Director at Daily Kos, on a variety of issues, including: racial and economic justice, environmental justice, corporate accountability, LGBTQ rights, electoral reform and voting rights, gender and reproductive justice, and protecting the social safety net. For years she has also volunteered to support local Bay Area left-wing advocacy campaigns.

_Men:

Sean Dugar (Oakland)

Western Regional Director for the NAACP. Previously, Co-Founder and Chair of the California Young Democrats Black Caucus. Worked on or managed over a dozen political and issue campaigns, including faith conversation in support of marriage equality, rallying Bay Area communities in opposition to the death penalty and in favor of criminal justice reform, as well a campaign that registered over 10,000 new voters in Alameda County in 2004.
Please also vote for Sean for E-board on separate ballot.
Michael Fortes (Oakland): An administrative professional, an active participant in the San Francisco Bay Area music community, and a resident of the Bay Area since 2004. Michael actively campaigned during the 2016 presidential primary season, served as a pledged at-large delegate at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, and continues to raise awareness and encourage more young Bay Area residents to participate in the political process.

Mike Katz (LaCabe) (San Leandro): An IT security specialist and Director of Research for the Center for Human Rights and Privacy, advocating for privacy rights, government transparency and for the curtailment of the surveillance state. Active in Oakland Privacy Working Group and the San Leandro Democratic Club. Eight years on the San Leandro School Board, including two as Board President. Previously, coordinated Berkeley Amnesty International group, worked with School of the Americas Watch and co-founded Derechos Human Rights.

Carter Lavin (Oakland): A Climate Hawk living in Oakland for the past five years. Originally from Washington D.C., Carter came to California to work in solar. Since moving to Oakland, he has been involved with the fights to Save Knowland Park, Stop the Domain Awareness Center, No Coal in Oakland, and expand bike lanes and transit options for Oaklanders.

Michael Lee (Alameda): Mike became reinvigorated with politics in 2016 volunteering on the Bernie Sanders campaign. Prior to this, he tutored seniors for the US Naturalization interview in his teens, liaised with the Oakland Chinatown community and assisted with constituent concerns as a staffer of Alameda County Supervisorial District 3 between 2006 and 2008, taught English in Taiwan where he had access to Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (a single-payer system).

Jeromey Shafer (San Leandro): As a volunteer for the Bernie Sanders campaign, Jeromey coordinated all canvassing in San Leandro, was instrumental in the forming of San Leandro for Bernie and co-presented at a dozen barnstorms throughout the Bay Area. Through these efforts he was able to get commitments from hundreds of volunteers to phonebank, register voters and canvass for Bernie and was elected as a delegate to the national convention for Bernie.

Dan Wood (Alameda)