As of 5:43 p.m. Saturday, Richmond City Councilmember and Vice Mayor Jovanka Beckles overtook Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb in the primaries for the state Assembly District 15 race.
Beckles built her candidacy around “people power” and has a track record of standing up to corporations. She plans to use her experience confronting the Chevron refinery in Richmond to push for issues affected by corporate influence, push for single-payer health care in California, decriminalize illegal drugs and strengthen police transparency, among other goals.
“People have really responded to our corporate-free campaign,” Beckles said in a previous interview with The Daily Californian. “People are tired of struggling, (and) we are at a point where we cannot afford incremental change.”
While former Barack Obama campaign field director Buffy Wicks still holds a large lead — 25,279 votes and 31.5 percent approval — the second place switched between Kalb and Beckles, with Kalb leading on Wednesday by only a few hundred votes.
As of press time, Beckles is ahead of Kalb by 284 votes and has an approval percentage of 15.1 percent compared to Kalb’s 14.8 percent.
