VOTE: OUR 2024 ENDORSEMENTS
Communities are more powerful than corporations!
Corporate interests and billionaires are homewreckers who destroy California by polluting the environment, exploiting workers, and profiting from skyrocketing real estate values. Corporate homewreckers hate California. California is our home. Homewreckers are not welcome here! In 2024, we vote to protect our home from corporate homewreckers.
Many of our 2024 candidates are endorsed by the CA Working Families Party (AAPI FORCE is a statewide steering organization), and/or our steering committee organizations. These candidates fight for working class communities and work to hold corporations accountable. They lead with the progressive values that we need to put people over profits.
National Endorsement
Kamala Harris for President
Tim Walz for Vice President
AAPI FORCE believes that voting for Kamala Harris is a strategic choice to strengthen the conditions for building a just future, and this is a decision we cannot sit out. We recognize we do so even as we disagree with many of the current administration’s policies and Harris’s stated positions.
We recognize the importance of endorsing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as a defensive endorsement, one where their victory blocks a right-wing victory, but we must organize them further to implement our movements’ demands and enact progressive policies.
Read our full endorsement statement
Local Endorsements
Alameda County
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Alameda Board of Supervisors, D-5
Endorsed by APEN Action & FAJ Action Fund
As an Oakland city councilmember, Nikki Fortunato Bas has delivered for renters and low-income communities; in her tenure she has fought for the strongest COVID-19 eviction moratorium in the State of California, the creation of a $14 million fund to help low-income tenants purchase their homes with community land trusts to prevent displacement, and the production of 2,000 affordable housing units in the district. As a candidate for Supervisor, Nikki Fortunato Bas puts our communities first; her priorities include community mobile crisis response and culturally and linguistically competent access to healthcare.
Nikki Fortunato Bas voted in support of the successful Oakland resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Liz Ortega
California Assembly, AD-20
Endorsed by FAJ Action Fund
Liz Ortega, the current AD-20 Assemblymember, has a clear track record as a champion for working families. As Statewide Political Director for AFSCME Local 3299, the University of California’s largest employee union, she secured the passage of state legislation to maintain and protect essential service jobs at every UC campus. As an Assemblymember, Liz Ortega has authored several bills that strengthen workplace protections and make housing more affordable.
Lateefah Simon
US House of Representatives, CA-12
Endorsed by APEN Action
Lateefah Simon began her career of advocacy leading the Young Women’s Freedom Center. She went on to create the Back on Track program, a first-of-its-kind anti-recidivism initiative for young adults charged with low-level offenses. She now serves on the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors and seeks to make BART more affordable for working families and transit-dependent and disabled people like herself.
Lateefah Simon has called for a ceasefire.
Carroll Fife
Oakland City Council, D-3
Endorsed by APEN Action
Carroll Fife is a housing activist, a co-founder of Moms 4 Housing, and currently serves as the Councilmember for Oakland’s District 3. Since she was elected in the beginning of 2021, she has delivered on the promises that matter most to Oakland. From securing voter approval for thousands of units of affordable housing to enacting the strongest tenant protections in the state, she has been a committed advocate and champion for housing justice. She has made critical investments in education, housing stability, jobs, and community programs.
Carroll Fife introduced a successful Oakland resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Robert Bulatao
San Leandro City Council, D-6
Endorsed by FAJ Action Fund
Robert Bulatao is a Filipino, queer, cancer survivor, and dedicated community activist running for San Leandro City Council in District 6. As a lifelong advocate for social justice, he has championed issues like affordable housing, voting equity, and public safety. As a cancer survivor, parent, and former President of the PTO at his children’s Title I school, he understands the struggles of working families. His platform focuses on rent control, reforming San Leandro’s election process to conform to the California Voting Rights Act, and improving community trust in public safety. Robert is committed to bringing grassroots leadership to San Leandro, ensuring that the voices of low-income families, renters, and working people are heard in City Hall.
Vote “No” on Recall of District Attorney Pamela Price
Vote “No” on Recall of Mayor Sheng Thao
Numerous Oakland and Alameda county residents, activists, faith-based and community organizations, and Democratic clubs all oppose the recall efforts targeting Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price–two progressive women of color electeds. Right-wing billionaires and activists, like Sam Singer and Phillip Dreyfuss, from outside of Oakland have orchestrated these recalls, by deceiving voters through disinformation campaigns and funding the removal of our democratically elected officials. These recalls are the most recent among a trend of the right-wing billionaire-backed efforts to control our politics, protect their profits, and undermine our voices.
Contra Costa County
Melvin Willis is a longtime community organizer protecting the rights of renters. As a Richmond councilmember, he has helped to extend health care for undocumented people living in Contra Costa County, led the campaign to raise the Richmond minimum wage, and fought to “Ban the Box” on job applications so the formerly incarcerated can make a living.
Melvin Willis voted in support of a successful Richmond resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Sue Wilson
San Leandro City Council, D-6
Endorsed by APEN Action
Sue Wilson is a dedicated advocate for clean air, affordable housing, and safe streets, running for Richmond City Council to bring real change in District 5. Sue has spent the last decade fighting for working families alongside progressive leaders. She is deeply committed to reducing Richmond’s child asthma rates, supporting sustainable development, and ensuring that local government works for the people, not corporations. Sue pledges to refuse campaign contributions from corporations, businesses, or business-promoting organizations, underscoring her commitment to putting Richmond resident’s first.
Melvin Willis
Richmond City Council, D-1
Endorsed by APEN Action
Claudia Jimenez is an experienced community organizer and coalition builder in Richmond and Contra Costa County. She led the “Invest in People not Prisons” campaign, which forged an alliance of African American and immigrant community leaders in Contra Costa to end the sheriff’s cooperation with the ICE Secure Communities program and redirected $5.2 million toward services for people in Contra Costa County returning home from incarceration. As a Richmond Councilmember, she has supported the community’s interests over corporations and fought for housing as a right and accessible city services.
Claudia Jimenez
Richmond City Council, D-6
Endorsed by APEN Action
Alameda-Contra Costa Counties
Jesse Gunn
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit, Ward 6
Endorsed by FAJ Action Fund
Jesse Gunn is running to ensure safer, more reliable, and accessible public transportation for all East Bay residents. Born and raised in South Hayward, Jesse has firsthand experience of the challenges facing working families and the importance of a reliable transit system. As a dedicated community advocate and public school teacher with a strong background in public service, including serving on the Executive Board for the Hayward Education Association and Community Services Commissioner for the City of Hayward, Jesse is committed to making an AC Transit that prioritizes fiscal and climate sustainability, provides safe and reliable service, and ensure fair treatment for operators. He is ready to fight for a sustainable and connected transit system that serves every generation.
Jovanka Beckles
California Senate, SD-7
Endorsed by FAJ Action Fund and APEN Action
As an advocate and Richmond City Councilmember, Jovanka Beckles created and supported policies that include: banning the box on City job applications; providing any community member who wanted one a local identification card, pushing for and winning a fight for rent control and raising the minimum wage. As a state senator, she hopes to lead on reparations, housing, healthcare for all, free college and childcare, reforming Prop 13, enshrining the right to same sex marriage and taxing the rich.
Jovanka Beckles has been an active participant of pro-Palestine protests.
Los Angeles County
Jessica Caloza
California Assembly, D-52
Endorsed by Pilipino Action Center
Jessica Caloza is a proud immigrant, renter, advocate for women’s rights, and the daughter of working-class parents who is running for State Assembly to fight for working families and middle-class Californians. She has been a dedicated public servant for years, working for President Obama to help improve underfunded public schools and as LA Public Works Commissioner, where she expanded union jobs, raised wages for workers, and ensured equal pay for women. She has dedicated her entire life to fighting for progressive values that uplift working families and wants to build a California that works for all, and not just the few.
Ysabel Jurado
Los Angeles City Council, D-14
Endorsed by Pilipino Action Center
As a dedicated tenants’ rights attorney, affordable housing advocate, and lifelong Angeleno, Ysabel Jurado is the champion that the community needs. She is a single mother and daughter of undocumented Filipino immigrants, experiencing the struggles of working class families in Los Angeles first hand. Ysabel has spent her career fighting to stop evictions for individual tenants and small businesses and creating pathways to homeownership for communities of color. She is running for City Council to bring integrity and accountability back to local government and wants to provide effective solutions to address affordable housing, homelessness, environmental justice, and much more.
Ysabel Jurado is in strong support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and has called on the City Council to pass a resolution in support of this. She has also been an active participant of pro-Palestine protests.
Sacramento
Flojaune “Flo” Cofer
Mayor
As a public health advocate, Dr. Flo Cofer has fought for racial and reproductive justice throughout her career. As the four-term chair of the city’s Measure U committee, Dr. Flo Cofer led the distribution of millions of tax dollars to support essential fire, library, park, and youth intervention services. In a crowded field, she is the clear progressive choice.
Dr. Flo Cofer is the only mayoral candidate to call for a ceasefire.
Endorsed by HIP Action Fund
San Francisco County
Connie Chan
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-1
Connie Chan currently represents District 1 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Since taking office in 2021, she has funded before school care, food security, support for our aging population, and a youth leadership academy in District 1 as well as negotiated $30 million for the AAPI community. As Budget Committee Chair, she secured funding for food access programs and restored funding protecting single-room occupancy tenants.
Connie Chan voted in support of the successful San Francisco resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Chyanne Chan
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-11
As an immigrant, mother, and longtime District 11 resident, Chyanne Chen is a passionate advocate for the rights of immigrants and working families in her district. Her work as a labor union organizer and community advocate has been focused on uplifting service workers to fight for a living wage and respectful treatment. Through her efforts with United Healthcare Workers and SEIU, Chyanne preserved In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) care programs, secured pay increases to keep up with inflation, and expanded education opportunities and career pathways for healthcare workers. She has also been a strong advocate for cross-racial solidarity and immigrant families, organizing mutual aid networks and increasing language access to community resources during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Sharon Lai
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-3
Sharon Lai is a dedicated public servant, mother, and advocate for the working families of San Francisco. She brings with her over 15 years of experience in urban planning, community and economic development, and nonprofit leadership, delivering solutions such as leading mixed-use developments and founding the city’s first Tiny Homes interim homeless housing community. Additionally as a Commissioner of the SF Treasure Island Development Authority and the SF Municipal Transportation Board, she helped make 8,000 new homes, 2,000 of which were affordable units, possible and is strongly committed to rent control and eviction protections for tenants. Sharon’s extensive experiences in public, private, and nonprofit sectors positions her to effectively lead San Francisco and help ensure all residents, especially immigrants and working families, have a voice in shaping the city’s future.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Dean Preston
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-5
Supervisor Dean Preston is a progressive leader working to address economic and racial equity in San Francisco, with a focus on anti-displacement and tenants rights advocacy. Since being elected, Dean has championed critical issues like tenant protections, secured over $40 million in rent relief, taxed luxury real estate to fund social housing, and restored vital Muni services that were suspended during the pandemic. As a dedicated advocate for housing and economic justice, he has worked to prevent evictions, invest in public infrastructure, and create better alternatives to policing. Dean is committed to building a more equitable San Francisco where every resident can thrive.
Dean Preston spearheaded a successful resolution calling for a “Sustained Ceasefire in Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, Release of Hostages, and Condemning Antisemitic, Anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic Rhetoric and Attacks.”
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Myrna Melgar
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-7
Myrna Melgar is a dedicated public servant, housing advocate, and longtime Westside resident. She is running for a second term as District 7 Supervisor to continue her mission of delivering effective solutions for safer neighborhoods, affordable housing, and increasing access to childcare and educational opportunities for Westside families. From securing $25 million for public safety improvements to expanding affordable housing projects to championing Universal Childcare, Myrna is committed to making San Francisco a better place for all families and residents to thrive.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Jackie Fielder
San Francisco Board of Supervisors, D-9
Jackie Fielder is a visionary leader committed to serving District 9 with integrity and dedication. She is devoted to affordable housing, innovative community safety strategies, stronger mental health care services, and better public schools. As a San Francisco commissioner, Jackie co-founded the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition and helped pass the first-in-the-nation law allowing public banks in California. Jackie’s dedication to community-driven solutions and her independence from corporate special interests make her the leader District 9 needs.
Jackie Fielder has been an active participant of pro-Palestine protests.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Aaron Peskin
San Francisco Mayor
Aaron Peskin is a lifelong public servant and pragmatic progressive with a proven track record of tackling San Francisco’s greatest challenges and delivering results. Serving as District 3 Supervisor and elected three times as the President of the Board of Supervisors, he has championed affordable housing by passing groundbreaking legislation that increases homeless shelters and permanent affordable housing by legalizing construction of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), enabling thousand of new homes and rent-controlled affordable housing. Aaron has been a fierce advocate for public safety, initiating the creation of a Law Enforcement Emergency Joint Task Force to combat the fentanyl crisis and enhancing neighborhood safety with police foot patrols and community ambassadors. Aaron's dedication and effective leadership make him the trusted choice to continue building a better future for all San Franciscans.
Aaron Peskin offered a revised resolution that called for a cease-fire, humanitarian aid in Gaza and the release of all hostages that was successfully passed by San Francisco City Council.
Endorsed by CPA Action Fund
Santa Clara County
Ash Kalra
California Assembly, AD-25
An Assemblymember since 2016, Ash Kalra has been one of the boldest progressive voices in the state legislature. He has been a strong advocate for clean energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels while preserving our open spaces and protecting our surrounding habitat. Prior to his role in public service, Ash Kalra has served as a board member of several immigrant and AAPI community based organizations in San Jose, such as Somos Mayfair and the Asian Law Alliance.
Ash Kalra signed on to the Children of Gaza letter, and supported the ceasefire resolution at the Santa Clara Democratic County Central Committee.
Betty Duong
Santa Clara Board of Supervisors, D2
Betty Duong is an experienced public servant of over ten years in Santa Clara County. Her initiatives at the county include building the Vietnamese American Service Center, helping create the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to combat wage theft and advance workers’ rights, and initiating the County’s Language Access Unit. Betty Duong comes from deep roots within San Jose’s Vietnamese American community; her life experiences combined with her proven track record suggest she will be a strong community partner as Supervisor.
Alex Lee
California Assembly, AD-24
Alex Lee has consistently introduced legislation to hold corporations accountable (including a wealth tax), make housing affordable, and fight climate change. Notable achievements include laws increasing multi-mobility street safety and creating an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee to empower communities affected by pesticide pollution. A former student organizer, Alex Lee has led a people-powered campaign that firmly embraces progressive values.