Breaking Now News: Major Leadership Shake-Up Coming to Oakland City Council

Three new representatives are guaranteed to join the eight-member Oakland City Council next year, marking a significant leadership change no matter what happens during the November Election.

Late last week, at-large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid announced they had not submitted papers to run for reelection. Kaplan will have served for 16 years at the end of her four consecutive terms. Reid has been a council member since 2020.

District 1 Councilmember Dan Kalb, who ran for the state Senate District 7 seat earlier this year but did not place in the top two in the primary, has also announced he’s stepping down from the City Council. Kalb has served for 12 years.

Members of the Reid family have represented deep East Oakland for decades

Reid, who succeeded her father Larry on the council dais after he retired from a 24-year career, said in a statement late on Friday that she decided not to run after “much prayer, processing with family, and wise counsel.” She said she has been caring for her mother over the last year, who had “increasingly impactful health care needs.”

“I’m hopeful for Oakland’s future as we continue to work together to rebuild our city and restore trust in our public leaders,” Reid said.

In the last two years, Reid has focused on public safety, especially as Oakland has been in the news for violent crime. The closing of a popular In-N-Out burger spot in East Oakland because of robberies and car break-ins near the airport in Reid’s district led to calls for increased policing. She told The Oaklandside at the time that she was getting a lot of calls about these types of crimes.

Rebecca Kaplan has quietly bowed out

Kaplan served on the AC Transit board of directors before becoming Oakland’s at-large councilmember in 2008, a post she’s held ever since.

Kaplan’s exit from the council has been the subject of speculation for months because she hadn’t filed papers to run and wasn't raising money. An Aug. 8 email from Kaplan’s campaign confirmed this when she endorsed two people running for at-large: Tonya Love and Rowena Brown. Love is Carroll Fife’s chief of staff while Brown is the legislative district director for Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

The first openly gay person elected to the Oakland City Council, Kaplan championed tenant rights, affordable housing, medicinal cannabis and cannabis decriminalization, Oakland’s sanctuary city policies, police accountability, housing the homeless, and other progressive causes.

An Oakland policy wonk is stepping down

Currently closing out his third term on the City Council, Dan Kalb is arguably Oakland’s most prolific legislator. For 12 years, the District 1 councilmember made the environment, tenants rights, police accountability, and government transparency some of his priorities. He authored numerous major pieces of legislation, including helping establish the Oakland Police Commission, banning the storage and handling of coal in city limits, creating stronger tenant protections and anti-displacement laws, and expanding and strengthening the Public Ethics Commission.

Kalb is stepping away from the council after an unsuccessful run for the state Senate District 7 seat this past spring. In 2018, Kalb unsuccessfully ran for the state Assembly District 15 seat.

Before council, Kalb worked at the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Sierra Club, helping advocate for environmental causes.

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Before you go...

• What are your thoughts on the upcoming changes in the Oakland City Council?
• Do you think the new representatives will bring positive changes to the city?
• How do you feel about the reasons cited by the outgoing council members for not seeking reelection?