District 3

Tamar Michai Freeman has begun her election campaign for Berkeley City Council’s District 1 seat.

Incumbent Ben Bartlett is projected to keep his seat as the District 3 Berkeley City Council member, with 68.37% of the vote as of press time.

District 3 needs someone like Bartlett, who has experience finding solutions within the constraints of the city’s precarious pandemic-impacted budget.

On Monday evening, two of the three candidates in the District 3 Berkeley City Council race discussed their platforms during a virtual town hall hosted by BridgeUSA at Berkeley and the ASUC Office of the External Affairs Vice President.

Even though he did not intend to have a career in politics until 2016, Ben Bartlett has made numerous legislative changes serving on Berkeley City Council and hopes to continue doing just that for the next four years.

Bartlett, who represents District 3 in South Berkeley, was pulled over by Berkeley Police Department officer Stephanie Cole for allegedly running a red light July 19. He immediately identified himself as a City Council member, told Cole that he actively supported pay raises for Berkeley police officers and disclosed information about a closed-session City Council vote on officer contracts.

Working on Berkeley City Council has been a longtime dream for Ben Bartlett, who was born in South Berkeley in the 1970s.

Droste, who was elected to the District 8 City Council seat in 2014, said she decided to travel to D.C. to “show Trump we’re united against bigotry, and we are the popular vote,” emphasizing the importance to stay politically active.

Berkeley has changed significantly in the past 28 years — the minimum wage has increased by about $10 and public health policies are more comprehensive, thanks in part to the work of former District 3 council member Max Anderson.

Sleepless nights, door-to-door canvassing and relentless phone banking are common themes for Berkeley’s mayoral and City Council candidates as they vie for residents’ votes in the election season’s last days.