ALCO REGISTRAR Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis appears to have a great sense of drama. He said Monday the ranked-choice voting algorithm used to tabulate races in Oakland, San Leandro and Berkeley will only be used after all the ballots have been counted Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. As is custom, the first results of the night—typically vote-by-mail returns—will be posted sometime after the polls close at 8 p.m. However, first round results in the three East Bay cities that use ranked-choice voting will only be released, including subsequent updates throughout the night. Dupuis, replaced long-time registrar Dave Macdonald last year.

Peter Kuo and other state Republican Party
hopefuls in Milpitas last Saturday.

STATE SENATE DISTRICT 10 Peter Kuo’s improbable campaign continues to gain attention from the state Republican Party. GOP gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari, Secretary of State candidate Pete Peterson and conservative activist Charles Munger, Jr. showed up Saturday at Kuo’s campaign headquarters in Milpitas. Twentieth Assembly District candidate Jaime Patino was also there. Although, Kuo is a prohibitive long shot to beat Democrat Bob Wieckowski, his rise from obscurity to a potential trailblazer for the party to make inroads with Asian American voters is astonishing.

OAKLAND MAYOR Over the course of this campaign, Mayor Jean Quan has struggled to harness the clear advantage of the incumbency to make her case for re-election. And if you can’t do it yourself, that’s what Deputy Mayor Sandre Swanson is for. In an email to Quan’s supporters Friday, Swanson offered the mayor’s list of accomplishments when it comes to improving public safety. Swanson also laid it all on the line saying, “I have been in public service for Oakland for over 40 years now, and never have I met an elected official who works harder, and who cares more about our families and neighborhoods, than Mayor Quan.” As the comedian Andy Samberg, doing an impression of actor Nicolas Cage, would say, “That’s high praise.” In addition, Quan received the support this weekend of former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown. “I am proud to support the re-election of Jean Quan, the first woman mayor of Oakland, the city that gave birth to the Party,” said Brown.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 18 David Erlich, the Republican candidate facing Assemblymember Rob Bonta for the Oakland, San Leandro, Alameda seat, hasn’t been on the campaign trail since Oct. 9 following emergency surgery on a perforated ulcer. Speaking from his hospital bed Friday, Erlich said he’s feeling fine and joked his health problems might be karma for a crack he made at a candidate forum one day before his medical emergency. At the event, he referred to Oakland City Council meetings as a zoo. Erlich later apologized.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 15 Tony Thurmond has taken some heat for being the beneficiary of hundreds of thousands of the dollars in independent expenditures from a committee supported in part by Big Oil. On Halloween, the IE named Alliance for California’s Tomorrow spent another $121,515 in support of Thurmond. Exactly why an IE with ties to Big Oil would support a candidate with a history of opposing Chevron in Richmond is this election’s greatest mystery. However, the IE has lavished money on other Democrats. The same day as the latest expenditure on Thurmond, Alliance for California’s Tomorrow spent $15,500 each in favor of the campaigns of California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom.

SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL District 5 candidate Mia Ousley thought her pet hen was eaten by a raccoon last week only to be surprised by his miraculous return. But, the first-time candidate may have laid an egg with a startling accusation Sunday night against her opponent Corina Lopez in a posting on her campaign’s Facebook page. In the post, Ousley seems to be asserting Lopez is taking bribes from the city’s police officers union. Lopez is their endorsed candidate. “Why vote for Mia? When it comes to Civil Liberties, my opponents don’t stand up. Lopez supports the police at any cost (she’s in their pocket), and both she and [Leah] Hall won’t even voice an opinion on other issues. I’m proud to say I’ve had people tell me they disagree with half of my opinions but will vote for me because they know where I stand.” Ousely did not respond to a message for clarification. But, her comments are even more ill-advised since San Leandro uses ranked-choice voting for its election and in a three-person race, Ousley just dissed supporters from both camps she will need to win an upset victory.

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