2024 Berkeley City Council race: Here's how much money candidates have received

Karissa Ho | File

Berkeley City Council Districts 2, 3, 5 and 6 seats are up for election. Here’s a look into each race’s campaign financing.

If a candidate raises or spends more than $1,000 on their campaign, they must submit disclosure reports that outline both donations received and expenditures. These reports are available to the public.

A more recent addition to the city’s election legislation, Berkeley’s public financing program, provides campaign funds matching individual donations at a 6-to-1 rate. This means that if a candidate receives a $60 contribution from a Berkeley resident, the city will disburse an additional $360. Participating candidates can receive a maximum of $60 for each donation. They cannot accept funds from any political action committee, corporation, nonprofit or labor union.

District 2

In southwest Berkeley’s District 2, Jenny Guarino is taking on single-term incumbent Terry Taplin. Both candidates have stated that housing affordability and public safety are their top priorities, according to their campaign websites.

Taplin has raised approximately $20,000, and received nearly $70,000 in matching funds from the city, surpassing Guarino, who has raised approximately $5,000, with an additional $16,200 from public financing.

Contributors to his campaign include mayoral candidates Adena Ishii and Sophie Hahn, District 6 City Council candidate Andy Katz and Berkeley School Board Director Laura Babitt.

Taplin has emphasized improving pedestrian infrastructure and green transportation during his time in office.

Contributors to Taplin’s campaign include mayoral candidates Adena Ishii and Sophie Han, District 6 City Council candidate Andy Katz and Berkeley School Board Director Laura Babitt.

Guarino is a union organizer and advocates for affordable housing policy and tenant rights.She presents academic workers at the university’s union for academic workers, where she is an elected head steward. Guarino is endorsed by the Berkeley Tenants Union, an organization committed to promoting and protecting Berkeley renters’ rights. She also contributed to Measure BB, a renter protections initiative, on the November ballot.

Among Guarino’s contributors are mayoral candidate Kate Harrison and chair of the Berkeley Rent Board Leah Simon-Weisberg.

District 3

Ben Bartlett, Deborah Matthews and John “Chip” Moore are in the running for District 3’s City Council seat.

Bartlett has been the South Berkeley district’s sitting councilmember for the past two terms. Matthews is a housing developer and co-founder of South Berkeley Now!, an organization that has advocated for building affordable housing units near the Ashby BART station. Moore is the chair of the city’s Police Accountability Board.

Bartlett has raised nearly $44,000 and has opted out of Berkeley’s public financing program. He gave $6,750 to his campaign. Among the largest contributors are nonprofits Laborers Local 304 and the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 District 20 PAC, who each gave a total of $250.

Matthews and Moore are both participating in the public financing program.

Matthews has raised approximately $9,000 in individual contributions, along with nearly $36,000 in city matching funds. Contributors include former District 2 Councilmember Darryl Moore, former Black Panther Party chairwoman Elaine Brownand Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, a progressive political blog.

Moore has received $3,560 in individual donations and nearly $10,000 from public financing. Mayoral candidates Adena Ishii and Kate Harrison donated to his campaign.

District 5

Shoshana O’Keefe, Todd Andrew and Nilang Gor are in the running for the District 5 City Council seat.

O’Keefe has raised approximately $17,000, plus around an additional $46,000 from public financing. Andrew has received $6,300 in individual contributions, along with about $29,000 from the city.

Gor did not accept any donations, stating on his campaign website that he believes city funds from the public financing program should instead be used for “social and environmental policies.” Among Gor’s platforms are increasing the accessibility of plant-based foods and building empathy for non-human animals.

O’Keefe is a Berkeley High School teacher and former immigration lawyer whose priorities are building affordable housing, public safety and improving transportation infrastructure, according to her campaign website. Contributors to O’Keefe’s campaign include District 6 candidate Andy Katz, mayoral candidate Sophie Hahn, District 2 candidate Terry Taplin and Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguín.

Andrew, a former realtor who ran for the District 5 seat in 2020, stated on his campaign website that he hopes to address community dissatisfaction with local government, and implement policies to fix streets and the management of public funds. District 3 candidate Deborah Moore donated to Andrew’s campaign.

District 6

Two candidates are running for the District 6 seat: small business owner Brent Blackaby and director of the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board Andy Katz. Blackaby has received $22,600 in individual contributions, with nearly an additional $50,000 from city matching. Katz has raised nearly $11,000 in donations, along with around $35,000 from public financing.

Blackaby’s priorities include improving streets, fire and school safety and providing more affordable housing to address homelessness.

Katz has outlined fire safety, public safety, preservation of hospital services, improvement of city infrastructure, climate protection and affordable housing as key issues.

Notable individuals who have contributed to Blackaby’s campaign include mayoral candidate Adena Ishii and Berkeley Unified School District Board president Ana Vasudeo.

Multiple sitting Berkeley elected officials have donated to Katz’s campaign, including councilmembers Terry Taplin and Ben Bartlett.

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