If you’ve ever gone to the polls or sat down to fill out your mail-in ballot before election day and wondered which candidate would make the better Superior Court Judge—or what the heck the State Board of Equalization does—the City of Alameda Democratic Club wants to help you sort it out.
With California’s June 2 primary election fast approaching, the club is holding a series of candidate forums that will not only help club members decide who to endorse, but can also be a good way for Democratic voters to familiarize themselves with the issues and candidates in each race.
On March 11, the club hosted candidates for Alameda County District Attorney and the Superior Court Judge Offices #13 and #19. That forum—and another held on April 8 via Zoom—are available to watch on the City of Alameda Democratic Club YouTube channel. A third and final forum is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, at the Veterans Memorial Building, 2203 Central Avenue.
After the forums, eligible club members (those who have paid dues and attended at least one meeting in the last year) discuss and vote on who the club should endorse. Following the March 11 meeting, the club endorsed incumbent Ursula Jones Dickson in the Alameda County District Attorney’s race, but did not meet the required 55% vote threshold to endorse a candidate in either of the two Alameda County Superior Court judge contests.
Endorsements based on the April 8 forum are likely to be announced the weekend of April 17, and the club also hopes to make an endorsement in the governor’s race at that time, club President Meredith Hoskin told the Alameda Post.
At Wednesday’s forum, the club heard the views of candidates for Lieutenant Governor, Insurance commissioner, State Superintendent of Public instruction, Treasurer, and State Board of Equalization District 2.
Unlike a debate—in which candidates often spend as much time trying to score points against their opponents as they do explaining their own positions—the forums are an opportunity for candidates to talk about their own background, political philosophy, and priorities.
Not every candidate on the ballot participates in the club’s forums, and Republicans aren’t invited. The Alameda County Republican Party made endorsements in select races at its March 18 meeting. Voters can seek out information on other candidates from impartial sources, such as the official Voter Information Guide that the Alameda County Registrar of Voters will mail out from April 23 through May 12, and the League of Women Voters or Ballotpedia.
Questions that members of the City of Alameda Democratic Club ask candidates can be helpful for voters who are trying to get their bearings on what issues will be critical for the winners of each race to address when/if they take office.
At the March 11 forum, District Attorney candidates Pamela Price and Jones Dickson were asked whether, if a Republican governor were to lift Governor Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on executions in California, they would seek the death penalty in murder cases.
Price—who was Alameda County’s District Attorney until being recalled by voters in a special recall election in 2024—stated unequivocally that “I will not do a death penalty case. That’s just not what Alameda County believes.”
But Price noted that, as DA, she did pursue special circumstances charges in some murder cases carrying a potential sentence of life without possibility of parole, “which is death by incarceration.”
Jones Dickson, who was appointed to serve as DA after Price was recalled, noted that she hasn’t sought the death penalty in any cases to date, but did not rule it out.
“There are many cases in this county that we’ve charged in the last year with special circumstances, which means life without the possibility of parole,” Jones Dickson said, including the case against Alameda resident Shane Killian, who is accused of killing five people at his Alameda home on Kitty Hawk Drive in 2024.
“I think it is one of the most heinous cases I’ve seen in many, many years,” Jones Dickson said. “Yet we’re not asking for the death penalty, and one of those reasons is because I think it’s futile,” because of Newsom’s moratorium on executions. Jones Dickson said she doesn’t consider a sentence of life without parole “death by incarceration. I consider it the penalty for killing five people in your home.”
With eight Democrats and only two Republicans running for Governor in the primary, there’s a chance that the Republican candidates will come in first and second. If that happens, there will be no Democratic Party candidate for governor on the ballot in the November general election.
At Wednesday’s forum, three candidates for Lieutenant Governor—Janelle Kellman, Oliver Ma, and Michael Tubbs—were asked, “What do you think should be done so that we ensure we do not have a Republican governor?”
While some pundits have suggested that a few Democratic Party candidates need to drop out of the race to avoid splitting the vote and ceding the office of Governor to Republicans, Kellman and Tubbs disagreed, saying voters should have a choice.
“I think having a big, messy fight is healthy for us to really get focused on the issues that matter for Californians,” Tubbs said.
But Ma joked that as a former supporter of Bernie Sanders, “I trust the Democratic Party to do the behind-the-scenes things, to coalesce around one or two Democrats and beat out the Republicans.”
She added, “But what I’ll say is, I am not too excited about any of our candidates for Governor, on the Democratic side, even.”
For those wondering what the State Board of Equalization does, 2nd District incumbent Sally Lieber explained that it’s primarily concerned with property tax collection, and also acts as the assessor for entities that have properties in multiple counties, like PG&E.
“I primarily see my role as ensuring that there is an economic watchdog for taxpayers in California,” Lieber said. “We’re the only elected tax body in the United States, and I think it does have a great value for Californians to have us present.”
Lieber’s Democratic Party opponent in the primary, San Mateo County Community College District Trustee John Pimentel, said he’d like to work with the legislature to close some tax loopholes for multinational corporations and wealthy individuals, and lift a tax on hot food and delivered food, which he called regressive.
Asked for their positions on a potential “billionaires tax” in California, Pimentel said he was opposed, and Lieber said that while a billionaires tax would be administered by the Franchise Tax Board and not the Board of Equalization, she believes “it’s very necessary to get this measure to the ballot [and] I am personally collecting signatures for the wealth tax myself.”
Lieber said lifting taxes on restaurant sales would create a $3 billion hole in the state’s budget. “No matter what we do, we have to address revenues coming in, and we can’t make any more tax cuts for the wealthy,” Lieber said.
Please visit the Alameda Post Election Information page for more about the upcoming primary, including how to register, how to vote, where to vote, and how to find out who is running.
Matt Carter is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/matt-carter.
