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City of Berkeley · Statewide General Election

Berkeley City Council, District 7

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of eight district seats on the Berkeley City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 124,000, for a 4-year term. Half the Council's district seats (2, 3, 5, 6) are elected on the presidential cycle; this one is elected, along with the Auditor, on the same cycle as the Governor. Decided by ranked-choice voting.

Two candidates are running for the open District 7 seat (the Southside neighborhood near UC Berkeley), vacated by Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra, who is not seeking a full term of her own.

This person would hold one of eight district seats on the Berkeley City Council -- the Southside, in District 7's case: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, for a 4-year term. Decided by ranked-choice voting.

District 7 has changed hands via special election twice in a row: Rigel Robinson resigned in 2024, and Cecilia Lunaparra -- Berkeley's first Latina city council member -- won the resulting special election that April. She is not seeking a full term this cycle, leaving the seat open again.

Aidan Hill

Aidan Hill is a longtime Berkeley activist who has run for city office before: for the District 7 council seat in 2018, and for Mayor in 2020. In a 2020 candidate Q&A, Hill described themself, at 27, as a UC Berkeley student, vice-chair of the city's Homeless Commission, and a campaigner who helped push California's plastic-bag ban through CALPIRG organizing. Hill's current ballot designation is Medical Case Manager, a different occupation than the 2020 self-description. Campaign-finance records show a committee for this race as well as a separate, older "Aidan Hill for Berkeley City Council 2022" committee, indicating at least one additional prior council run.

Strengths

The field's most extensive electoral track record -- three prior city races (2018 council, 2020 mayor, and evidence of a 2022 council run) -- and direct city-commission service on homelessness policy.

Trade-offs

Multiple prior unsuccessful runs for different offices raise the question of what's different this time; this dataset did not find independent 2026 platform coverage beyond Berkeleyside's own roundup.

Keep in mind

The occupation self-described in 2020 (student, Homeless Commission vice-chair) is six years old and differs from the current ballot designation (Medical Case Manager) -- what the record shows at each point, not assumed to still describe Hill's role now.

Syrak Micael

Syrak Micael is a recent UC Berkeley graduate and a member of the city's Housing Advisory Commission; his ballot designation is Community Engagement Liaison. His committee, Syrak Micael for Berkeley City Council 2026, reported $5,698 in monetary contributions and $4,444 in expenditures for the first half of 2026, plus $12,600 in public-financing matching funds from the city.

Strengths

Current Housing Advisory Commission service gives him a direct, current line into the district's central land-use issue, and his fundraising total leads the race.

Trade-offs

A recent graduate with no prior elected office, running in a district long represented by short-tenured councilmembers due to back-to-back resignations.

Keep in mind

His Housing Advisory Commission role is advisory, not policy-making -- relevant land-use exposure, not the same as legislative experience.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- City Clerk Mark Numainville's signed "Nominees for Public Office" notice for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (dated Aug. 19, 2026): lists all 23 candidates across all seven Berkeley races in ballot order with their exact ballot designations -- Auditor, Council Districts 1/4/7/8, Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner, and School Board Director.
  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- own JSON API behind its "Candidate List" web app (electionId 260 = General Election - 11/03/2026, Official): the candidatelist/260 endpoint returns every race category countywide with no County category at all (zero Board of Supervisors/row-office/judicial seats on the Nov. 2026 general), and the racelist/260/600 endpoint names all 46 City-category races countywide, including the exact seven Berkeley races (four Council districts, Auditor, Rent Stabilization Board, School Directors) with their raceIds and vote-for-N seat counts -- confirming Alameda County publishes a unified countywide candidate document, unlike Santa Clara County.
  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- the same candidatelist app's per-race candidate-detail view (POST to /rov_app/candidatelist/ with electionId=260 and each Berkeley raceId), queried directly for all seven Berkeley races: returns each candidate's exact ballot designation, filing agency, and on-ballot status -- the same roster as the City Clerk's own Notice of Candidates, independently confirming all 23 names and designations.
  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Candidate Information" elections page: states which offices are elected on the presidential cycle (Mayor; Council Districts 2, 3, 5, 6) versus the gubernatorial cycle (Auditor; Council Districts 1, 4, 7, 8) -- both alongside Rent Board and School Board, which are elected every cycle -- and states the vote-threshold rule: Mayor/Auditor/Council require ranked-choice majority; Rent Board/School Board are decided by plurality.
  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Voting Information" elections page: states in full how Berkeley's ranked-choice voting works for Mayor, City Council, and Auditor (voters may rank up to five choices; last-place elimination repeats until one candidate has a majority) and that Rent Stabilization Board and School Board are decided by plurality vote instead, "typically multiple candidates elected at each election."
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Election 2026: Who's running for Berkeley City Council, school board and more" (originally published Aug. 14, 2026, updated Aug. 19, 2026 to report Fred Feller's withdrawal from the District 8 race), read in full: profiles every 2026 candidate across all seven Berkeley races by name, occupation, and background; reports incumbent Rashi Kesarwani (D1), Cecilia Lunaparra (D7), and Lori Droste's since-2022 successor context are not seeking reelection; and reports Rent Board incumbent Vanessa Marrero's disqualification from the ballot over a signature shortfall and her stated plan to challenge it.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=BRK), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API for all 23 2026 candidates, with each candidate's most recent 2026 FPPC Form 460 (the Jan. 1-June 30, 2026 semi-annual statement) downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its actual reported totals. Real H1 2026 totals (monetary contributions raised / total expenditures / public-financing matching funds received, where applicable): Jenny Wong (Auditor) $6,916 / $1,109; Laura Babitt (D1) no 2026 committee Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501 -- her filings show active participation in the city's public-financing matching-funds program; Ross Bernet (D1) $4,449 / $209; Moni Gangopadhyay (D1) $3,307 (incl. $500 nonmonetary) / $2,163; Steve Kromer (D1) no committee located; Daria Wrubel (D1) $120 / $0; Igor Tregub (D4) $10,287 / $3,405, plus $20,670 in public matching funds; Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh (D4) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501; Aidan Hill (D7) $1,102 / $257 on his current District 7 committee (a separate, older "Aidan Hill for Berkeley City Council 2022" committee also remains on file from a prior run, not further researched here); Syrak Micael (D7) $5,698 / $4,444, plus $12,600 in public matching funds; Mark Humbert (D8) $1,630 / $56; Michael Wallman and Fred Feller (D8) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Mari Mendonca (D8) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Carole Marasovic (Rent Board) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Avery Arbaugh (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file, only records from an unsuccessful 2024 Rent Board run; Ida Martinac (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501; Nathan Mizell (Rent Board) an interim Jan. 1-May 10, 2026 report showing $0 contributions and $0 expenditures; Vylma Ortiz and Derek Rodriguez (Rent Board) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Sandy Park (School Board) $1,860 / $138; Jennifer Shanoski (School Board) $5,410 / $662, plus $19,140 in public matching funds; Ka'Dijah Brown (School Board) filed her new 2026 committee's organizing paperwork July 23, 2026, after the H1 reporting window closed, so no H1 2026 Form 460 exists for it yet.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Berkeley, California article -- 2020 census population (124,321), the 4th-largest city in Alameda County.
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Berkeley election 2020: Who is candidate Aidan Hill?" (Sept. 28, 2020), a structured Q&A hosted and published by Berkeleyside, read in full: Hill's own words (self-description, attributed in text) on being a 27-year-old UC Berkeley student, vice-chair of the city's Homeless Commission, a CALPIRG plastic-bag-ban campaigner, and their 2020 mayoral platform on climate resilience, cooperative housing, and child care.
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Cecilia Lunaparra sworn in as Berkeley's first Latina city council member" (April 30, 2024): names Lunaparra as District 7's occupant since a 2024 special election prompted by Councilmember Rigel Robinson's resignation -- independent confirmation of the seat's recent turnover, cited here only for that fact, not for any claim about the 2026 candidates.

Last updated September 1, 2026.