# Oakland City Council, District 2 Compare records and positions simply between Charlene Wang or Nate Adams for Oakland City Council, District 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Oakland's 8-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. - Jurisdiction: City of Oakland - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/oakland-council-2 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: October 6, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Charlene Wang** — City Councilmember, District 2 · Incumbent - **Nate Adams** — Community Organizer A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Charlene Wang, elected in 2025, faces community organizer Nate Adams on the ranked-choice ballot for District 2 — Chinatown, Lakeshore, Crocker Highlands, Eastlake, Little Saigon, San Antonio, part of the Jack London District, and neighborhoods south and east of Lake Merritt. The winner holds one of eight district seats on the Oakland City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. A first-term incumbent barely a year into the seat against a challenger from the city's organized left. Wang's stated priorities are affordability, safety and accountability; Adams promises to slash rents, fix streets and fill hundreds of vacant city jobs (per the Oaklandside). The gap between them is less about problems than about how far to go. ## Charlene Wang The sitting councilmember, elected in 2025. She has authored legislation to curb sex trafficking and sideshows and a ballot measure to capture tax revenue from foreclosed properties; she lists affordability, safety and accountability as her top priorities (per the Oaklandside). **Strengths:** A legislative record already, with trafficking and sideshow measures plus a foreclosed-property revenue measure, in barely a year in the seat. **Trade-offs:** That record is short, and a single year gives voters little evidence about how she governs under sustained budget pressure. **Keep in mind:** She won this seat in 2025 and is defending it in 2026. Her stated priorities here come from press coverage. ## Nate Adams A community organizer who served in leadership for the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and previously organized for the Richmond Progressive Alliance. His platform promises to slash rents, fix streets and fill hundreds of vacant city jobs (per the Oaklandside). In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes a career organizing working people, including union organizing nationwide, leading an Oakland grassroots organization he puts at 2,400 members, and helping win Alameda County's ethical-investment budget policy. His three stated priorities are housing for all, with lower rents, tenant protection, deeply affordable housing and paths off the street; safety of every kind, with street lighting, protected bike lanes, sidewalk repairs, rapid emergency response and prevention programs; and expanded care, dignity and accountability, including filling 1,000 city jobs, more affordable childcare and transit, and holding corporations to account. On city finances he describes tighter oversight, collecting unpaid business taxes and fees, curbing police overtime and progressive taxation. He says he supports implementing Democracy Dollars and would prioritize carrying out the Fair Elections Act fully. **Strengths:** Years of East Bay organizing and the field's most concrete commitments on rents, streets and vacant city jobs, by his own account, including union and county budget-policy work. **Trade-offs:** No record in elected or appointed city office; his promises have not been tested against a council majority or a constrained budget. **Keep in mind:** Filling 1,000 city jobs is a budget question as much as a will question. His organizing record is his own account in a candidate questionnaire; ask how he would fund it. ## Financial info - **Charlene Wang** — $113,489 raised (Small donors: $3,759; Individuals: $97,980; PACs & committees: $6,350; Businesses & other orgs: $5,200; Self-funding: $200) - **Nate Adams** — $27,755 raised (Small donors: $1,963; Individuals: $25,541; Self-funding: $200) Figures are CA Form 460 filings through 2026-06-30, per the Oakland Public Ethics Commission's e-filed transaction exports, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Sources 1. [Oakland City Clerk — Nov 2026 Election Qualified Candidate List (final, in ballot order, with ballot designations)](https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/20/city-clerk/documents/elections/nov-2026-election-qualified-candidate-list.pdf) 2. [Oakland City Clerk qualified-candidate list for November 3, 2026, as published by The Oaklandside (2026-08-10)](https://oaklandside.org/2026/08/10/election-2026-oakland-candidate-list-mayor-council-school-board/) 3. [Ballotpedia — City elections in Oakland, California (2026)](https://ballotpedia.org/City_elections_in_Oakland,_California_(2026)) 4. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Oakland City Council Member, District 2' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's four questions -- top three priorities; qualifying background; steps to stabilize city finances and grow revenue; priority for Democracy Dollars. Answers on file from Nate Adams, to all four questions. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/oakland-council-2.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) 5. [Oakland Public Ethics Commission — e-filed campaign-finance transactions (NetFile)](https://netfile.com/public/coak/campaign) ## The rest of the ballot Oakland City Council, District 2 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Oakland City Council, District 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/oakland-council-2 (sources last retrieved October 6, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.