Local 21 has much to be pleased about following Tuesday’s election. And our members stepped up like never before for a primary race—more than 125 members volunteered 500 hours. Below is a snapshot of the results (see article below for a South Bay recap).
Hayward
We elected our first City Councilmember in Hayward—quite a victory!With two seats up for grabs, labor-backed Sara Lamnin* ran less than 100 votes behind incumbent anti-labor Councilman Marv Peixoto. Our second candidate, Rocky Fernandez* came in third, running about 500 votes shy of winning.
With five credible candidates vying for two seats, defeating an incumbent was a tall order, especially in a June election. Local 21 members stepped up as never before – fully half of the Hayward membership volunteered, and members from SF and Oakland phone banked and walked door to door. The Hayward Chapter leadership each recruited between 2-11 volunteers and some of them volunteered as many as 14 times. We made more than 25,000 phone calls and knocked on 7,000 doors. While we identified 5,000 supporters, many were infrequent labor voters who posed a special challenge to turn out.
Alameda County
Measure AA*: The countywide measure to extend the sales tax that funds the county trauma center and other community clinics garnered 74.5% of the vote.
San Francisco
- Assembly District 17: Supervisor David Chiu garnered 48% of the vote to his opponent David Campos*’ 42% – just 3,000 votes separated the two. They’ll face off again in November. Several L21 members volunteered.
- Proposition A*: Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond 2014 This measure to build a new crime lab won easily with nearly 79% of the vote. Local 21 worked for two years to get this on the ballot.
Legislative race of note: AD 16: The fight for this moderate Alameda/Contra Costa seat was a three-way face-off between a Republican, who placed first, and two Dems. Tim Sbranti, a teacher and labor ally, who came in seven points ahead of virulently anti-labor candidate Steve Glazer in a multi-million dollar dogfight that was labor’s top priority for Northern California. This will be a tough race in the fall. Local 21 members lent a hand to Sbranti in the race.
* indicates Local 21 support
