Dana King, right, with Elihu Harris at an Oakland
City Council candidates forum in 2014.

Former anchor finished second in District 2 last fall

OAKLAND | Dana King rose through the ranks to become one of the most recognizable faces in Bay Area television news. Then she abruptly quit to pursue her interests in creating art.

Later, she moved to Oakland and then sought a seat on the Oakland City Council last year. The political novice came close to winning, but eight months later, King may be eyeing a move back to the local airwaves.

Television and radio insider Rich Lieberman reported Monday that King would “’strongly’ consider coming back to KPIX as a primary anchor ‘if the situation was right’.” The sentiment was attributed to “sources close to King.”

While King’s strong suit is clearly television journalism, her brief foray into Oakland politics was surprisingly positive.

Although she was ultimately beaten by Abel Guillen by six points once ranked-choice voting numbers were crunched, King placed just over 400 first-place votes behind the eventual winner.

In fact, buzz about King’s chances of upending Guillen, the presumptive favorite, were positive well into the finals weeks of the campaign last fall.

But, her talent for the television news over politics was clearly evident during candidate forums when her prepared opening statements were well-written and professionally delivered. However, on-the-spot questioning often resulted in unpolished and vague answers.