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Hancock Leads Chan in Endorsements

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Fund for Local Reporting! The power of incumbency brings with it two major political pluses: the ability to raise campaign money and the ability to gain endorsements.

Former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan—once one of the most powerful political figures in Sacramento when she served as Assembly Majority leader—has still been able to keep pace in fund-raising with her Senate District 9 Democratic primary opponent, 14th District Assemblymember Loni Hancock. At the end of the last campaign finance reporting period, Chan’s campaign had $507,000 in the bank to Hancock’s $406,000.

But two years after Chan was termed out of the state legislature after six years in office, Chan is trailing Hancock badly in key political endorsements in their race to succeed termed-out State Senator Don Perata.

Perata himself has endorsed both Chan and Hancock. But Hancock has the support of powerful outgoing Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez as well as all three of the United States Congressmembers representing the East Bay: Barbara Lee, George Miller and Ellen Tauscher.

Hancock also has the endorsement of two of the most powerful politicians in Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums and 16th District Assemblymember Sandré Swanson. Not surprisingly, Hancock has the endorsement of her husband, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Meanwhile, Chan is endorsed by California Attorney General and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who continues to be a political power in the East Bay. Hancock has the support of Oakland City Attorney Courtney Ruby, Chan the support of Oakland City Attorney John Russo.

Hancock is beating Chan in endorsements by councilmembers in the two of the three largest City Councils in the district, getting 6 endorsements to Chan’s 2 in Berkeley and 7 to Chan’s 0 in Richmond. Only in Oakland is Chan doing well, getting 5 endorsements to Hancock’s 0 from Oakland city councilmembers. In addition, Chan has gotten the only two endorsements by members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, while Hancock has taken the only endorsement by a member of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.

The two Senate candidates are virtually tied in most of the education board endorsements: 3 to 3 in the Berkeley School Board (one school board member, Shirley Issel, doing a dual endorsement), 3 to 2 for Chan in the Peralta Community College District Trustee Board (Nicky Gonzalez Yuen and Cy Gulassa doing a dual endorsement), and Chan leading 6 to 5 in Oakland School Board endorsements (4 board members doing dual endorsements). On the West Contra Costa School Board, however, Hancock has 4 endorsements to 0 for Chan.

Hancock is also doing well with endorsements by the area’s two public transportation district boards, beating Chan 3 to 0 on the AC Transit Board and 2 to 0 on the BART Board.

The two candidates are splitting the local and statewide labor, environmental, political organization, and professional endorsements, but Hancock has captured the largest political organization prize with the endorsement of the California Democratic Party.



A breakdown of key Senate District 9 endorsements:

Organizations of Elected Officials

Chan: Asian Pacific Islander California Legislative Caucus

Hancock: California Legislative Black Caucus

Environmental Organizations

Hancock: Sierra Club

Dual Endorsement: California League of Conservation Voters PAC

AC Transit Board of Directors

Hancock: Rocky Fernandez, Greg Harper, Joe Wallace

Alameda City Council

Chan: Doug DeHaan, Marie Gilmore, Frank Materesse

Alameda County Board of Education

Hancock: Dennis Chaconas, Jacki Fox Ruby

Alameda County Board of Supervisors

Chan: Keith Carson, Alice Lai Bitker

Miscellaneous Public Officials

Chan: Alameda County School Superintendent Sheila Jordan, Alameda Vice Mayor Lena Tam, California Controller John Chiang, Oakland City Attorney John Russo

Hancock: California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Oakland City Auditor Courtney Ruby, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums

Dual Endorsement: Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson, Contra Costa County School Superintendent Joe Ovick

Alameda School Board

Chan: David Forbes, Janet Gibson, Mike McMahon, William Schaff

Hancock: Tracy Lynn Jensen

Albay City Council

Hancock: Marge Atkinson, Farid Javendel, Jewel Okawatchi, Joanne Wile, Mayor Robert Lieber

Albany School Board

Hancock: Jamie Calloway, Nadine Ghammache, Miriam Walden

BART Board of Directors

Hanock: Robert Franklin, Gail Murray

Berkeley City Council

Chan: Dona Spring, Kriss Worthington

Hancock: Mayor Tom Bates, Max Anderson, Laurie Capitelli, Linda Maio, Darryl Moore, Betty Olds, Gordon Wozniak

Berkeley School Board

Chan: Joaquin Rivera, John Selawsky

Hancock: Karen Hemphill, Nancy Riddle

Dual Endorsement: Shirley Issel

Contra Costa County School Board

Hancock: Pamela Mirabella

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors

Hancock: John Giola

East Bay Municipal Utilities District

Chan: William Patterson

Hancock: Board President Lesa MacIntosh, Katy Foulkes, Andy Katz, David Richardson

East Bay Regional Park District Board

Chan: Doug Siden

Hancock: Ted Radke, Nancy Skinner, John Sutter

El Cerrito City Council

Hancock: Janet Abelson

Emeryville City Council

Hanock: Ruth Atkin, Dick Kassis, Mayor Ken Bukowski

Emeryville School Board

Hancock: Kurt Brinkman, Melodi Dice, Miguel Dwin, Joshua Simon, Cheryl Webb

Oakland City Council

Chan: Desley Brooks, Henry Chang, Patricia Kernighan, Jean Quan, Larry Reid

Oakland School Board

Chan: Noel Gallo, Gary Yee

Hancock: Gregory Hodge

Dual Endorsements: Chris Dobbins, Kerry Hamill, President David Kakishiba, Alice Spearman

Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees

Chan: Linda Handy

Dual Endorsements: Nicky Gonzalez Yuen, Cy Gulassa

Richmond City Council

Hancock: Tom Butt, Ludmyrna Lopez, John Marque, Harpreet Sandhu, Tony Thurmond, Maria Theresa Viramontes, John Ziesenhenne

San Pablo City Council

Chan: Genoveva Garcia Calloway, Leonard McNeil

State Board of Equalization

Dual Endorsements: Betty Yee, Judy Chu

United States Congress

Chan: Mike Honda, David Wu

Hancock: Barbara Lee, George Miller, Ellen Tauscher

West Contra Costa School Board

Hancock: Audry Miles, Glen Price, Charles Ramsey, President Karen Pfeifer

Labor Organizations

Chan: AFSCME California, AFSCME Local 3299 University of California, Alameda County Central Labor Council, California Association of Nurse Practitioners ,California State Council of Laborers AFL-CIO ,Contra Costa Labor Council, Firefighters Local 55 (Oakland, Alameda County, Emeryville), Laborers Union Local 304, Service Employees International Union CA, UNITE HERE

Hancock: AFSCME Local 2700 United Clerical, Technical and Specialized Employees, Berkeley Federation of Teachers, California Conference of Machinists, Communication Workers of America Northern California & Nevada Council, Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 32, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Northern California District Council, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District, Council 16 Northern CA and Nevada, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, Public Employees Union Local One

Dual Endorsement: Teamsters Joint Council 7

Political Organizations

Chan: Capital Political Action Committee, National Organization for Women California, Asian American Action Fund PAC, Alameda Democratic Club, Asian Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus of Alameda County, Berkeley Democratic Club, East Bay Young Democrats

Hancock: Black Political Action Committee of Contra Costa County, Cal Berkeley Democrats, California Democratic Party, Oakland Political Action Committee, West Contra Costa Latina/o Democratic Club

Dual Endorsements: California List

Professional Organizations

Chan: Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20

Hancock: California Nurses Association, State Coalition of Probation Organizations