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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