Oakland special election: Two D2 City Council candidates have raised big money

It takes money to run successfully for City Council in Oakland. Most of the past winners of the District 2 council seat race raised well over $100,000 while many of their opponents struggled to pay for the ads, staff, and other resources needed to reach voters.

Two candidates in the April special election for the D2 seat are on track to raise the kinds of dollars it takes to win. Charlene Wang has raised approximately $75,000 while Kara Murray-Badal has received $62,000.

Murray-Badal is also getting a big lift from a labor-backed independent expenditure committee that is buying thousands of dollars of online ads.

Here’s where the candidates stand today in the fundraising race. To learn more about who they are and their policy ideas, check out our interviews with the D2 candidates as well as the questionnaires they filled out.



https://oaklandside.org/2025/03/11/oakland-city-council-d2-election-campaign-finance/